Chapter 27: The Storm Behind Her Smile

Thursday, 10:12 AM

It had been three days since he fell to his knees in front of her.

Three days since Sebastian Mason, CEO of Mason Equity Group — the man known for controlling boardrooms with a glance — had collapsed at the feet of Katherine Brown and wrapped his arms around her legs like a sinner at the altar.

And she hadn’t even flinched.

No gasp. No gasp of surprise. No visible sympathy. No forgiveness.

She’d stood tall, shoulders rigid, looking down at him with the same dead calm she’d worn since Monday. Then she had whispered, “Get up, Mr. Mason,” and walked out.

And now it was Thursday.

The storm hadn’t passed.

It had settled. Silent. Dangerous.

Katherine walked into the office that morning dressed in slate grey. Again. Her hair was tied in a severe bun. No lipstick. No bright heels. No scent of her signature cherry-vanilla perfume. She looked… efficient.

Unapproachable.

Deadly.

She didn’t greet anyone. Just moved to her desk with her eyes down, the silver laptop under her arm, her jaw set. The only accessory she wore was a stainless steel watch.

There were no unicorns today.

No rainbow pens. No mismatched earrings. No chameleon chaos she once carried like a flag.

And people noticed.

The whispers had started Monday.

By Thursday, they’d turned into full-blown legends.

“She used to be like... a firecracker.”

“Did she lose someone?”

“I heard Mr. Mason made her cry.”

“I heard she slapped him.”

Only one of those was true.

And yet Sebastian hadn’t said a word.

Not in public. Not even to Katherine.

Because she hadn’t given him the chance.

She had shut every door — metaphorically and literally — and shown up to work every day like she’d been hollowed out and replaced with a high-functioning robot. A competent, silent, devastatingly professional robot.

And it was killing him.

Now, sitting in the boardroom again — same table, same reports, same staff — he found himself staring at her like a madman.

She didn’t look at him once.

Her presentation was flawless. Cold. Surgical.

Charts. Graphs. Projections. ROI. Q2 growth potential.

No sparkle. No jokes. No soul.

Just… numbers.

Sebastian’s throat felt tight. He reached for his water. Missed. The glass tipped over.

Everyone froze.

Katherine didn’t even blink.

She just calmly passed him a napkin and continued. “As projected, our growth in the Latin American sector is consistent with initial forecasting. Slide 14, please.”

He stared at the napkin like it was her severed heart.

And then he couldn’t take it anymore.

He pushed back his chair.

"Five-minute break," he muttered hoarsely, already walking out of the room.

“Miss Brown. Come with me.”

The entire table looked up.

Katherine’s spine straightened. Her eyes flicked toward him — just for a second — before she stood and followed. Her steps were measured, quiet. Her heels clicked like metronomes of war.

They reached his office.

He opened the door. Waited.

She walked in like a diplomat walking into enemy territory.

He shut the door. Turned to face her.

“Can we talk?”

Her gaze was blank. “We’re talking.”

He ran a hand through his hair, visibly frustrated. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“This —” he gestured helplessly. “This… dead-eyed automaton version of you. I miss your chaos.”

She looked at him, unblinking.

“You asked me to keep it down,” she said coolly. “So I did.”

A pause.

“You also asked me to see you,” he added, voice breaking. “And I do.”

Her mask twitched. Just a crack. Barely.

“You didn’t see me, Sebastian. Not when it mattered.”

“You let her speak to me like I was trash. And then told me to keep it down.”

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t know how else to make it stop. I was —”

“Cowardly?” she offered.

He didn’t deny it.

“I panicked,” he admitted. “I’ve never… had something like this before. With anyone. Especially not in the middle of a damn office war zone with my psychotic ex-wife breathing down my neck.”

Katherine said nothing.

“I messed up,” he whispered. “And I know words aren’t enough. But I need you to look at me again. Like you. Not like this stranger in charcoal suits.”

She finally turned fully toward him.

And said, flatly:

“I wore red socks today.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Under all the grey. I wore red socks.”

“I wasn’t ready to come back. Not yet. But I wanted to feel something under all this dullness.”

He stared. Then did the only thing he could think of.

He dropped to his knees again. Slowly. Not dramatic. Just real.

She looked at him, confused. “Sebastian —”

He reached for her hand. Held it. Pressed it to his cheek.

“I don’t care what color you wear. I care that you’re still here. That I didn’t lose you.”

And for the first time all week… she let herself feel it.

Not forgiveness.

But softness.

She didn’t pull away.

Not yet.

---

Sebastian stayed there — on his knees — his hand gently wrapped around hers like she was a lifeline he wasn’t sure he deserved anymore.

Katherine didn't move. She didn’t speak. She just… stood.

Still.

Breathing. Watching. Feeling.

