Let Me Go, Mr. Howard Chapter 21

At one in the morning, when the office door swung open, Scarlett was dozing with her head on her desk. The sound startled her awake. 

She looked up to see Sebastian standing in the doorway, his silhouette stretched long by the hallway light. 

Her heart skipped a beat as she glanced at her phone—her message remained unanswered. But his presence here at this hour meant he must have seen it.

She hurriedly stood up, her knee banging against the desk with a thud. She ignored the pain, her gaze locked on him. 

Sebastian walked in, his black leather shoes making a soft rustling sound against the scattered papers on the floor. 

His eyes swept over the chaos, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. Without comment, he pulled a document from his briefcase and held it out to her.

Scarlett's fingers trembled slightly, assuming it was the new approval contract. But as she recognized the cover, her movement froze mid-air. 

It was Edith's engagement party design proposal, with "IMPORTANT: Pink balloon wall must exceed 10 feet" highlighted in fluorescent marker.

"Stop making a fuss. If the exhibition doesn't happen, it doesn't happen," Sebastian said flatly, his voice tinged with weariness. "Just finish the engagement party designs first. Edith has been asking about them repeatedly."

"A fuss?" Scarlett felt like she'd heard the darkest joke imaginable. 

She looked up into his eyes—those eyes she once lost herself in now held nothing but coldness and impatience. "In your eyes, everything I've done for the Starlight Show is just 'making a fuss'?"

She gestured at the sketches and samples strewn across the floor, her voice shaking with emotion. "I stayed up nights for eight months, made dozens of trips to approval offices, revised the designs over a hundred times—and to you, that's just 'making a fuss'?"

Sebastian's frown deepened. "Why be so stubborn about it? Edith's engagement party is coming up soon. That's more important."

"More important?" Tears suddenly fell from Scarlett's eyes—not loud sobs, just silent drops sliding down her cheeks and landing on the engagement party proposal, blurring the ink. 

"So my blood and sweat will always matter less than Edith's engagement party, right?"

Scarlett threw the proposal onto the floor and simply stared at Sebastian. 

"Sebastian," her voice was soft but painfully clear, "you truly have no heart. Making me design your engagement party—don't you think that's a bit too cruel? Even a dog you've kept for five years would have earned some affection."

Silence fell over the office, broken only by the wind howling outside like someone weeping softly. 

Sebastian stared at the deadness in her eyes, his brow furrowed tightly. He genuinely hadn't taken her Starlight Show seriously. 

To him, it was just a dispensable event, far less important than Edith's engagement party, far less important than his grandfather's wishes, far less important than those so-called "family interests." 

He hadn't even considered—hadn't bothered to consider—what this show meant to Scarlett.

Watching his silence, Scarlett's lips curved in bitter self-mockery. 

She must have gone mad to say such things to Sebastian. He had only ever treated her as a plaything for his amusement. Speaking like this only invited humiliation. 

She silently gathered her things and tried to walk past him without a glance.

Sebastian suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. 

"Crying?" He reached up, his fingertips roughly wiping the hot tears from her cheek. The touch of her cool, smooth skin against his fingers caused an unexpected tightness in his chest.

Scarlett turned her head away from his touch, her eyes full of contempt. "What's this, Mr. Howard? Feeling sorry for me now? Or do my tears offend you—would you rather gouge out my eyes?"

Her words stung like needles. Sebastian's brow furrowed deeply as he grabbed her wrist, his grip almost strong enough to crush bone. 

"Scarlett, don't test my limits," he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"You've already trampled all over my limits!" Scarlett struggled against him, tears falling harder. "Let me go! I never want to see you again!"

She turned to leave, but Sebastian yanked her back forcefully. In a dizzying moment, she was slammed against the desk, her back hitting the hard edge with a painful thud. 

Documents scattered across the floor, the pen holder crashed down, and pens rolled everywhere. 

Sebastian loomed over her, one hand pinning her shoulder, the other gripping her wrist, trapping her between his body and the desk.

His scent enveloped her—a faint cedar fragrance mixed with a suffocating sense of dominance. 

"Let me go," Scarlett struggled, pushing against him with all her strength, but his power was too much—her resistance as futile as a butterfly beating its wings against a storm.

Sebastian looked down at her reddened eyes, at those tears that wouldn't stop falling, complex emotions churning in his gaze. 

He leaned down and kissed her tear tracks. His burning lips against her cool skin moved with punishing force, trailing down to her trembling mouth.

"Sebastian! Have you lost your mind?" Scarlett's eyes widened in shock, unable to believe he would do this here. "This is the office! Let me go!"

"What are you afraid of?" Sebastian raised his head, his eyes showing a touch of obsessive madness. "At this hour, no one's around." 

He reached back and locked the office door. That soft click sounded like thunder to Scarlett, shattering her last fragment of hope.

"You bastard!" Scarlett shook with rage, trying to bite him, but he gripped her chin and kissed her deeper. The remaining documents on the desk crashed to the floor. 

His hands tore at her clothes, his movements rough like he was venting frustration, yet also asserting some kind of ownership.

"Sebastian! You have no shame!" Scarlett cursed, tears falling faster. "You're insane! A monster!" 

The more she cursed, the more forceful his actions became, as if he needed to consume her completely to extinguish the inexplicable fire burning inside him.

The cold surface of the desk seeped through her thin clothing, creating a stark contrast with the heat radiating from his body. 

Scarlett's resistance gradually weakened, leaving only suppressed whimpers and gasps. 

She could feel his rage, his obsession, and beneath that anger, an almost desperate possessiveness. But this wasn't love—this was a cage, shackles, the final trampling of her dignity.

Time passed, and only when dawn began to break did the commotion in the office finally subside. 

Sebastian straightened his clothes, his face expressionless, as if the man who had lost control wasn't him at all. He looked at Scarlett, who lay exhausted across the desk.