I placed my hand on the cold metal door handle. Thinking it over for a second, I decided to knock instead. After three attempts, I heard his overpowering voice yell "come in."
I opened the office door hesitantly.
When I walked inside, I noticed Sebastian sitting at his desk, surrounded by a few members of the Board. They all stopped conversing when they saw me.
"Um, perhaps we will finish this during the meeting tomorrow." Candace, one of the members asked.
"Sounds good. 8:30 sharp." He said flatly. I cringed.
They all sneaked glances at me before exiting the office; Sebastian's intense glare pierced through me the entire time, as each member left the room.
When Candace closed the door, it was quiet. The awkward silence made me grow anxious, as I tried my best to ignore his stare.
It wasn't working.
"You wanted to see me?" I finally asked.
"Yeah, uh..." He pointed to the leather chair across from his desk. I walked towards it and sat down, politely setting my hands on my lap.
"I wanted to talk to you about something."
I listened.
"I have this friend...more like business partner named...Niles Berke in England. He has ties with the UK Parliament and has been associated with Harrison inc. for a while. He emailed me and talked about his 18 year old son named Alexander."
The tension released from my body, knowing he wasn't going to bring up the incident in the conference room. At least not yet.
"I think I've seen him before."
He nodded "Well Niles has noticed your methods in...reforming reckless individuals of society and he wants you to do that to his son."
"Um...well I-"
"His son is becoming more of a nuisance; he's part of Parliament, he can't have that weight. I, at least want you to consider it. You don't even have to change him, just make society think he-"
"Fine. I'll do it."
Sebastian widened his eyes in surprise.
"Oh, okay then. Here's the paper work; you start next month."
I grabbed the folder from his hand, making sure not to touch it "It shouldn't be as catastrophic as the first time." I said.
Sebastian looked at me, frozen. You could see the embarrassment in his eyes, and I felt it in my chest.
"I-I didn't, I mean I just...I'm going to just...I'm sorry." I stammered, keeping my eyes focused on the ground. I stuffed the folder under my arm and darted out of the office; I could feel a panic attack coming on.
**
Thirty five people in two departments that day had been transferred, while forty seven in those two laid off. Knowing the entire week would be filled with this, everyone was scared for their lives.
Next would be Human Resources, then Financing, then Foreign Affairs and so on. Hopefully they wouldn't face the impact that Sales did, but the way it was going anything was possible.
Around six, I went downstairs with Sarah and Lucas to talk with Caleb in Human Resources to see if we could get any more info on the situation.
When we entered the department, everyone was frantic.
"Everyone, calm down!" Caleb screamed, standing on top of someone's desk. His assistant, Aiden, was trying to calm everyone's nerves about the situation.
Caleb spotted me, then immediately stepped down. He approached me, fear evident on his face.
"Caleb-"
"Everyone is scared about the lay offs and transfers. I don't know what I'm going to do; we're rumored to be the next department." He ran his fingers on top of his bald head, panicked.
"Leslie, your department going to go through hell; the press is going to be curious about the lay offs and representatives are going to come out asking wha-"
"Caleb, calm down, that's my job, therefore I'll handle it. You just worry on calming everyon-"
"Shut the fuck...up!" Sarah screamed, making Caleb, Lucas and I jump.
All 154 people on the floor silenced at Sarah's outburst. Everyone stopped packing paperwork and looked in our direction.
"There...you were saying?" Sarah asked. Caleb looked at her in shock.
I cleared my throat "Um...we came down here to ask if you knew anything else about the situation. I've been busy on other matters."
Most of the day consisted of me looking through the paper work involving Alexander Berke, the English rough houser. Even though the lay offs were a problem, I didn't think Sebastian was going to do it today.
Caleb glanced at all three of us first "Come in my office..." He mumbled. We followed.
He closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of his desk. "The transfers aren't something new actually; Garret was planning on doing that...what, five? Six months ago? He just never got around to it apparently. When Sebastian and the Board met on Saturday he looked over his fathers plans for the company and noticed the lay offs on missed schedule. The Board tried to shrug it off but Sebastian was so adamant about it. Eventually he got so irritated by the Boards persistent remarks about letting it go that he signed the document. The data from the last two years did say we had too many employees but no one ever did anything. Now it's..." Caleb rubbed his eyes.
