Chapter 32: The Transfer

The hallway outside the boardroom was too quiet.

Katherine sat alone in a sterile waiting lounge, her fingers laced tightly in her lap. Her legs bounced, her lungs constricted, and her heart thudded against her ribs like a warning bell. She hadn’t spoken since the meeting ended. No one had. The directors had merely told her to wait outside while they finalized their decision.

Inside the boardroom, behind the heavy wooden doors, voices murmured, low and controlled. It sounded like the calm before a storm.

She turned at the sound of footsteps. Clara Jennings, the Head of HR, emerged, her expression unreadable as always. Her suit was navy, crisp, her heels clicking with every step like a countdown.

"Katherine, please come in."

Katherine stood, trying to appear composed, but her knees nearly buckled. The room was exactly as she left it: long mahogany table, twelve seats, and too many eyes. All of them on her.

Sebastian sat at the far end. His expression was tighter than she had ever seen it, his jaw clenched and eyes dark with something close to fury. But he said nothing.

Clara gestured toward the seat she had occupied earlier.

Katherine sat, her fingers trembling.

Clara cleared her throat and spoke in her usual neutral, corporate tone. "Following the review of your case, and in light of the relationship disclosed between yourself and Mr. Mason, the Board has reached a decision."

Katherine held her breath.

"Effective immediately, you will be transferred from your current position at the New York headquarters to our Los Angeles creative branch."

The room dropped into silence. Katherine stared, stunned.

She blinked. "I'm being… relocated?"

Sebastian stood abruptly. "Excuse me?"

Clara didn't flinch. "The Board believes that, in order to maintain professional balance and minimize potential bias, this adjustment is necessary."

"That wasn't discussed with me," Sebastian said coldly. "I am the CEO. I should have been informed."

"With all due respect, Mr. Mason," interjected one of the older board members, Mr. Chen, "this decision was made to protect the integrity of your leadership and the company culture. Your position doesn't make you exempt from consequences."

Sebastian laughed, a single humorless sound. "You're penalizing her. You're penalizing her because of me."

"She is not being penalized," Clara said. "Her role remains the same. Her compensation, her benefits — all are unaffected. But proximity to your office creates an unavoidable power imbalance."

Katherine finally found her voice. It came out softer than she intended. "I didn't ask for special treatment. I didn't want any of this."

"We're not questioning your professionalism," Clara replied. "But the appearance of impropriety can be just as damaging as the real thing."

Sebastian leaned forward on the table. "This is absurd. If I was the one being relocated, would you call it a reassignment or a punishment?"

Silence.

Mr. Chen interlocked his fingers. "Let me be very clear: if the media gets wind of this, if shareholders start asking questions, we need to show that boundaries are being maintained."

"By shipping her off to the other coast?" Sebastian asked. "That’s your solution?"

Katherine looked down. Her stomach twisted.

"The transfer is non-negotiable," Clara said. "You will report to the Los Angeles office starting next Monday. HR will assist with relocation costs."

Sebastian stared at them all in disbelief. "You’re moving her like she’s a liability."

Katherine whispered, "It’s okay. I… I can handle it."

"No, you shouldn’t have to handle this," Sebastian said sharply. He looked at the board again. "I have led this company through two mergers, a global crisis, and a digital rebrand. And this is how you respond? By gutting my team without my input?"

Clara stood. "The meeting is adjourned."

---

Outside, the hallway felt colder.

Sebastian caught up with her before the elevator. He looked thunderous, his composure cracking.

"This wasn’t supposed to happen," he muttered.

Katherine gave a weak smile. "It’s not your fault."

"The hell it isn’t." He exhaled hard, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They ambushed me. They made that decision before we walked in."

She didn’t respond. The elevator doors opened. She stepped in.

Sebastian followed.

They stood in silence as the elevator descended. Floor after floor ticked by.

He turned to her, finally. "You don’t have to go. I can appeal this. Fight it."

She looked up at him, her eyes tired. "They made up their minds. If we fight back, they’ll just dig in harder. And it’ll make things worse for you."

"I don’t care about me."

"You should. You built all this. Don’t let me be the reason it gets shaken."

The elevator stopped. She stepped out.

He grabbed her hand before she could walk away.

"I’m not letting them take you away from me."

She smiled sadly. "Then you better come visit. A lot."

He stared at her like he might kiss her right there in the lobby. But he didn’t. He just squeezed her hand.

And let her go.

---

Sunday Morning

The morning light bled through the half-open blinds, warm and golden, but it didn’t touch the chill that had settled inside Katherine’s chest. Her apartment looked like a half-packed battlefield — suitcases flung open, drawers emptied, clothes scattered across the floor in a mess that mirrored her heart.

She wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of an oversized sweatshirt. Useless. Her face was red, swollen, raw. She had cried herself to sleep, woken up crying again, and now she stood there — shaking, folding one of her bright orange blouses—realizing it was the same one she wore on her first day at Mason Equity Group.

And now… she was leaving.

To Los Angeles.

Away from the office she was just starting to love.

Away from the people she was beginning to trust.

Away from him.

Her phone buzzed. She didn’t bother to check it. She couldn’t read through the blur of her tears anyway.

A knock on the door made her freeze. Her hands still clutched the soft fabric of that orange blouse. She sniffled, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and slowly shuffled toward the door.

She didn’t need to ask who it was.

She opened it.

Sebastian stood there, tall and dark in a navy sweater and jeans, but his usual composed expression shattered the moment he saw her. Her tear-streaked cheeks. Her trembling hands. The way she tried to straighten herself in front of him like she wasn’t falling apart.

He didn’t say a word.

He just pulled her into his arms.

She collapsed against his chest like her knees had given out, arms wrapping around him tight, clutching him like he was the only solid thing left in the world.

