Chapter 39 Expelling Sophie

Chapter 39 Expelling Sophie

Aiden stood frozen, trapped between impossible choices, cold sweat beading across his forehead.

Sebastian rose to his feet. His towering frame radiated suffocating authority as he strode toward his office without sparing Sophie another glance, his rigid spine like a glacier that would never thaw.

Passing Aiden, he did not break stride, just dropped a single frigid command.

"Send her to my office."

Sophie's legs felt like lead. Each step threatened to crack the floor beneath her.

The walk from conference room to executive office—barely a hundred feet—stretched into an endless gauntlet.

She pushed open the heavy mahogany door. Sebastian stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, his back to her, the entire office thick with his icy fury.

"Mr. Carter, I'm sorry." Sophie kept her head down, voice raw and hoarse. Beyond apologies, her mind had gone blank. "I... I apologize for what just happened, I..."

"What just happened?"

Sebastian turned slowly, his lips curving into a cruelly mocking smile. Those ice-blue eyes held nothing back—pure disappointment and rage.

"Sophie, is this how you perform as my chief secretary? During a critical project meeting, you broadcast your personal text messages on the big screen for the entire team to enjoy your private life?" He advanced on her, each step landing on her fraying nerves. "Do you have any idea how unprofessional that was?"

His voice stayed low, but every word cut deep.

Sophie knew this mistake had no defense.

She could only repeat that hollow phrase over and over. "I'm sorry, Mr. Carter. I know I was wrong. I promise it will not happen again..."

"There will not be an again." Sebastian stopped in front of her, looking down from his full height, his tone stripped of all warmth. "Go to HR tomorrow and process your termination. Aiden will arrange a severance package."

Sophie's head snapped up, disbelief flooding her face.

She had expected a reprimand, maybe docked pay, even a demotion—but never outright dismissal.

She could not lose this job. Not now. She needed the money. Her unborn child needed the money.

Panic seized her completely. She opened her mouth to explain, to fight for herself, but meeting those fury-filled eyes strangled every word in her throat.

His anger was not just about her professional mistake. Sophie could feel it clearly—beneath that rage lurked something else, something that made her blood run cold.

Sophie's shoulders sagged slowly, as if someone had drained every ounce of strength from her body.

She lowered her eyes, long lashes casting gray shadows beneath them, voice barely audible.

"... Yes. I accept the company's decision."

Her compliance did not extinguish Sebastian's fury—it was gasoline on flames.

He lunged forward, fingers clamping around her jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes. The pressure threatened to crush bone.

"Accept?" He ground the word through his teeth, frost in his gaze ready to freeze her solid. "Sophie, you are accepting this awfully fast!"

His rage erupted completely in that moment, shedding all professional pretense, leaving only the raw, primal demand of a man.

"A few days ago you said you were single, and now you are knocked up?" Sebastian's stare cut like a blade, as if he could dissect her entirely. "Whose kid is it? Well?"

He watched her pale, trembling lips, that searing message flashing through his mind, a name bursting out laced with acid he did not recognize in himself.

"Is it that Samuel's?"

"No." She spoke the word clearly, voice quiet but carrying the eerie calm of someone backed into a corner.

Her denial ignited Sebastian's suppressed fury like a match to kindling.

Not Samuel? Then who?

The thought felt like an invisible hand crushing his heart, jealousy and violence demolishing what remained of his control.

"Not him?" He laughed coldly, his grip on her jaw tightening unconsciously, mockery and contempt sharpening to ice picks. "Looks like I underestimated you, Sophie. Your private life is quite... colorful."

That word—"colorful"—landed like a slap across Sophie's face.

All the humiliation, panic, and fear crystallized into sharp, burning anger.

She knocked his hand away violently, the impact leaving red marks on her skin.

"My private life is none of your damn business!" She stepped back, putting safe distance between them, chest heaving. "All you need to know is I have not let it interfere with my work or affect this company!"

"Affect the company?" Sebastian pointed toward the conference room. "You call what just happened not affecting anything?"

"That was a mistake!" Sophie shot back, eyes reddening. "I will take responsibility for my mistake, but you have no right to insult me like this!"

Sebastian closed in, his towering frame casting her in shadow, those ice-blue eyes churning with a terrifying storm. "What about the father? Does he know he is about to be a dad? Or do you not even know who the father is?"

That vicious accusation shattered Sophie's last defense.

She looked at that handsome, merciless face and suddenly laughed—a sound hollow with desolation and self-mockery.

"The father?" She repeated softly, her gaze seeming to look through him at something beyond. "He is... probably just an irresponsible bastard. A coward thinking with his dick who cannot even remember what he has done."

Each word, quiet but precise, drove like a poisoned dagger into Sebastian's chest.

His breath caught.

Sophie did not look at him again. She reached up and unclipped the ID badge from around her neck—that card bearing her photo and name.

She walked to his desk and set the badge gently on the pile of cold documents. It landed with a sharp click.

"Mr. Carter, thank you for all your... 'care' these past months." She emphasized the word "care," sarcasm naked in her tone.

Without another moment's hesitation, she straightened her spine and walked out of that suffocating office.

The secretarial pool had a strange atmosphere.