Chapter 43: Headlines and Heartbeats

The morning sun slipped in through the half-closed blinds, scattering golden lines across the white sheets. A lazy hum of life stirred outside — distant horns, chirping birds, and the sound of a city waking up. But inside Katherine’s apartment, everything still felt slow, still, and perfect.

Sebastian lay half on his side, arm slung over Katherine’s waist, his face buried somewhere near her shoulder. He was warm and surprisingly cuddly for a man whose entire personality screamed ice king in suits.

“Mmm,” he murmured, voice rough and low from sleep, “your bed is softer than mine.”

“That’s because you probably sleep on corporate guilt,” she mumbled into the pillow.

He chuckled. “No, that’s what I use for my throw blanket.”

Katherine snorted, eyes still closed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Am I?” he shifted slightly, trailing soft kisses from her shoulder up to her jaw. “You didn’t seem to mind last night when I told that story about the CFO who fainted during his own budget report.”

She laughed — loud and real — grabbing a pillow and swatting him with it. “He fainted?!”

“Face-first into the pie chart,” he confirmed. “We had to print a new deck.”

Katherine grinned, eyes finally opening to meet his. “You’re different here.”

Sebastian arched a brow. “Here as in... Los Angeles?”

“Here as in... in my bed. With your tie still on the lamp from last night.”

He smirked. “You’re the one who pulled it off.”

“You grunted like you were losing oxygen.”

“I was,” he whispered dramatically. “You were wearing that dress.”

Katherine rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

They kissed again — slowly this time. No rush, no firestorm behind it, just the kind of kiss that said I like this. I like you.

Then Sebastian’s phone buzzed.

He ignored it.

It buzzed again.

And again.

He groaned. “If this is Jenkins about the Singapore meeting—”

But Katherine had already grabbed it, squinting at the screen. Her expression changed immediately.

“Sebastian.”

“Mmm?”

“Check T*****r.”

That was not a sentence he wanted to hear naked at 8:30 a.m.

He took the phone from her hand, tapped open the notification.

And then stared.

The headline read:

“CEO CAUGHT WITH LA BRANCH HEAD — LATE NIGHT STROLL OR BOARDROOM SCANDAL?”

Beneath it — a grainy but unmistakable photo of him and Katherine kissing on the sidewalk. Another of them dancing. And another, even worse — her barefoot, heels dangling in one hand, laughing into his neck.

“Oh... no,” he muttered.

Katherine sat up. Her bare back hit the cold air and she didn’t even flinch.

“Scroll down.”

He did.

There were more photos. Articles already re-shared by three business news pages. Speculations. Comments.

And then the big one:

“MASON BREAKS CODE OF CONDUCT? ROMANTIC TIES BETWEEN CEO AND LOCAL DIRECTOR COULD VIOLATE CORPORATE ETHICS GUIDELINES.”

Sebastian let the phone fall back onto the mattress.

Katherine wasn’t breathing.

“I’m done,” she whispered. “This is it.”

Sebastian blinked. “No. Hey—”

“No, Sebastian. You saw that. This isn’t just gossip, this is a full-blown firestorm.” She got out of bed, wrapped herself in the oversized gray robe hanging by the chair. “It’s going to hit the Board. It’s going to hit New York. Hell, it’s probably already on their desks.”

He sat up, frowning. “Then we control the narrative.”

She turned sharply. “Control the—? We were reckless! We danced in the street like idiots, and now—”

“Hey,” he interrupted, standing and walking over. “Stop. Just breathe.”

Her hands trembled as she pressed them against her forehead. “They’re going to say I slept my way into this position. That everything I built here in L.A. is just—just a result of this.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Sebastian said, quietly but firmly.

She laughed bitterly. “You won’t let it? Sebastian, you’re not a god.”

“No,” he said, meeting her eyes, “but I am the one who knows exactly what to say to the Board. I’m the one who hired you, and I’ll be the one to protect your reputation.”

Katherine swallowed hard. “And what if they force you to choose?”

He didn’t blink. “Then they’d better pray they don’t.”

She stared at him. And for a split second — just one flicker of a heartbeat — she didn’t feel like she was drowning anymore.

But the fire was still coming.

And they both knew it.

---

The Saturday sun was already high in the sky when the first wave hit.

At the office in downtown Los Angeles, the mood was unusually energetic for a weekend. A few team leads had come in early to wrap up end-of-quarter reports. The usual silence was replaced by scattered voices, the tap of hurried typing, and—

“Oh my God,” Sophie gasped, nearly dropping her iced coffee. “Oh my actual God.”

She stared at her phone, then looked up wide-eyed at the others in the shared space. “Guys. You need to see this.”

Within seconds, half a dozen employees had gathered around, phones in hand, jaws slowly dropping as article after article popped up.

EXCLUSIVE: CEO Sebastian Mason and LA Branch Head Katherine Brown Caught in Romantic Stroll

HOT NIGHT IN LA? Power Couple Spotted Laughing, Kissing Under the Stars

Office Romance or Corporate Risk? Insiders Weigh In on the Secret Relationship at the Top

The pictures were crisp and almost too perfect—Katherine and Sebastian walking down a moonlit street, her hair dancing in the breeze, his hand gently touching the small of her back. And the kiss—soft, unmistakable, passionate—captured right outside her apartment building.

Sophie’s mouth was still open as she looked at the others. “They were spotted. And not just by some random blogger—PageSix picked it up. Variety has it on their homepage.”

One of the junior analysts, Marco, blinked. “Wait, that’s our Katherine Brown?”