“I hate them,” he whispered, burying his face in her hair. “I hate every last one of them.”

Her shoulders shook. “I just started, Sebastian. I — I finally found something that felt like it was mine, and now… they’re sending me away. Like I’m some problem to fix. Like I’m nothing.”

“You’re everything,” he said fiercely, cupping her cheeks and tilting her face up to his. “You hear me? You are everything.”

Katherine let out a shuddering breath. “Why? Why are they doing this?”

“Because they’re scared.” His voice was rough, venomous. “They see me caring about something — or someone — for the first time in years, and they think it makes me weak. So they punish the one person who makes me feel alive.”

She shook her head slowly. “But it’s just a job. I’m just a creative —”

“No.” His hands tightened on her arms. “Don’t ever say that. You’re not ‘just’ anything. You walked into that building and turned everything upside down. You challenged me. You changed me. And now you’re crying because of them, and they’re not even worth a single one of your tears.”

Katherine gave a small, broken laugh. “That sounds like something out of a bad romance novel.”

Sebastian gave a weak smile and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Then maybe I’m the bad romance. But I swear to you, I will not let them get away with this.”

She looked up, eyes glassy. “What can you do?”

He exhaled slowly, jaw tight. “I’m the CEO, Katherine. And the board may have voted, but they forget one thing — this company is mine. They’re about to remember that.”

“You’re serious,” she whispered.

“I’m always serious,” he said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “But when it comes to you? I’d burn it all down and build it again from scratch. Just to keep you close.”

Katherine swallowed hard. “Don’t do anything reckless for me.”

“Too late.”

Her brows furrowed. “Sebastian —”

“I’m going to fix this,” he said, lowering his voice. “Even if I have to dismantle the board one smug asshole at a time.”

“And what if you can’t?”

He went quiet for a beat.

Then: “Then I’ll come with you to L.A.”

Her eyes widened. “You’d… leave New York?”

“I’d go anywhere,” he said simply. “Anywhere you are.”

She looked like she was about to cry again.

But this time, not from pain.

He kissed her — slow, deep, tender. Not rushed. Not desperate. A promise.

When they pulled apart, she exhaled shakily. “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to start all over. Not again.”

He nodded, pressing his forehead to hers. “Then don’t. Let’s make sure you don’t have to.”

They stood there for a long moment, wrapped in each other’s warmth while the world around them tried to fall apart. But for now, in his arms, she didn’t feel like everything was ending.

She felt like something was about to begin.

---

Sunday Evening

The sun dipped low behind the skyline as Sebastian navigated the quiet streets of Manhattan. For once, he wasn’t driven. No black car with tinted windows. No assistant in the front seat. Just him and Katherine in his matte grey Range Rover, her suitcase in the back, silence riding between them like a third passenger neither knew how to silence.

Katherine stared out the window, arms folded, lips pressed tight together. She hadn’t cried again—not since the morning. She had promised herself she wouldn’t. Not now. Not in front of him. Not when everything still hurt too much to process.

“I still don’t get it,” she said softly. “Why send me away like this?”

“They think distance will defuse whatever this is,” Sebastian replied, one hand gripping the wheel. “You. Me. The attention. The rumors. They want to clip the wings before anyone sees the flight.”

She gave a hollow laugh. “They’re a bit late for that, don’t you think?”

He glanced sideways at her. “I told you I’d fix it.”

“I know,” she said. “But I can’t just sit and wait. I need to… do something. So I’ll go. For now.”

He exhaled through his nose. “You shouldn’t have to.”

“I know that too.”

The drive fell into silence again. But this time, it was warmer. Not defeat. Not bitterness. Just something unspoken. A thread of understanding they hadn’t had before.

As the airport signs began to appear, Katherine reached over and placed her hand over his.

“I don’t want to go,” she admitted, her voice barely audible.

“I don’t want you to,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road. “But I respect that you’re doing it anyway.”

She gave him a tired smile. “Look at us. Respectful. Functional. Healthy.”

He chuckled under his breath. “Terrifying, isn’t it?”

They pulled up outside Terminal C just as the clock on the dash hit 6:43 p.m. — plenty of time for her to check in and board her flight. The lot was half full, painted in streaks of amber from the lowering sun.

Sebastian parked, killed the engine, and stepped out without a word. He circled around to the trunk and began pulling her suitcase from the back, his movements methodical but slower than usual. Like every motion was a delay tactic. Like time could be cheated by just taking his time.

Katherine stood beside him, watching.

Then she stepped closer.

So close he stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

“Promise me,” she said quietly, “that you’ll bring me back.”

His eyes locked with hers.

“Katherine —”

“No,” she said, voice firmer this time. “I need to hear it. Promise me you’ll fight for me. For this. That you won’t let them keep me away.”

Sebastian straightened, closed the trunk with a soft thud, and stepped in close until their bodies nearly touched.

He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.

“I promise you, my love,” he said, voice low and dangerous, “sweetheart, I'm not just bring you back. I’m burning the whole damn system for you to the ground if I have to. They’ll beg for mercy, and I’ll remind them who this company belongs to. You will walk through that front door again — not as a mistake to correct, but as the woman who changed everything.”

Her breath caught.

Then her smile broke through — small, genuine, sad.

“You always know what to say.”

“I’m not saying it to make you feel better.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips — slow, certain. “I’m saying it because it’s already in motion.”

She didn’t respond with words.

Instead, she kissed him again. And again. Until she could feel him holding on too tightly, like he wasn’t ready to let go.

But she stepped back anyway.

With one last glance, she turned and walked toward the terminal doors.

Sebastian followed, wheeling her suitcase behind him.

Neither of them looked back.

Because this wasn’t goodbye.

This was just part of the war.

---