The Publicist's Plight (Book I in The Harrison Inc. Series) | ✓

Chapter Twenty Eight: One Big Happy Family

Have you ever seen the mortified, fearful expression on a child's face when they're about to be disciplined by their parent? That is the exact look I see on Sebastian's face when he sees his father. And it's both strange, odd, and incomprehensible at the same time, seeing it on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Sebastian asks once he finally opens the car door and lets himself out.

Garret approaches him, ferocity in his blue eyes. It's incredible how identical Garrett and Sebastian look when they're both angry. It's as if Sebastian is frowning in a mirror.

"Get in the house, Sebastian," he orders quietly.

"I'm not twelve fucking years old anymore—"

"NOW!" Garrett shouts.

Sarah, Lucas and I jump at the power in Garrett's voice, a power I have never even heard before, the time I have spent working for him. In the dead silence, only the crickets reply. Sebastian stares his father straight in the eyes; their height is both towering, with Sebastian standing at about a half an inch taller than his father.

Slowly, he steps away from the car door and marches right into the house. A small cloud of dust rises when he kicks the dirt in anger and shock at the authority his father has set on the table in front of us. None of us move. We don't know if we should even move.

"Is it too late to hit reverse and take a ride around the acreage for the rest of the day?" Lucas whispers.

I nod, "Please do. I'm begging."

Garrett turns and looks into the car. His eyes shift from my blood-stained blouse down to my bandaged foot.

"Oh, shit," he places a hand over his mouth. This is one of the only times I've heard him curse.

I step out of the car with my belongings. Sarah and Lucas do the same, but instead they rush inside the house to check on their boss.

"Mr. Harrison. I-I didn't expect you to be here."

"Yeah, me neither. Mr. Collingwood called me yesterday telling me that you two had gone missing. His workers found Sebastian's jacket in the woods, not too far from the car."

That's right. I remember Sebastian abandoning his jacket in the forest from the exhausting heat. I just didn't expect Collingwood to send out a search party that eventually found it.

"Are you okay? What the hell happened?"

"I'm alright, sir," I assure him. "Sebastian and I stepped out of the car and we got lost in the forest. This isn't my blood, by the way."

"Well, why did you guys get out of the car?"

I'm hesitant to say the truth.

"Leslie?"

"We got into an argument. Sebastian got out first, and I followed him. But it was my fault we got lost. I wouldn't listen to him when he proposed we go a different direction."

And Garrett didn't listen to me.

His face falls when he hears my explanation, "I knew it," he says lowly. He pivots and sets his sights on the manor with angry strides. I jog to catch up with him.

I try to plea, convince him that the blame shouldn't be pinned on Sebastian. But he doesn't want to hear it. Immediately when Garrett walks into the room the air grows cold. The lights illuminate the entire scene, and with said lighting you can see the true state of Sebastian's injuries. Fiona, cheeks damp with tears, holds up Sebastian's head while asking an abundance of questions. Elizabeth is at her side, while William and Patrick are behind them, watching their brother attentively. The maids are waiting on the sides with wide eyes, three of them at Lucas's care cleaning his face with a cloth.