Eden sat at the breakfast counter, staring at the baby monitor in front of her and cradling a cup of tea in her hands when Liam walked into the penthouse.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" He asked as he closed the door behind him and turned on the security system. "I told Dave and the housekeepers to help you settle in for the night."
"They tried." She replied. "But I wanted to wait for you—So we can talk."
She looked lucid and sounded calm, and it made Liam very nervous.
"Right now?" He asked, his eyes wandering to the clock in the living room.
It was 10:15 PM and a bit late for a serious chat.
"Yeah," Eden smiled. "No better time than the present, right?"
Liam's gut clenched, and the alarm bells in his head went off at her tone. He didn't like it at all, and he didn't like seeing her so subdued.
Where was his sassy Princess, the woman who constantly pushed his buttons and tested his last resolve?
He wanted to see th
Liam was in such a hurry to get the hell out of the kitchen and leave all the tension behind he had completely forgotten this was his first real meeting with Aiden. Now, as he hovered on the threshold, anxious out of his wits, he realised how unprepared he was for this moment. So for a brief minute or two, while he plucked up the courage to meet his son, Liam was only too happy to just stand there with one foot in the door and watch his Aiden babble away at the plushy in his hands. But then his son looked up from the toy and gazed at him with the same denim blue eyes they shared, and all the air left Liam's lungs. "Hello," Aiden cried in his baby voice and waved his tiny hand in his direction. Liam stood dead still as love, unlike anything he had ever known, filled his heart to the brim, rendering him weak, and he wondered if it was possible to fall in love with the same person twice, especially one so tiny. "Hi," he smiled, his rubber
Eden was not lying when she said she couldn't cook, and Liam couldn't understand how she managed to ruin his chicken soup. It was too watery, too salty, and the meat was too mushy. But he wolfed it down with a lot of enthusiasm. "How is it?" She asked eagerly, their anger temporarily on hold while they filled their stomachs and prepared for a possible round two of their Battle Royale. Liam stared glumly at his half-full bowl, thinking of the best way to tell her it's shit. But when he looked up and found her looking at him with those wondrous eyes of hers, he didn't have the heart to crush her spirit. "It's great," he lied. "I love it." And that was his biggest mistake. Eden was only too happy to dole out more of the soup. "Eat, have some more." "Okay," Liam croaked as he forced himself to swallow it down. They slipped into silence for a while as they both watched Aiden play with the PAW Patrol plushy they'd brought back from Forre
"We should talk about the custody agreement." "I'll sign anything you want me to sign," Eden said as she threw on a sleepshirt and pulled back her hair in a ponytail. "I don't want you to sign anything," Liam tugged her in his arms and held her. "I told George and his team to hold off on everything." "Why?" She asked and squirmed out his grasp. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked and crossed his arms. "I was angry and not thinking straight." "Where do you keep the toothpaste?" He pointed at the top drawer on the cabinet under the sink, and he watched her feel around inside it with her hands, squinting the whole time. "Why are you squinting?" He asked. "I can't see very well without my glasses," she replied. "Things are a bit fuzzy." Of course, Liam thought as he kissed her nose and pulled out the toothpaste. He spread it on her toothbrush and handed it to her. "Thanks," she murmured and turned to the sink to br
"When did you start seeing a therapist?" Lois didn't even give him a chance to answer her first question before she fired her next. And Liam just stood there in the middle of his kitchen, wondering how things had gone so horribly wrong so quickly. He knew it was bound to happen someday, and in a way, had tried to prepare himself for this eventuality. But he never expected his secret to come out just when everything in his life seemed to be spinning out of control. He'd barely begun to deal with Aleksei's threat, was still recovering from Eden's deception, and now this shit with a possible breach in Linda's office— "Son? Are you there? Say something! When did you start seeing a shrink?" Clarke broke through his thoughts with demands of his own. "Two years ago," Liam replied as he sat down at the breakfast counter and absently massaged his temple. "Sweet Jesus," Lois burst into tears. "I knew it. I knew everything was too much for you. W
Liam called his PR team as soon as he hung up from his parents and summoned them to the penthouse. He'd have to meet with them after the board meeting at 10:00 AM. It was still way too early to call Linda. She didn't start seeing patients before eight. But it didn't stop him from calling her cellphone. "Really, Liam, couldn't this wait until I get to the office at least?" She sounded hopping mad. Not an unreasonable reaction considering most people hate being bombarded with demands and questions first thing in the morning. And that's exactly what he did the minute she picked up. "No, Linda, it couldn't wait!" He snapped right back at her. "Now, was there a security breach at your office or what? Were your patient files compromised in any way? Was my file compromised?" There was a long pause on his therapist's end, and Liam could almost see the cogs in her overworked brain moving very slowly. "Linda!" He growled, demanding some reaction
Eden was jolted out of her long dreamless sleep by the unrelenting heat splashing through the windows. For a head-splitting second, she lay comatose on her back, staring at the ceiling, thinking about last night, afraid to even move because even the slightest movement left her feeling sore and tender. There was a reason she ran to the Blue Mountains and hung on to her panties for two years. That reason was now 37 000 feet in the air, somewhere halfway across the world, sipping fancy cognac in his private jet. "Whee!" Eden squealed like a little girl as she flung the covers over her face when she remembered her very long chat with Liam and all the unholy things they'd done afterwards. When he said he didn't think he could trust her anymore, she was convinced it was pretty much game over for
"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? I went to bed last night with the man of my dreams only to wake up this morning alone and horny as fuck, and the world's gone crazy!" She shrieked as soon as their lines connected. "It's not about to get any better!" Lydia had to douse her with a healthy dose of reality. "Congrats bitch! You've made it on the front cover of all the major tabloids! You are officially famous!" "No!" Eden shook her head. There's no way she's on the news. She hadn't done anything newsworthy. "Yes!" Sienna chimed in. "The whole world is in a tizz. Everyone wants to know the identity of the woman Liam left the Convention Centre with last night!" "Your photo is splashed all over the tabloids, and you guys broke the internet twice this morning!" Cassandra delivered the final blow. "Gosh no!" Eden sank back on the bed, her legs feeling wobbly like jelly. "This is not happening! How did this happen?" "Well, I'm gue
Hard as Liam tried to force himself to read Clara's agenda notes for the board meeting, he couldn't. So while he drank his second or maybe third espresso, he mindlessly browsed the net, searching for nearby outdoorsy places. The local zoo seemed to be a huge hit with young parents living the suburban dream. Liam thought it was too basic, though. He wanted his first-ever outing with his new family to be memorable. The botanical gardens were also high on the list of places to see. But in a couple of weeks, the company's family fun day would be held there. So, that venue, too, was out. "You disappoint me, internet!" Liam rubbed his chin thoughtfully and contemplated going down the rabbit hole again. He almost lost himself in it earlier while he searched for the source of the leak, and he really didn't want to go down that road again. The lure of the internet was too strong, though. He clicked several links and wasted fifteen long minutes sighing in frust