Page 150 of Begin Again, Part 2

In the days following his only son's shooting, together with his security team, he fought like a gladiator to bring Aleksei to book. But since half of the police force was on the Ivanovs' payroll, and without actual proof and witnesses, putting one-half of the Russian mob behind bars proved impossible. Finding the gun that almost ended his son's life was a bit of a stretch, so Clarke tried to locate the waitstaff and bartender present at the time of the shooting. Other than James and his team, they were the only other witnesses. But, like most people where the mob was concerned, they refused to talk, insisting they knew nothing and saw nothing on the day of the incident. Clarke's only hope was to gain access to the security footage. He would have hit another dead-end if it wasn't for Liam's history with the racetrack company. But he had to wait two days to get a copy of the footage because it was already archived.

Armed with proof and Willow and Eden at his side for moral support, he tried again to get the police to investigate the incident. When they were turned away again, Clarke decided the time for being nice was over. He pulled out the big guns and played just as dirty as the Ivanovs. After countless meetings with the station commander, numerous threats to withhold campaign funding for a mayoral hopeful, and a single phone call to the highest office in the country, a case of attempted murder was finally opened with Rock Castle's Police Department. Soon after, Aleksei was arrested at a private airstrip in Linksfield as he was about to board his Gulfstream G150 and pull a Houdini on everyone.

Much to Lydia's annoyance, the arrest playing out on all major news networks was the number one trending topic on all social media platforms. She loved dangerous men, but only when they didn't steal her thunder. Sienna was just as annoyed, but for different reasons. So while Eden and the other two packed away her cutlery and dishes in storage boxes, and Aiden ran around the living room in his training underwear and a smaller box over his head, Sienna refused to help. Instead, she lounged on the couch and painted her toenails, supervising everyone's progress amidst her complaints. "Honestly, Edie, do you hate me that much? I mean, you sat on the hottest scoop. AGAIN! You knew they were about to arrest the sexy—I mean—crazy Russian, and you didn't say anything."

Eden held up her hands. She was guilty as charged. She knew an arrest was imminent, but with Liam still heavily sedated, her only focus was his recovery.

"Remind me not to piss off, Daddy Clarke." Lydia made kissing faces in Eden's direction.

"Yikes, you are so gross!" Cassandra was disgusted on Eden's behalf. "He's Aiden's grandfather!"

"And he's married," added Sienna.

"I never said I'll do him," Lydia defended herself since no one would stick up for her. "But you all know I'm not averse to mature men."

"You are not averse to anything that moves and—" Eden was about to remind her she wasn't picky when it came to her choice of bedmates, when Aiden ran up to her and grabbed her knees.

"Mommy," he wailed and buried his face in her legs. "Where's Daddy?"

Her friends were taken aback by his question since he hadn't known Liam that long. Eden wasn't surprised, though. Not a day went by without Aiden asking for his father, even after visiting him. And every day, Eden would assure him Liam would be home soon.

She knelt on the floor, took him in her arms, and explained again that Liam was still not feeling well and had to stay in the hospital for a little while longer.

"No," Aiden shook his head and wailed. "Daddy! Nemo!"

"I know, sweetheart!" She kissed his forehead. "When Daddy comes back, you can sit and look at Nemo the whole day."

"Why is he crying for Nemo now? I thought PAW Patrol was his thing?" Sienna waved her hand over her toes to dry the nail polish.

"It was until we moved in with Liam, and he saw the aquarium," Eden explained, feeling a little exhausted suddenly.

A sharp pain shot up her lower abdomen when she picked Aiden up, and a cold line of sweat trickled down her back as dread tightened its grip on her heart.

"Can you guys look after him for a second?" she asked, pushing her son in Cassandra's arms. She ran to her bathroom, shuddering with relief when she didn't see any telltale signs of bleeding.

"Thank God," she said. "Thank you, Jesus!"

She'd die or go insane if she had to lose the baby. Sure, it wasn't planned, and they should have been more responsible even though she thought they were. But since learning about her pregnancy and knowing her chances of carrying to full term weren't looking good, she wanted their baby to survive as much as she wanted Liam to wake up.

Eden spent a few moments collecting herself, and when she was sure there were no traces of tears in her eyes, she left the silence of her bathroom and returned to her friends, waiting with expectant looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" she asked, her gaze flicking over Aiden rolling on the floor in front of the TV.

"Do you have something to tell us?" Sienna waved the burgundy bracelet box from American Swiss.

"You went through my stuff?" Eden asked, a little annoyed at their lack of boundaries.

"Your phone rang, and we thought it might be the hospital or Liam's folks," Sienna explained.

Lydia waved the used pregnancy test at her. "And this fell out of the box."

"So who called?" Eden asked as she took her phone from the counter and looked through her call history, sighing with irritation when she saw the last missed call was a private number.

"Don't know. They hung up before we could answer," Cassandra replied.

"So?" Lydia pushed.

"So what?" Eden sighed.

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