Page 17 of Begin Again, Part 2

She was inside, Liam seethed. She'd come out willingly, or he'd go in there and get her. But one way or another, she'd attend the meeting with Randolph.

He called her again, and she answered promptly this time. "Come out. We have a business engagement. I'm sure you already knew this."

"But we still have two hours, and I told you I'd meet you at the venue," Eden argued, and Liam couldn't help but laugh at her audacity.

"When did you tell me this?" he demanded. If his memory served him correctly, she never responded to his email reminders.

"Check your texts," she said, her tone heavy with irritation, and it ticked him off. But he checked his texts anyway and immediately wished he hadn't when he saw the message she sent some time after 2:00 PM, informing him she planned to head home to freshen up first, and she'd meet him at La Famiglia.

Not one to admit when he was wrong, Liam had to have the last word.

"I'm giving you five minutes to grab your bag and meet me out here," he said, his tone as serious as a heart attack. But like he knew she would, Eden had to challenge him and push his buttons.

"I told you to go ahead. I'll meet you at the restaurant," she said and hung up.

"Eden? Eden!" he growled into the phone, but all he got was silence.

Fuming at her insolence, he stomped to her front door, praying nothing sprung out at him from the overgrown lawn.

He pressed the doorbell, amazed it worked. He'd expected it to fall off and splinter into pieces on the rickety porch.

Dressed in all black, a tall blonde with closely cropped locks framing her heart-shaped face peered through the crack and narrowed her pale eyes at him. "Yo! Can I help you?"

She looked familiar, but Liam couldn't place her.

"Tell Eden I don't have the whole day. If she doesn't come out in five minutes, I'm coming back in, and I won't ask nicely. This is a business meeting, and my time is valuable—"

The sounds of a baby babbling and laughing inside paused his rant.

"Is that Aiden?" Liam stepped forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of the little guy, but the blonde blocked him.

"Go back to your car, and I'll let Eden know." She slammed the door in his face, leaving him stunned.

Were all Eden's friends just as unhinged? He mused as he spun on his heel, annoyed as fuck at the rude reception.

As he made his way to the car, he finally remembered where he'd seen the blonde. She was one of the women Eden was with when they met at Crush two years ago. Back then, her hair was long, and Matthew had spent the whole night checking her out. He'd even nicknamed her 'Rapunzel' because of the hair. For some reason, though, his cousin never plucked up the courage to chat her up. Liam sighed regretfully as he leaned against the car, thinking that if Matthew had spoken with the blonde, their lives could have turned out so differently, and maybe he would have found Eden much sooner.

Chapter

Six

PRETEND YOU’RE A LADY

The five of them crowded around the window and stared at the line of dark luxury cars parked on the curb. Eden counted four, including Liam's.

She couldn't understand why he had to make a dramatic appearance again today. She was already the talk of the neighbourhood because of his stunt last night. Curious neighbours had stopped by during the day to ask Brenda if they'd had an A-list celebrity guest.

"Does he always travel with so much security?" Lydia asked.

"Well, if you were a billionaire, I don't think you'd want to fly solo. Not when there's a chance you could get nabbed at any time and be held for ransom," Cassandra said, saving Eden the trouble of having to explain that Aiden's father wasn't a nice guy and had pissed off a lot of people, including the Ivanov twins and Rock Castle's underworld.

"Do you think he'll come back? He sounded mad as fuck!" Sienna nudged Eden's shoulder and chewed on her thumbnail, her eyes shining with excitement.

Eden knew that if it was up to her best friend, she would have already written a huge front-page piece about her complicated relationship with Liam.

"So? Will he?" She pressed.

Eden nodded. She didn't doubt that if she didn't heed Liam's warning, he'd be back. She couldn't have that. Not when he seemed curious about Aiden. Her son, too, had kept trying to sneak to the door, as if he knew the man on their doorstep was his father, and they were supposed to have a family reunion.

---