Cole was on his feet instantly, his chair clattering backward. "What the hell is this?"
Sebastian held up the phone. Pressed play.
Cole's own voice filled the room, tinny but unmistakable,"I added that clause after our lawyers had finished their review. Swapping in a different copy was child's play..."
"No." Cole lunged.
He moved faster than I expected, crossing the space between them in two strides, his hand shooting out to grab the phone. Sebastian pulled back, but Cole's fingers caught his wrist, wrenching his arm down?—
I was already moving.
I caught Cole from behind, hooking my arm around his chest and hauling him backward. He thrashed against me, still reaching for the phone, his elbow catching me hard in the ribs.
"Get off me!" Cole snarled. "That recording is inadmissible—you can't?—"
"One-party consent." Sebastian's voice was cold, steady. He adjusted his grip on the phone, holding it out of reach. "New York law. Look it up."
Cole went still in my arms.
"You had no idea you weren't signing the contract your secretary had prepared..."
His own voice, damning him. His own words, recorded legally and completely admissible in court.
The fight drained out of him. I felt it happen—the moment he realized there was no angle to play, no charm to deploy, no escape route left.
I released him. He stumbled forward, catching himself on the back of the chair.
Sebastian stopped the recording.
"Scram, Matthews." His voice was ice. "Get the hell out of my company."
Cole stood frozen for a long moment, his chest heaving, his face cycling through rage and disbelief and something that looked almost like fear.
Then he ran.
Actually ran, his expensive shoes slapping against the marble floor, his carefully constructed composure shattered. I watched through the glass as he sprinted past Kim's desk, past the elevators, disappearing into the stairwell like the building was on fire.
"And Cole?" Sebastian called after him, his voice carrying across the floor. "You'll be hearing from our lawyers."
The stairwell door slammed shut.
Sebastian turned to me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. I braced myself for the critique, the list of everything I'd done wrong, the ways I'd almost screwed it up, the reminder that I'd caused this mess in the first place.
Instead, his hand landed on my shoulder. Warm. Heavy.
“You did good.”
Three words. That was all. From anyone else, it would have been faint praise.
From Sebastian, it might as well have been a standing ovation. A parade. A bloody knighthood.
My throat went tight. I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded.
He nodded once, squeezed my shoulder, and walked out.
I stood alone in my office, the adrenaline slowly draining from my system. My hands were shaking. My heart was pounding. My ribs ached where Cole's elbow had connected.