"And we're next." Sarah said, looking at Lucas.
I turned towards them "No, no he can't do that. He isn't going to do that."
Lucas looked at me "Leslie, he-"
"No, no he isn't going to lay off or transfer anyone tied with the CEO or the Board."
"He just demoted Francis today...for raising his hand." Sarah reminded me.
Just as I was about to say something, I heard rapid foot steps approaching the door. Lucinda bursts through the door without knocking. Her hair was all over the place, and a sheen of sweat covered her face.
"Leslie, something is wrong, come quick!" She ordered. I followed her out of the office, Lucas and Sarah behind me.
As we entered the elevator, Lucinda pressed for the top floor with such impatience I thought the button was going to break.
"Lucinda, what's wrong?" I asked and we ascended to the top floor.
"Sebastian and the Board just transferred two of our secretaries, one of them being Paul."
"What?!" I screamed.
She nodded rapidly, catching her breath "And it gets worse, he just fired Darcy."
I marched out of that elevator so hard my heels echoed into the reception area.
Paul was no where in sight, but one of the receptionists were crying, as two other women were trying to comfort her. Everyone else on the floor had confused looks on their face
I made my way towards my office, and found Darcy bringing a small box of her belongings outside the door, sniffling a few times before setting it down.
Sebastian happened to be only a few feet away from her.
I pointed to the box "Hey! Don't you set anything else in that damn box! You're not leaving!" I slid the box closer and closer towards the inside of the office. Darcy looked at me in shock, unsure about what to do.
Before I could successfully get it inside, a strong hand slammed the door shut.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Sebastian asked, his eyebrows pressed into a frown.
"You're not firing my assistant! My assistant-"
"She is signed under employment under Harrison incorporated therefore she works for me!"
The entire floor was staring at us, wide eyed.
"I am a publicist which means I have the right to work personally with my clients or publicly with a firm, therefore she isn't signed under your employment, she is signed under mine!"
Sebastian slammed his hand on the door in anger so hard I flinched.
"Don't test my authority! This is my company now and you knew I was issuing lay offs! You're not the Board! You're not the Executive Officer!" He yelled.
"Lay offs! Lay offs, not termination! You're abusing your authority. I don't care, she is my assistant and you will not fire her!"
He slowly slid his hand off the door. His facial expression changed from irritated to emotionless.
"Fine. I won't lay her off, I'll lay off Sarah and Lucas instead."
Sarah gasped "What!" She screamed, furious.
"You can't do that!" Lucas protested.
"Actually, I can. Believe it or not, all three of you count as the ten percent of the over employed here."
He swiped his finger between Darcy, Lucas and Sarah.
"You're lucky I'm letting Leslie choose."
"I'm not choosing!" I opposed in disbelief, "I refuse."
"Fine, then I'll just let them all go." He replied.
A sudden feeling of rage coursed through my veins. Without warning, I brought my hands up to Sebastian's chest and pushed him away from me. He stared at me, awestruck.
"Fire me." I said, my tongue working faster than my judgment.
Sebastian looked as if I asked him to stab me. His eyes held regret, sadness, shock, all three. He tried to find something to say but nothing would come out of his mouth.
'Wha-"
"Fire me!" I yelled.
"I-"
"My salary count is more than there's. Fire me and that would be the equivalent for all three."
Sarah interrupted "Leslie-"
"No. I won't let him let you go."
Sebastian and I then glared at each other, for what seemed like forever. Even though I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze I held it with such fierceness in my eyes.
"Fire...me." I repeated slowly.
Eventually, Sebastian grabbed the handle and flung my office door open. He stomped past me, without giving anyone a second glance.
Lucinda looked at me with a surprise expression before tailing Sebastian into his office. He slammed the door so hard everyone jumped.
I exhaled deeply once I knew his presence was gone. All four of us looked at each other without saying a word, unsure of what was right to say.
"Dammit!" I shouted, as I slammed my office door behind me. Lucinda jogged further into my office, with a feared expression on her face. It was understandable, really, why she would be intimidated. "Um, Mr. Harrison...are you alright?" She asked. "Does it look like I'm alright? I can't believe she would disrespect me like that! So uncalled for." Lucinda bit her lip "Well, are you going to...fire her? Because of that?" I grimaced at her question; why would she ask something so stupid? "No, of course not. She's the best publicist anyone could ask for and finding someone who could do her job would be a head trip." "Oh..." It looked as if Lucinda was fighting back a smile.
