Page 151 of Begin Again, Part 1

"What does that mean?" she demanded, her mind spinning.

"Your services are no longer required," he said in a clipped tone.

Eden stared at him in disbelief. "Are you firing me?"

"You are Matthew's assistant. What reason do I have to fire you?" Liam asked, not meeting her gaze, not even once. "You are welcome to quit, though. I know you took the job only because Gibby convinced you to."

"What does that even mean?" she asked. They were now on the ground floor, and she was struggling to keep up with his pace and words.

He stopped and looked at her. "My therapy goals have changed. Linda has figured out a way to help me. We'll be working with renowned doctors from now on. It was unfair to expect you to fix me, and I'm truly sorry."

"That's not true. Linda would have said something to me," Eden whispered,

Liam turned on his heel, and she tugged at his arm. "Why are you doing this? This is so sudden."

"Eden!" he growled, making a point of glancing at her hand on his sleeve.

"I'm sorry," she dropped it to her side. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," he inhaled sharply and closed his eyes. "When I hired you, I had one goal in mind. It seems that goal has changed."

And it was all he would say.

Eden pressed, but he remained resolute in his decision.

"This is not up for discussion anymore," Liam announced as he gently pushed her into the car and jumped in beside her.

They spent the short drive back to the office in silence, with Eden baffled by the past few minutes. She should have been relieved, glad she no longer had to sit through it all. But she felt disappointed. Sad even. Like she'd failed at her only job. She'd failed him.

Chapter

Forty-Eight

BEGINNING OF HIS END

Days after the incident with Lucy, the mark on Eden's face was gone, but Liam's rage still burned hot, more so when he thought back to their session with Linda and how broken she was when she spoke about the assault.

No matter how hard he tried to distract himself, nothing could cool his fury. He thought if HR gave everyone a warning, he'd be okay, and once the chats were gone, he'd be happy. But three days on, he was nowhere close to any feelings of contentment. He wanted vengeance.

He was running on three hours of sleep and wasn't in the right frame of mind to make decisions, especially ones that would impact someone's future. Backing off would be the best thing to do. But he picked up his office phone and called Gibby in.

She knocked once and let herself in. "Yes, Mr Anderson?"

"Bring Lucy Edison in, I need to deal with her."

Gibby thought it was a terrible idea and should let it go, since Eden was okay, and there'd been no further incidents. "HR has dealt with the issue, and the chats are gone, sir. Let's keep the peace."

Liam was all for keeping the peace. But after he dealt with Lucy. If he didn't set an example, if he didn't draw the line, things would spiral out of control, and who knew how far Matthew's assistant would go? Next time, she might not just stop with a few slaps. No, he couldn't let this shit slide.

"Mr Anderson, I think—" Gibby tried again to get through to him, but Liam wouldn't change his mind.

"Did I ask for your opinion, Gibby?" he demanded, his face dark with anger, his brow furrowed.

Knowing better than to push when he was in one of his moods, she quickly shook her head and stepped out of his office.

While he waited for Lucy to make an appearance, Liam checked his schedule and read through the endless emails piling up in his inbox. There were at least a hundred unread, all claiming to be important. Deadlines long past due. Outstanding feedback on project proposals. Missing signatures from important contracts.

Liam closed his laptop without responding to any of them, leaned back in his chair, and linked his hands behind his head, yawning loudly. He'd deal with all of them after handling Lucy.

---