The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 492

Augus watched Marian's figure fade into the distance before turning on his heel and heading out in another direction. He casually popped into a drugstore along the way to pick up some stomach medicine.

By the time he got back to the office, everyone was already up to their eyeballs in work.

Cindy was standing by her desk, involved in a discussion with Sophia about some design plans. As she caught sight of Augus strolling by, she couldn't help but look up and flash a smile, "Thought you'd clocked out for the day. You've been MIA for a hot minute."

"Just went to grab some meds," Augus replied, giving a little shake of the stomach medicine in his hand. "Not sure if I ate something funky at lunch, but I've been running to the loo non-stop. My legs have gone numb from squatting too much, so I dashed out to grab this bad boy."

Sophia, amidst her busy schedule, spared him a glance, "If you're feeling rough, you might wanna hit up a doc, don't put it off too long."

"I'm good," Augus reassured, giving the medicine another shake for emphasis, "Got the cure right here, I'll be right as rain once it kicks in."

Sophia nodded and went back to her business.

Just then, Marian burst in, arms loaded with two hefty bags of coffee. Thunking them down on the desk, she said, "Treat time, folks. coffee's on me!"

As she spoke, she began passing out the drinks to everyone nearby.

Grateful colleagues took their cups with thanks; one chimed in, chuckling, "You went all the way downstairs just for coffee?"

"Yep. Made a special trip to the cafe downstairs. Aren't I the best?" Marian said with a laugh, continuing to hand out the drinks.

Sophia shot her a look but said nothing more; after finishing up her conversation with Cindy, she headed back to her office.

As soon as she walked in, her phone rang. It was Kent.

The reminder of asking him to look into Nell hit her. She closed her office door behind her and moved toward the window before answering, "Hello?"

"Ms. Yearwood, I've checked with everyone I know in Zion City and the local police stations, and there's no news about any homeless person named Nell; haven't seen a trace of him," Kent reported with a weighty tone.

Sophia paused, her movements halting slightly.

"Checked everywhere?" she asked, frowning, "Any chance something slipped through the cracks?"

"No, I even made a personal visit to the station to double-check," Kent assured, "No record of any assistance for a homeless man, no sign of this guy."

"Have you reached out to Jerry and Tomas yet?" Sophia inquired.

"Not yet."

"Hold off on that, something smells fishy here."

"Alright."

"Does Brandon know about this?" Sophia asked.

"Haven't filled in Mr. Crawley yet."

Sophia thought for a moment, "Maybe give him a heads-up, my gut says something's off with this whole situation."

"Okay."

Kent nodded and, after hanging up, he rose and headed toward Brandon's office before he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

A familiar deep voice called from inside.

Kent pushed the door open.

Brandon was swamped with work at his desk.

"What's up?" he asked without looking up.

"There's something that I feel you should be briefed on."

Kent approached Brandon and laid out the whole situation with Nell; Brandon's brow visibly furrowed.

"How'd this come to light?" Brandon looked up and asked after hearing the rundown.

"Sophia stumbled upon it a few days ago while on a business trip to Zion City," Kent explained, "She initially suggested that Tomas and Jerry should get Nell an ID card, to get him officially registered. But by the end of her trip, Jerry hadn't done it, and Nell had vanished. Sophia got antsy and poked around a bit more. Jerry said he'd handed Nell over to the police, who were supposedly contacting his hometown to take him back. Sophia asked me to use my contacts to check, but it turned out he never made it to any station."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Report it to the police."