It had been almost a week since Sebastian and I's fallout. We haven't spoken much, except when we had to converse about what he could and couldn't say to the press. Other then that, the tension was unbearable. Darcy and I spent the last few hours of our shift doing a bit more back round on Alexander Berke, my next "client." As we had gotten through the third British article that talked about him missing out on his father's promotional dinner...twice, someone knocked on my door. Even though it was open, everyone who knew me knew that I required them to knock first. "Hey, we need to talk." Sarah said, not even waiting for me to respond before sitting down in the leather chair opposite of me. "What is it?" I asked, concerned.
Sunday night, I laid in my bed as Beth finished unpacking her things in her room. I had thankfully finished rearranging Sebastian's schedule with the help of Darcy, and made sure they all fit well with each other. All that was on my mind was sleeping, as I knew tomorrow would be yet another busy day. Before I closed my eyes, my phone vibrated on the bed side table. "Sebastian?" I said to myself, looking at the screen. My heart leaped in my chest, though I tried my best to contain my odd excitement since it wasn't any use. "Sorry to bother you so late. Was just wondering if you had finished rearranging the schedule." The text read. "Yes, I did everything the instructions said, as well as called the-" I shook my head as I deleted th
"So is this part of some little plan you've got going on? Are you trying to-to usurp my position because lately you've been doing agreatjob at questioning my authority." We made our descent down to the 13th floor, one that was much longer than expected. Sebastian's gaze pierced through me like daggers every second that passed. "I didn'-I don't want to usurp anything, Mr. Harrison, I just-Sarah gave me the document and deci-" "You decided it would be alright to sign it without notifying me at all?" His voice grew louder from his previous statement. "It said it needed a representative-" "Again, you aren't the Board nor are you an Executive Officer!" H
I parked the car in our garage in an angry haze and immediately stormed to the stairs, having my fair share of elevators for the day. Sebastian not only pissed me off with bringing my ass hole of an ex-boyfriend, Hudson into the picture, but also made me stay an extra hour to talk to Niles Berke about his son, which all pieces of information I knew of already. As long as I knew that Hudson and Alejandra's presence still lingered in the building, I couldn't focus on anything properly. All that Berke said over the conference went in through one ear and out the other. Still, I sat still in the conference room, stared at the small computer screen and pretended to listen to everything he said. "He's a member of Parliament, and you ignored the words coming out of his mouth?" Darcy asked. "I had more pressing matters that were more important
We waited for "Redemption Song" to stop playing before we actually discussed things. Matt's laugh could be heard from Sarah's living room, and frankly she wasn't enjoying it."Why is he laughing so loud?" Beth asked, munching on the few cheez-its she had left in her hand.Sarah directed her attention to me "I don't know, maybe because he's telling Kai about how I supposedly have a little bitch crush on his little brother, hm?""Hey, how was I supposed to know that they were related?""I don't know, but spreading lies isn't always the best thing to do."I chuckled "Oh, right. Telling him I was taken isn't lying at all."Sarah puckere
The amount of accomplishment I was feeling inside of me was astonishing. It felt like I was on top of the world. It felt like I was invincible, even. Fearless. Sebastian kept his eyes away from me while Mrs. Keening read the demands. I knew he was nervous and uncomfortable; he had a tendency of shaking his foot repeatedly when he was uncomfortable. I remembered he did this during the dinner with the chocolatier, Mr. Mullerandwhen Fiona was lecturing him on the plane to Tennessee a few months ago. "Right, so Mr. Anderson proposes that we both equally interest into the , 'Han-Cin' consumer product enterprise in Eastern Asia." Sebastian nodded "Um, yeah I think that would be re-"
My breathing finally slowed down to a normal pace once I left the office. Seeing Leslie like that, so...so - "Mr. Harrison." Lucinda interrupted my faulty thoughts as she caught up with me. "Yes, what is it?" I stuttered. "Oh, just-um...you're walking kind of fast." "Well maybe you should try walking a little faster next time." Lucinda chuckled nervously "Right, right sorry." We entered the elevator as Lucinda pressed for the top floor. Just as the doors were about to close, we both spotted Leslie exiting the conference room and meeting up with Darcy. When the elevator doors