CHAPTER 5

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.