Meant to Crash | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Five

THREE DAYS BEFORE

Sebastian's P.O.V.

I wanted to scream at my sister.

Sasha said dad wasn't coming for the first half of the celebration, promising me in advance that I wouldn't have to cross paths with him. Last time we talked, he had chewed me out for ending up in the tabloids again.

That wasn't the real reason he was mad. We both knew it. With his declining health, I was meant to take more control of the company - but I was holding back, slacking off, and making him second guess his decision. He wanted to make a formal announcement about his departure from his place in the company. After the news of Sasha getting engaged, he temporarily called it off and said that there was no need to overshadow her big day.

"I need to talk to you," I whispered to my twin, baring my teeth at her as I scoped the room.

Sasha followed my gaze. "Who are you looking for?"

"It's no one you should be worried about."

"It's that assistant of yours." She teased, "I hope you're being smart."

"Haven't I always been?"

"No, that's not true—not in the slightest. Are you planning on giving dad an early funeral?"

"That's why I came over here in the first place. It's about dad." I plucked a cherry tomato from a waitress walking by, lugging forward an array of different toppings for a salad bar. "I'm going to need you to forward me any dates you plan on having for your wedding so they don't interfere with anything."

"Interfere with anything?" she knitted her brows together to form an impenetrable frown. "Why on earth would you need that? What's going on at Lockhart Incorporated?"

"Nothing you need to care about."

"I am a member on the board," she reminded me, "I have every right to know what's going on."

"There's going to be a press release in a week or two."

"A press release? Why? What for?"

"You're asking way too many questions on a day that's should be focused on you." I patted her shoulder. "You need to relax, Sasha. What's happening soon, or about to happen in the next coming days, was bound to go down the moment I came back."

Her eyes doubled in size. "You're taking over dad's position, aren't you?" She didn't wait for a response, twisting her face up in that annoying way I was used to seeing ever since we were kids. She looked like she was about to explode, getting so red in the face till the freckles on her cheeks seemed to disappear.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

I had to close my ears for her next set of words.

"Sasha," I hushed at her, eying the people around us with a partial smile, "Please, stop. Don't do this right now."

"I take care of dad for years," she hissed, "no appreciation and no raise for years. Years."

"I get it."

"No, no, you don't. You never get it, Sebastian. You always have it given to you. Even in the beginning, dad wanted you at the office before he offered me a position. It wasn't until you decided to go fucking chase after some hippy in a bummy state in the search of...I don't know...direction in your directionless life."

"You're talking about your own mother, too. We have the same mom."

"She abandoned us, and would do it all over again if given the chance."

"You don't know her whole story."

"I don't want to."

"I'm trying to do better, trying to get better at living life."

"By fucking someone way too young for you? How is that going to look on the company?"  she asked the million dollar question, so softly and so faintly that I almost forgot she was mad. "Imagine if you knocked her up like you did the last girl dad disapproved of. He would make her get an abortion like the other girl."

"Connie had a miscarriage."

My stomach turned inside itself. I didn't want to think about Connie.

"That's what you know, sure. But everyone in the family knows about the amount of money dad gave her to terminate that pregnancy. He'd do it again."

"No, you're lying."

"I'll give you a heads up," she said, stepping back, "Either fire Maddie, or admit to dad what you're doing. If you don't do either, I'll be sure to tell him myself."

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