The Witness

Chapter 4

As he woke up at 5:00 am and put his running shoes on he felt annoyed. He had fallen asleep annoyed and now he was annoyed still as he woke up.

Rick had run off and out the building, not giving any explanation to his strange behaviour and Sebastian felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

He had recently made the decision to trust Rick and entrust him with more details of his personal and work life. Sebastian had started to delegate some tasks to other staff members so that he himself could have the occasional night or weekend off.

He had worked his ass off to get where he was but to be able to take the next step he had to step away from some assignments to make time for the next projects to come.

If SATH Marketing was going to get into publishing he needed to put more time and focus into this business. It was an unknown territory for him but hopefully with hard work he’d turn it into something profitable as well.

Sebastian tied his running shoes, put on a hoodie and grey sweatpants and went down the elevator from his penthouse in Manhattan to start running down Columbus avenue and off into Central Park.

Running always cleared his mind and helped him get ready for the day to come.

As his feet hit the ground at a rhythmic pace he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. He had Linkin Park in his Airpods and tried to clear his mind so that he could isolate this feeling of unease and try to figure out where it came from.

As he neared his apartment complex he had not been able to let go of the anxiety building up in the pit of his stomach and he almost didn’t see the woman in a hoodie that stepped out in front of him. 

“For f***s sake, watch where you're going!” he shouted as he bumped in to her. Her phone fell to the concrete ground and shattered.

“I’m sorry, s**t, my phone!” She fell to her knees to pick up the phone and as she sat on her knees she looked up at him shocked and worried.

She was a beautiful young girl, not too young but she looked a little scruffy. Even in the hoodie she was beautiful as she had dark brown eyes and dark hair that framed her round face. She looked to be latinx. As her eyes looked up with shock and something else that Sebastian recognized. Anxiety. He didn't want to admit to himself that he enjoyed the view of her, in front of him, on her knees.

“f**k, I’m sorry. Let me help you up.” He gave her a hand and as she put her hand in his there was a warmth that radiated from her hand into his, all the way into his stomach. His anxiety flared up again. SHe made him anxious?

Her eyes were now as curious as his was, she stood to her feet and brushed off her knees. Where was that warmth coming from? He had never felt anything like it.

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so dramatic.” she smiled. Her smile was shy and made her cheeks lift. She was even cuter when she smiled he thought.

“I came here to talk to you Mr Cerrano.” she said.

Sebastian was stunned for a minute before he regained his composure. A reporter, surely. he thought.

“How do you know my name?” he asked sharply.

“I work for you, Sir. I’m part of the cleaning staff. My name is Anna. Anna Dane.” she said as she flipped her phone in her palm to inspect the damage done.

She continued before he could say anything “I don’t know if you’ll believe me or how this information will be received, but please know i’m only trying to help” 

“Help? Help with what? How did you find out where i live?!” he asked enraged.

She took a step back in shock and bowed her head in shame. “I stalked up your address online” she confessed “I’m sorry sir, i thought you’d want to know”. 

Sebastian was getting angrier every second. She had stalked me online? What kind of psycho is this?

“You need to leave. Now. Before I call the police. And if it’s not blatantly obvious, you're fired as well.” He turned to leave and started walking in the direction of the revolving doors of his apartment complex.

Her voice made him stop in his tracks “I came here, against my better judgment, to warn you of an imminent danger coming your way, I have risked my job and my personal life for your sake and you turn to leave?!” she yelled back. She was mad. He could hear it in her voice. This only fuelled his own anger. “I don’t need your warnings or your assistance, now leave.”

He didn’t have time to turn around again because she turned around and started leaving. “Fine, I hope your company gets what it deserves because of your ego. I hope Rick or whatever his name is f***s it up into pieces!”

His blood turned to ice at the mention of Rick. The anger was replaced with that eerie feeling he had this morning. “Wait. Wait!” he started to jog after her. The rain had picked up and they were out in the street now. He grabbed her hand to turn her back around and there it was again, that warm current that shot right down to his stomach. They both looked down on their connected hands and then turned their eyes up with a mix of curiosity and shock.

“How do you know Rick?” he asked as he let go of her hand. She pulled her hands around herself as if she was cold.

“He works with you. I overheard him tonight, on the phone. In the bathroom.” she shivered and started to look around anxiously.

Sebastian picked up the wave of fear and anxiety she was emitting and became more worried. “Please, let’s go up. To my apartment and talk. We shouldn’t be out here in the rain.”

Anna looked up at him with trepidation and bit her lower lip as if she was thinking. f**k. This sent that warm current from his stomach to his groin. She was hot when she did that.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to relay the information and leave town.” she said 

“Leave town?” he asked “Why would you leave town?”

“He’ll find me. He’ll find me and i don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Sebastian just looked at her. He couldn't make out what was going on. “You’re afraid.” he stated.

“With the information I'm about to give you Mr Cerrano, you’d be too”.

Sebastian felt sick. What was this information she was going to give?

“We can’t stand out here, please. Come up with me, you´re perfectly safe with me. I am curious about this information you have but mostly I feel bad for how I treated you. Let me make you a cup of coffee at least.” he pleaded

She gave a small nod and Sebastian felt a spark of joy at this. This too shocked him a little.

He put his hand out and pointed for her to walk ahead of him, into the building.