13 - The Day After (2)

In the Office

They were eyeing each other when Jeremy suddenly walked in. Sebastian was trying to find out why she was lying and what she was lying about, but now was not the time to pry. 

‘So I don’t believe we covered the remote connection to the cameras yesterday,’ Jeremy volunteered. ‘Let me show you how to access it from your phone and from your other devices. This would definitely make it easier for you to monitor the office when you go out of town.’ 

‘Okay,’ Sebastian said as he stood up and returned to his desk, giving Clara one last look. She was already busy clicking away on her computer.

Clara was not particularly interested in having lunch right now. She was concentrating on finding out more information regarding her sister and her family. So far, the only information she had dug up was about her dad.

The news article talked about how his company changed CEOs after the death of his daughter. So that’s why they never found a kidnapping report. They tried to cover it up as an accident, and this gave her mixed feelings. Did her parents not pay her ransom and just leave her at the kidnapper’s disposal? Is that why they wanted to kill her?

Nothing in the news articles said anything else. Was her dad devastated? Was that why he stepped down as the CEO or was there something else behind the sudden change of leadership? One of her brothers needs to see if they can hack this company’s bank records around the time of the accident and check. Check for what? Check if her dad loved her enough to embezzle money from his own company and get fired for it? Who knows?

Now that I know who my parents are. If I tell them I’m still alive, will they have me back? Will they want me back? What if they are all happy with their lives already? They probably don’t need me messing up their lives. 

She sighed and held the bridge of her nose between her fingers. There were so many emotions running through her head right now, it made her want to curl up and cry all day. She finally found her parents, yet she was even more scared now than she’s ever felt before. 

A cough from Jeremy reminded her where they were. He had just ended the demonstration and had tried to hold Sebastian’s attention as much as he could when he saw the conflicting emotions flitting across her face. Sadness, anger, confusion, more anger, resolve and then defeat. Jeremy wished they could have just stayed in the hotel where he could have helped her with her research. But they had appearances to maintain and business to conduct. 

Sebastian was not immune to what was happening. He was half-listening to what Jeremy was saying, he could figure out all these things later. Their security system was very user-friendly, so it won’t be too hard to navigate. He was observing what was happening to Clara, and he was growing more concerned but did not know how to ask to be included in whatever turmoil she was experiencing.

He was feeling the powerful urge to protect her and shield her from whatever pain she was feeling, but she won’t let him in. He really had no right, because they meant nothing to each other at this point. Looking at Jeremy’s worried expression, he decided he needed to break down one of her indestructible walls. 

Clara excused herself so she could compose herself in the restroom.

“I know something is happening here, and I know you think it’s none of my business, but I want to help,” Sebastian offers.

“The only way you can help is if you help keep her distracted from her own thoughts,” Jeremy replied.

-=-

If you asked Clara how lunch was, she would tell you it was a total disaster, but if you ask Sebastian, he would say it was very entertaining, and here’s why.

As soon as they got into the elevator, Sebastian carried that intense gaze that he seemed to reserve only for intimidation. He had his sights on Clara, and he did not mind that staring at her made her uncomfortable. 

She was wearing a regular dress shirt and another of her skinny ankle pants that covered her modestly. Sure it highlighted her toned backside, but what pants don’t? The way Sebastian was staring at her made her feel like her legs were naked. Her cheeks were tinged red as she followed his eyes, traveling appreciatively up her body.

When he got to her face, she stared pointedly at him with one of her eyebrows up. But instead of being embarrassed for getting caught, he just gave her one of his sexy smiles, challenging her, and she suddenly felt shy and looked away.

The tension was so thick in the elevator Jeremy felt like he should skip lunch and make an excuse, like maybe having food poisoning as well? But he knew Clara would skin him alive if he did that? The attraction was evident between them, but his sister wasn’t ready to acknowledge it yet, so he decided to let the afternoon play out by itself. Is this what Sebastian has planned to do to entertain his sister? He was in big trouble.

‘So Clara, did you plant any secret cameras in my office while you were there?’ Sebastian asked, pretending to get the lint out of her shirt. ‘Because I would have planted one in your office, so I could watch you every day,’ he teased. ‘Jeremy, can you give me that link later?’ he winks at Jeremy.

‘Don’t you dare? No vacation for the next six months,’ she threatened Jeremy. ‘This idiot is pushing me too much, ugh! If you were not our client, I’d punch you in the face,’ she thought as she looked at him with a straight face, trying to keep her cool. Sebastian chuckled. Jeremy coughed.

‘Mr. Colfer, we are not in the business of giving out security information,’ she said, challenging him. 

‘Ohhh...I like the way you say that, Mr. Colfer. It sounded very formal, very strict,’ he said as he tried to crowd her to the corner of the elevator, ‘I feel as if you’re going to punish me, and I’m going to like it.’