Chapter 9

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. Muller and when 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-"

"Mm, no." I interrupted.

Everyone paused and looked at me.

"Excuse me?" Sebastian said.

There was no turning back now. My sub conscience was practically yelling at me to recall what I said, but I ignored it.

"If you ask me, that's a stupid idea."

Sebastian slowly sat up in his chair "But the thing is, no one asked you, Ms. King, to add your input into a financial contract renew-"

"-Contrarily, Sir, I feel as if I am entitled to give my opinion since I'm the one who can deliver truth or lies about you to the public, better than anyone else...with the click of the send button. I would think you would be open to ideas about saving money."

Sebastian stayed silent. The only reaction that came from him was his eye twitching in frustration.

"Anyway, I think that's a stupid idea because you need to think of the big picture. Sure, Han Cin is a thriving Asian company that has been around for years but times are changing. Notice that people are going to waste their money on products that are more advanced in technology, given this is a new day and age. Han Cin, being so traditional, refuses to adapt to the reform in society. I feel it will be out of business globally in ten years. And then what happens to both of your stocks and investors?"

I held a thumbs up, but turned it upside down.

Mr. Anderson looked at Ms. Keening, who had a shocked look on her face "Wow. That is absolutely right." He said.

I grinned.

Mr. Anderson laughed "Wow, I mean beautiful and intelligent? Mr. Harrison she's a keeper indeed."

Sebastian rolled his eyes "I'm contemplating that." He mumbled silently, looking around the room.

Sarah nudged me slightly. When I looked at her, she was wiggling her eyebrows in approval.

"How long have you been working here, Ms. King?" Mr. Anderson asked.

"About a couple of years."

"So you originally worked for Garret, correct?"

I nodded "Yes, I worked for him."

"Ah, I see. So, you and Sebastian didn't know each other before personally?"

"Well y-"

"No, we didn't." Sebastian said.

Everyone's attention was turned to him.

Mr. Anderson raised an eyebrow "Really? I recall seeing you two-"

"Everything Ms. King and I had was strictly business."

Sebastian looked at me, trying to hide a smirk that was growing on his face "Everything." He repeated.

I felt my throat grow tight. How could he claim we were never 'friends'? I looked down at my fingers in embarrassment.

It was quiet for a while before Mr. Anderson broke the silence.

"Well, Ms. King, if you ever want to take up another client I would love to have you as my publicist-"

"That isn't going to work out; she's mine."

I froze, horror evident on my face at the words that came out of Sebastian's mouth. Hudson looked at Sebastian with a blank expression while Darcy and Sarah gaped at him.

"She's my publicist, is...is what I meant." He corrected.

"I mean it wouldn't be much work; I don't have a spontaneous life like yourself. All she would have to do is just release business statements. As easy as adding nine plus ten, really."

"21." Sarah said with a grin.

Darcy let out a snort before covering her mouth with both hands. Instead of lecturing Sarah, Sebastian just stared at her.

Fighting a smile.

"Is that some sort of inside thing or something?" Alejandra asked.

"You would know if you had a sense of humor." I said. Alejandra gritted her teeth and looked at Hudson for support. He sat in his seat pathetically, not wanting to get involved.

"Anyway, it was...just a suggestion. But, I have a meeting to go to, Mr. Harrison so I think we should resume this next-"

"-Wednesday." Sebastian answered.

Mr. Anderson nodded, standing up to button his suit jacket "Wednesday."

Everyone stood up, packing their things in their bags. Hudson continued to look at me as he closed his brief case.

"Wait. Leslie, stay." Sebastian ordered, pointing to the seat.

I smirked at him as I slowly descended back into the leather seat and placed my hands on the table.

Sarah glanced at me before following Darcy out of the room.

It was Sebastian and I in the room alone now.

Sebastian tapped his hand on the desk repeatedly, looking away from me.

"Well, I don't know why you asked me to stay behind but, I just want to say that lying to a partner isn't the best idea."

"I wasn't lying for no particular reason." He said, his eyes fixed on the wooden table.

I paused "Well, still. You lied about something he already knew about-"

"I lied because the bastard was gathering information to use against me."

What?

I leaned forward "What, what do you-"

"The thing about business partners, is that we will work together to earn even more money than we already have, but if there's a chance to stomp our partner into the ground to get even more money, we'll take it. We aren't friends, it's just business."

He then fixed his attention on me. His eyes seemed to be a brighter, more intense shade of green, making my heart tighten in my chest.

"The thing is...if a boss is in a relationship with his or her employee, especially in the corporate world, they can lose the company. The Board has complete control over that. And frankly I'm not on good terms with The Board right now. So if some scandal was released stating that I..." Sebastian halted, having a hard time saying the words we both knew he was going to say.

"If some scandal was released that you and I were having any, you know, sexual relations or were in a relationship, The Board would make me resign to take Press pressure off of us, and there wouldn't be a CEO until the paper work is filled and finalized for either Henry or Patrick to take the chair, preferably Patrick. Which means, there isn't a share on the stocks or investments, so the money would all go to Anderson Corp until the position is filled. That's a lot of fucking money down the Harrison drain."

"Oh. I didn't know it was that extensive." I responded.

He nodded "Yeah, and you not being able to close your mouth almost resulted in an investigation of workers conduct."

I was going to say a smart remark, but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Once he stood up, I stood up as well. He stopped buttoning his suit jacket and stared at me, eying me up and down.

"Um, that's all I wanted to...to say."

"Alright." I said.

Neither of us moved.

"Um, remember you're meeting with Alexander Berke, I think next week."

"Oh yeah, I've got to remind Darcy about that."

"Yeah, well Alexander is pretty...ambitious so watch out for that."

"Why would I need to?"

Sebastian reached for the door handle "...no reason." He said, before leaving the room.