Sebastian Wolfe did not return the next day.
At first, no one questioned it.
He had meetings outside the office sometimes. Investors. Private negotiations. Closed-door arrangements no one else was involved in.
But by noon, whispers began.
By the end of the day, everyone had noticed.
His office remained dark.
Empty.
Still.
Lillian tried not to look at it.
She failed.
Every hour, her eyes drifted to the glass walls.
The chair untouched.
The desk immaculate.
No sharp voice calling, Miss Parker.
No controlled footsteps echoing down the hall.
No presence pressing against the air.
It was strange.
Unsettling.
The office felt… softer.
And she hated that she noticed.
Chloe leaned over her desk around three in the afternoon.
"He's not answering internal calls."
Lillian kept typing. "He's probably busy."
"He canceled tomorrow's board review."
Her fingers paused for half a second.
"He doesn't cancel."
"I know."
Silence.
Chloe studied her. "This is about yesterday."
Lillian's jaw tightened. "No."
"Yes."
She exhaled slowly. "He just needs space."
Chloe blinked. "You sound like you're defending him."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Lillian closed her laptop slightly harder than necessary.
"He lost control," she said quietly. "That's not like him."
"Maybe he's human."
"That's the problem."
Chloe's brow furrowed. "You don't like seeing that?"
Lillian looked toward the empty office again.
"I don't know."
Day two.
Still no Sebastian.
An official email arrived from his executive account:
All urgent matters are to be directed to the interim operations lead. I will be unavailable for the remainder of the week.
No explanation.
No signature beyond his name.
Just Sebastian Wolfe.
The formality stung more than it should have.
Lillian read it twice.
Remainder of the week.
He wasn't just stepping away.
He was retreating.
Chloe sat across from her at lunch again.
"He's hiding," Chloe said bluntly.
"He's not hiding."
"He punched someone and left mid-day. That's hiding."
Lillian stirred her drink absently. "He didn't mean to push me."
Chloe's eyes softened. "But he did."
"Yes."
"And he saw you fall."
Lillian swallowed.
"He looked…" She stopped.
"Looked what?"
"…like he hated himself."
Chloe watched her carefully. "And that bothered you."
"It should bother him."
"That's not what I asked."
Lillian didn't respond.
Because the truth was—
It had bothered her more than the fall itself.
Day three.
The building felt almost ordinary now.
That was the strangest part.
Work continued.
Meetings happened.
Emails were sent.
But the center of gravity was missing.
People spoke a little louder.
Laughed a little easier.
The tension that usually lingered in the air had thinned.
And Lillian hated that too.
Because she had grown used to that tension.
She didn't want to admit that.
Chloe approached her desk mid-morning.
"Your ankle okay?"
"It's fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
Chloe hesitated. "You could call him."
Lillian's head snapped up. "Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"Because he's my boss."
"And?"
"And he clearly doesn't want to talk."
Chloe crossed her arms. "Or maybe he doesn't know how."
Lillian looked away.
She replayed that moment again.
Him standing there.
Looking at her and Ethan.
That cold wall going back up.
Then walking away.
He hadn't even looked back.
Across the city, Sebastian hadn't left his house in three days.
The modern mansion was silent.
Too silent.
He sat in his office overlooking the winter-gray skyline.
Files sat open on his desk.
Unread.
Emails unanswered.
His phone buzzed occasionally.
Board members.
Legal advisors.
Ignored.
He flexed his hand slowly.
The bruising on his knuckles had darkened slightly.
It wasn't the pain that lingered.
It was the image.
Miss Parker falling.
Her voice calling his name.
The coat lifted toward him.
The concern in her eyes.
Concern he did not deserve.
He stood abruptly and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
He had built his life around control.
Precision.
Distance.
He did not react.
He calculated.
He did not fight.
He dismantled.
But Ethan had said one sentence.
One careless, cruel sentence.
And he had snapped.
Not because of the insult.
He'd heard worse.
But because it happened in front of her.
Because she heard it.
Because she saw the part of him he kept buried.
His jaw tightened.
And then—
He had pushed her.
Accidentally.
But intention didn't matter.
The result did.
She fell because of him.
Unacceptable.
He exhaled sharply.
Distance was necessary.
For her.
For himself.
Day four.
Lillian stopped pretending she wasn't checking his office first thing in the morning.
She walked in.
Placed her bag down.
Looked.
Still empty.
Her chest tightened unexpectedly.
Chloe noticed immediately.
"You're counting."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"He said he'd be gone the week."
"It's Thursday."
"I can count."
Chloe lowered her voice. "You miss him."
"I do not."
"You do."
Lillian stood abruptly. "I miss structure."
Chloe smirked. "Sure."
That irritated her more than she expected.
She marched into Sebastian's office without thinking.
It still smelled faintly like him.
That sharp, clean scent.
The air felt colder in here.
She moved toward the desk slowly.
Her fingers hovered over the surface.
He hadn't touched any of this in days.
That wasn't like him.
She sat in the chair briefly.
It felt wrong.
Too big.
Too commanding.
She stood immediately.
"What are you doing?"
Chloe's voice startled her from the doorway.
"Nothing."
Chloe raised an eyebrow.
Lillian stepped away from the desk quickly.
"I just needed a file."
"Mhm."
Silence lingered.
Chloe softened slightly. "You're worried."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Lillian's voice dropped. "He doesn't run from things."
"But he ran from this."
That was the part she couldn't ignore.
Sebastian Wolfe did not retreat.
Yet he had.
After pushing her.
After losing control.
After she saw him vulnerable.
Her stomach twisted.
What if he doesn't come back?
The thought came suddenly.
Unexpectedly.
And it unsettled her deeply.
"He'll come back," she said quietly.
Chloe studied her carefully. "You sound like you need him to."
"I don't need him."
"Okay."
But the denial felt thinner now.
That night, Sebastian stood in his kitchen, staring at his phone.
He had drafted a message three times.
Deleted it three times.
Miss Parker—
Too formal.
Lillian—
Too personal.
He locked the phone and set it down.
Distance was safer.
For her.
He reminded himself of that again.
She deserved stability.
Not someone who reacted with fists.
Not someone who pushed her down.
His jaw tightened.
He would return Monday.
As if nothing happened.
As if the silence meant nothing.
As if she hadn't looked at him differently that day.
He turned off the lights and walked upstairs.
But the quiet followed him.
And for the first time in years—
It didn't feel like control.
It felt like punishment.
Back in Chloe's apartment that night, Lillian lay awake staring at the ceiling.
Her ankle throbbed faintly.
But that wasn't what kept her up.
She replayed his expression again.
That flash of self-hatred.
The apology in his voice.
The way he walked away instead of defending himself.
She turned onto her side.
"He's just your boss," she whispered to herself.
But the silence he left behind felt heavier than it should have.
And that scared her more than anything.