“Do you know another one who’s dating Sebastian Mason?”

Sophie, still holding her phone, spun on her heel and rushed toward Katherine’s office—but it was locked. She hesitated, then dialed her boss’s number.

No answer.

---

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, Katherine was pacing around her bedroom barefoot, phone in one hand, bathrobe cinched tightly around her waist. Her hair was a mess, her eyes wild.

“This is bad,” she muttered.

“This is catastrophic,” she corrected.

Sebastian leaned against the kitchen counter, freshly showered, sipping coffee from one of her mugs like he’d done it a hundred times. He was dressed casually but polished—navy shirt, dark jeans, bare feet.

“I’d say it’s just...unexpectedly public,” he said calmly.

She shot him a glare. “You think this is funny?”

“I didn’t say that.”

She groaned, raking a hand through her hair. “The board. The press. The... everything. It’s Saturday, and I already want a glass of wine.”

Sebastian’s phone buzzed on the counter.

He picked it up, scanned the screen, and then looked up. His smile dimmed slightly.

“Well,” he said lightly, “That didn’t take long.”

“What is it?” Katherine asked, stepping closer.

“They’ve summoned me to New York,” he said, tone even. “Emergency board meeting. New leadership committee. I think Clara Jenkins is leading it now.”

Katherine froze. “Clara?”

He nodded.

“And they’re blaming me,” she whispered.

Sebastian placed the cup down and walked to her. “Katherine.”

She didn’t look at him.

“They’re going to make this your fault. They’ll say I manipulated my way in, that I slept my way into power. That this is favoritism.”

Sebastian reached out and touched her chin, gently tilting her face up.

“I’m not going to let that happen.”

Her eyes were uncertain, searching his face for answers he hadn’t yet said aloud. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fix it.”

“How?”

He smiled. “By making it official.”

Katherine blinked. “What—what does that mean?”

He stepped even closer, leaned down, and kissed her lightly. Then he whispered:

“Let them think what they want. I’m not ashamed of this. I’m not hiding you. And I’m sure as hell not letting them define our story. So if they want scandal, I’ll give them headlines they’ll never forget.”

She opened her mouth, but he gently put a finger to her lips.

“I have to fly out in an hour,” he said. “Don’t go to the office. Stay home. Let the dust settle.”

“I can’t hide—”

“You’re not hiding,” he said. “You’re preparing. Because when I get back, we’ll do this our way.”

And then, softer, “Unless you don’t want that.”

Katherine stared at him, heart pounding.

She was chaos, sunshine, fire.

He was control, darkness, gravity.

But somehow—together—they made balance.

She shook her head slowly. “No. I want this.”

Sebastian smiled. “Good.”

Another kiss. A softer one. Final. Promising.

He picked up his coat, his briefcase, and walked to the door.

She followed him, barefoot, still stunned.

At the threshold, he turned, touched her cheek.

“When I return,” he murmured, “we write the next chapter. Together.”

And then he was gone.

Leaving Katherine in the silence of her apartment, still barefoot, still in disbelief—and somehow, still completely his.

---

Katherine sat on the edge of her couch like someone bracing for an earthquake that had already started. The silence in the apartment felt loud — too loud — as if every tick of the clock counted down the seconds to disaster.

Her phone buzzed.

SOPHIE:

Hey. I didn’t want to panic you but... it’s bad. The team’s seen the articles. Everyone’s seen them. Even HR has sent a “statement preparation” request. And... legal just called.

Another message came in a few seconds later.

SOPHIE:

Kat, I’m with you. Whatever happens — you’re not alone.

Katherine dropped her phone on the couch, hands pressed to her temples.

It was happening.

Everything she’d feared when she let herself fall into Sebastian Mason’s arms — everything she had locked behind whispered not yets and late-night let’s just see where this goes — had crashed through the door. And now, it was all out there. The headlines. The gossip. The judgment.

What if they thought she used him?

What if they thought he used her?

What if this burned everything down she had worked for?

She couldn’t breathe. She stood up, paced to the kitchen, opened a cupboard, shut it again. Her fingers trembled slightly.

She had always been the storm.

But this? This felt like drowning in one.

---

Meanwhile.

Sebastian’s car cruised toward LAX, smooth and quiet — the opposite of his mind.

His phone buzzed again. This time, he answered.

Clara Jenkins.

The voice on the other end was sharp. Polished. Deadly calm.

“Sebastian,” Clara said. “Tell me you have some sort of damage control prepared. Because this is not just a board issue anymore. It's a brand issue now.”

“I’m on my way to New York. We’ll talk in person,” he replied, voice even.

“No. We’ll talk now,” she snapped. “You’ve jeopardized the neutrality of your position. You’re headline material — and not the good kind. Investors are nervous. The London branch is calling it a ‘morality scandal.’”

Sebastian leaned his head back against the leather headrest, watching the LA skyline flicker past the window.

“Morality scandal,” he repeated, dryly. “Because I kissed a woman I admire?”

“You kissed an employee, Sebastian. One under your authority.”

He exhaled slowly. “She’s the LA Branch Head. And the most capable leader I’ve worked with in years. Don’t twist this into something it’s not.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is, Sebastian. It matters how it looks. And right now? It looks like chaos.”

Sebastian glanced at his reflection in the car window. He looked calm. Too calm.

“She’s worth it,” he said quietly.

There was a pause.

“Be careful what you're willing to sacrifice,” Clara warned. “You may lose more than just your seat at the table.”

A small smile touched Sebastian’s lips — cool, confident, defiant.

“We both know I built the table.”

And he ended the call.

---