Page 123 of Begin Again, Part 2

"They're quite common," Julian leaned forward and waved his phone, showing them his Google search results.

"That's not what I asked." His brother sighed in frustration.

Liam ignored them and slipped into morbid silence, thinking back to Brenda's words. She'd looked away from Aiden for a second, but while she was distracted, someone had gotten close enough to him to slip him something to eat. What were the chances that it was—

No, Liam mentally shook himself. There was no way it could have been the Ivanovs. Not when James and his men were hovering nearby. It had to be someone in the crowd, and they'd innocently given his son something to eat because he was so cute and cuddly.

The idea that a random stranger could give Aiden something to eat didn't sit well with him. But he preferred this possibility. It was better than the alternative.

Aleksei was a bastard through and through, but Liam wanted to believe he had a shred of conscience and wouldn't go after a baby.

Wouldn't he, though?

His phone beeped again, putting an end to his troubled thoughts. He reached for it and read James' text, his body quivering with relief.

"It was an old lady," he announced. "It wasn't Ivanov."

Matthew stared at him and waited expectantly. Julian, too, drilled a hole into the back of his head with his eyes.

"James pulled the security footage from the aquarium, and it turned out some old lady gave Aiden a piece of chocolate," Liam explained.

"And you thought it was the Ivanovs? Why?" Julian asked. "Do you know how insane that sounds? You need to handle this shit with Aleksei fast. It's starting to mess with your head. You can't keep looking over your shoulder like this."

"But he's not wrong to suspect the crazy twins. How sure are you Aleksei didn't send the old lady?" Matthew argued. "He could have given her the chocolate and asked her to pass it on, the same way he gave Eden the bullet."

"Are you even listening to yourselves?" Julian asked, an incredulous look in his eyes. "Do you know how crazy that sounds? Liam, you didn't even know your son has a nut allergy. Why would Aleksei know any of this?"

Liam had to admit he had a point. So he chalked down his paranoia to a lack of sleep. It was starting to play tricks on his mind.

They made it to the emergency room just as Aiden was whisked into an examination room. Liam paced and checked his watch every two minutes while Brenda sniffled in her chair.

"I'm so sorry about Aiden. Please believe me. It was an accident. I looked away briefly, and the next thing I knew, he had a piece of chocolate in his hand. Eden always reminds me he can't eat anything from anyone."

Liam did his best to comfort her, assuring her it wasn't her fault.

"It is," she wailed in her hands. "She's shown me so many times how to use an EpiPen, and the one time I needed to use it, I just froze."

"Brenda, I've used an EpiPen all my life, and I froze."

"But that's because you didn't know what was going on. You didn't know Aiden's allergic to nuts. If you did, I'm sure you would have handled it. I knew he was allergic, and I failed to do my job. If it wasn't for Eden, I don't know what I would have done."

"Hey," Liam crouched in front of her, searched through his pockets for a clean tissue, and placed it in her hand. "Don't think like that. He'll be okay."

"You think so?" she asked, her dark eyes moist with tears.

Before he could think up a lie, his phone rang. It was Willow. Liam ignored her call. Holly tried too, and so did his parents. He knew they all wanted to know the same thing—how long he planned to keep them waiting.

He sent his mom a text, explaining that the lunch they were all looking forward to, had to be postponed because Aiden wasn't feeling well. He deliberately left out the part about their ER visit because he knew his mom would round up all the Anderson troops, and within minutes the emergency room would be buzzing with their panic and worry.

"What's taking them so fucking long?" he asked as he slipped the phone back into his pocket and paced the corridor.

"It's only been fifteen minutes," Julian pointed out.

Liam ignored him and headed to the accounts department to settle the medical bill. Everyone was still waiting when he returned, but Matthew was now sitting way too close to Cassandra, and Julian was the obvious third wheel. But he wasn't getting the hint, for some reason.

"Anything?" he asked.

Julian shook his head and stared at the clock while Matthew and Cassandra chatted in hushed tones. Brenda kept herself occupied with her hands on her lap on the opposite bench.

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