Page 127 of Begin Again, Part 1

Eden blinked at her and the other assistants, surprised they were still there. She'd forgotten them while she drooled over her new digs.

"The chair." Lucy pointed a scarlet talon at the seat. "Is ergonomic."

She was a naturally beautiful woman, but hid her striking features under loads of makeup. She had impeccable taste, too, and was always dressed to the nines. Today was no different. Clad in a black pencil skirt, a polka-dot pussy-bow blouse, and Louboutins to complete her chic look, her long black hair pulled back in a low chignon, Matthew's PA was a vision of professionalism.

"What does that mean?" Eden asked. She had no freaking clue what ergonomic-what-not meant. But she made a mental note to check it out as soon as everyone vacated her digs.

"So it's true then." Lucy ignored her question. Her brown eyes held a scary chill as she nodded at Liam's jacket on the desk. "You and the big boss are cosy, it seems..."

She left the rest of her comment floating in the air, but the implication wasn't lost on the other ladies. They all exchanged knowing looks.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around spreading rumours," Eden said as she took out her phone from her handbag. "I'd hate for Mr Anderson's reputation to be damaged by your recklessness."

"My recklessness?" Lucy scoffed, her mouth pursed as she stepped further into the room. "Check the chat, honey. Friday night, someone saw you guys at La Famiglia."

Eden didn't want to, but she had to know the alert level of the shit storm she didn't even know she was in until now. She unlocked her phone, her heart shattering to pieces as she read through the messages. The assistants' chat had blown up over the weekend. But since she had muted it, she missed all the drama.

A Rose Walker—Eden assumed she was one of the assistants on the lower floors because she'd never met her—had posted a 4K-quality photo of her in Liam's arms at La Famiglia, insinuating they were on a romantic rendezvous.

The rendezvous part wasn't true, and the photo was taken out of context, but she wasn't in the mood to explain herself to Lucy and her gang. Not that they'd believe her.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Lucy taunted when Eden slipped her phone back inside her bag. "No more haughty comebacks?"

Before she could tell her to stop with her nonsense, Lucy had already moved along. "We all know you went to dinner with him two nights ago at that Portuguese place. Yesterday, you both disappeared around lunchtime and never returned to the office, and your car was here the whole night. Surprise-surprise, today you have a brand new office, and Mr Anderson bought you the vase and painting out of his own pocket, mind you. It doesn't take a genius!"

"Shut up!" Eden snapped. She'd taken just about all she could of her bitchiness. She didn't need all that venom in her life. From day one, ever since Isaac and the developers sent her flowers, Lucy was a thorn at her side, making her life at the office unbearable. But Eden had endured it all with a smile. Not anymore.

Cackling loudly, Lucy turned to her crew. "Hear that, ladies? Only the woman sleeping with the boss will have the confidence to speak to a senior assistant with attitude."

"Stop it!" Eden warned her. "Liam is my boss, nothing more."

Not exactly true. Not after last night, and Liam made it clear he wanted her permanently in his bed. But Lucy and her peanut gallery didn't need to know any of it, especially when they already had so much ammunition against her.

"Oh, it's Liam now, while the rest of us can only refer to him as Mr Anderson?" Lucy wasn't planning to go away quietly. "I knew there had to be a reason he hired you. Everyone knows you don't have any secretarial experience, and you draw cartoons for a living. But somehow, you made it to the highest office at Anderson Logistics. Do you know how many people were in line for that position you stole from us? Do you have any clue at all how much we all wanted to serve Mr Anderson?"

Eden didn't, of course, but at that moment, furious with the other woman, hurt by the rumours swirling in the chat, and pissed at herself for not keeping her distance from Liam like she'd promised, she couldn't be bothered to care.

"Get out!" she shouted. "All of you, get the hell out of my office!"

"Hey, watch it!" Lucy tried to assert her seniority.

"No. You watch yourself!" Eden snarled.

But Lucy wouldn't allow a junior like her to stand up for herself. She inched closer and struck her across the face twice in quick succession, sending her reeling on her feet and her glasses sliding down her nose. "You don't speak to me in that tone! You are nothing, and I am everything!"

For a breathless second or two, stunned silence washed over the room. The shocked looks on the other assistants' faces matched Eden's. She couldn't process the last sixty seconds, even though her nose and half her face hurt like hell, and her ears couldn't stop ringing.

She was hurt, but more mortified than anything else. No one, in her twenty-six years of life, had ever hit her. She felt belittled and reduced to the 'nothing' Lucy had declared her, and she wanted to run away, cower somewhere, and lick her wounds. But her feet wouldn't carry her from the room. They remained rooted to the spot, uncompromising and uncooperative, refusing to obey the urgent signals her brain sent them. If she ran away, they screamed back at her, she'd truly be nothing, and Lucy would keep harassing her. She couldn't allow that to continue.

As if someone had waved a magic wand and restarted time, Eden surged to life, pushed her glasses back in place, and brought up her hand in an open-palm slap on Lucy's cheek, smiling with satisfaction when the other woman teetered on her feet.

"Don't you ever touch me again!" she said, her mouth drawn in a tight line, her eyes blazing with fury she was struggling to keep in check. Her act of defiance sent Lucy into a fit of rage. Before Eden knew it, she was all over her amidst the screams and yelps of the other assistants as she dug her nails in her cheek and yanked and pulled her hair.

"Lucy, stop it! You're hurting her." Clara stepped between them and pushed Matthew's assistant to the corner of the room. "What is wrong with you? Why would you attack her when she didn't even provoke you?"

"All of you, get out of my face!" Eden yelled. She didn't need to tell them twice. Everyone was gone in a heartbeat.

But Lucy had to have the final word as she stumbled out. "You attacked me; this isn't over!"

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