And for the first time in years, Sebastian Mason looked small.

“I didn’t marry Madison for love,” he said quietly, voice low and scratchy, like it was being dragged across broken glass. “I married her because I thought I was supposed to. Because she fit the world I was building. Because it was… convenient. Powerful. Efficient.”

He chuckled bitterly.

“Like a business merger. That’s what it felt like. Strategic.”

Katherine’s fingers twitched in his. He held on tighter, but not too tight. Just enough to keep her there.

“She didn’t love me either,” he continued. “Not really. I think she loved what I represented. The control. The image. The name.”

He glanced up at Katherine now — eyes dark, raw. “But when she realized I wasn’t as perfect as she thought... she began to dismantle me. Piece by piece.”

A pause.

“She’d make fun of how I spoke. Tell me my voice was boring. That I lacked warmth. That no one respected me — they just feared me.”

Another pause.

“She cheated. Repeatedly. And every time she came back, it was with new rules. New ultimatums. New conditions for love.”

His shoulders sank.

“And I let it happen.”

Katherine’s eyes were wide. Shining.

“I became... robotic. Predictable. Safe. I stopped laughing. Stopped asking questions. Stopped living, really.”

He swallowed hard.

“And then you happened.”

Her breath caught.

“You came into my office like a fucking fireworks show,” he muttered. “You wore lime green shoes and quoted Taylor Swift during a pitch meeting and called one of our investors ‘a walking beige flag’ to his face.”

Katherine blinked. A single tear slipped down her cheek.

Sebastian didn’t notice — he was too busy spiraling into his truth.

“You scared the hell out of me. You reminded me I had a pulse. That chaos could be beautiful. That unpredictability wasn’t something to fear — it was something to feel.”

He looked up again. Finally. Fully.

"And then I told you to keep it down because I was too much of a coward to stand beside you when she walked back in."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Her tear hit the back of his hand.

Sebastian froze.

Then slowly — almost reverently — he reached his other hand up and wiped her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

Katherine exhaled shakily.

“I’m scared too,” she whispered. “Of what this is. Of what you are. Of what I might become with you.”

He gave a crooked, broken smile. “Then be scared with me.”

Her lips parted.

But no words came.

She just dropped to her knees in front of him — so fast it made his breath catch — and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

He held her like a drowning man holds the surface.

And in that glass-walled office, where power once echoed through spreadsheets and strategy — only two hearts beat, fast and fragile.

No one knocked.

No one dared.

---

When they stepped back into the conference room, time didn’t just slow down — it stopped. Every head turned. Every eye blinked twice.

Katherine’s eyes were still slightly red, though she tried to mask them with a bright, neutral expression. Her lips were set in a firm line — the kind she usually wore before pitching a wild, dangerous idea.

Sebastian?

His hair was... disheveled.

Unforgivably, suspiciously, deliciously disheveled.

He cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his shirt — which was still buttoned, but just barely. A few chairs scraped awkwardly as people shifted in place, pretending not to notice the vibe hanging over them like a chandelier about to fall.

“Shall we continue?” Sebastian asked.

His voice was a bit hoarse.

No one answered. No one dared.

Katherine walked to her seat without looking at anyone, sat down, crossed her legs with deliberate calm, and pulled her notebook close. Her notes were crisp. Her attention — razor-sharp. But behind her unreadable face, her thoughts were fire.

She glanced at her pen — it was black today. Not pink. Not glittery. Not shaped like a flamingo.

Black.

Like her mood. Like her plans.

Because oh, she had plans.

Plans with lipstick and calculated chaos. Plans that glittered with vengeance and sparkled with wicked justice. Plans with high heels and brutal smiles.

Because no one made Katherine Brown cry and got away with it.

Especially not a woman who waltzed into her office and tried to belittle her voice.

Especially not a woman who tried to own her man.

Sebastian Mason might not have said the words yet — might not have even known it himself — but in Katherine’s mind, he was hers now.

And she? She was not about to share.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.

It didn’t go unnoticed.

Sebastian, seated across the table, caught that smile. And something about it — about the danger in it, the silent “just wait” promise in her eyes — made him suddenly very aware of the storm he’d invited into his life.

And God help him — he wanted it.

He wanted her chaos and her fury and her loyalty and her fire. All of it. Burn him alive if she had to.

The meeting dragged on — Q3 projections, investor pitches, two stale jokes from a department head that fell completely flat.

But Katherine?

She was already building her next move.

Step one? Find out what exactly Madison Mason still wanted.

Step two? Make sure she never got it.

Step three?

Make Sebastian Mason fall so hard in love, he’d forget how he ever lived without her.

And maybe — just maybe — remind him that telling Katherine Brown to keep it down was the worst mistake he’d ever made.

Because now?

Now she was going to make sure the whole damn world heard her.

---