Page 45 of Begin Again, Part 2

He hung up and said to James, "This stays between us. You cannot tell anyone about this, especially my parents and sisters. Things with Eden are complicated right now. As you know, we're still dealing with the shit from Fashion Week. She's impulsive, and if she feels threatened, frightened, or pressured in any way, she'll run. And I can't have that. I want to keep them close to me."

"Of course." James nodded and excused himself.

As soon as Liam was alone, he gathered the paternity test results, birth certificate, and the report on Eden's dating history, stuffed them in the brown envelope with Aiden's photos, and locked them away in his safe. He couldn't take any chances. The last thing he wanted was information about his son ending up in the wrong hands, or worse, getting leaked to the tabloids.

He'd just thrown on his jacket and fixed his tie when Clara strolled in, a notebook in her hand and an anxious look in her eyes. She paused just inside the door and announced, "Sir, Ms Edwards and her team are here."

"I'm right behind you," Liam said, following her out of his office, his mind still racing at exceptional speeds with endless questions.

Twenty people were seated around the oval table when he walked into the boardroom on the 35th floor, but Liam only cared about one. He briefly held Eden's gaze before making his way to his usual spot at the back of the room.

He desperately wanted to hold her and ask her to share every little detail about the last two years, the milestones he'd missed, and every memory he wasn't in. He wanted to kiss and strangle her all at once, and if they weren't in a room full of people, he was sure he would have—

"Mr Anderson?" Eden prodded from the front of the room as she played with the presentation clicker in her hand. "Can we start?"

She was right, he thought as he searched her face, looking for traces of their son. Aiden didn't look anything like her. He was his spitting image. Their resemblance was so uncanny it was almost frightening. It was almost as if he'd truly made him all on his own.

Matthew rammed him hard on his side with his elbow, jolting him from his daze. Liam closed his eyes briefly and breathed in sharply, convinced he had a cracked rib or two.

"Quit spacing out on us," his cousin gritted his teeth. "Pretend you're interested. We're trying to get Lydia to sign, remember?"

"I am interested!" Liam fired back as he sat up and mentally shook himself. Despite all the chaos in his life, the show had to go on. He looked at Eden and said in a surprisingly steady voice, "go ahead, Ms McBride."

"Thank you, sir," she gave him a dazzling smile and turned to her presentation. For twenty minutes, she did a stellar job of wooing and convincing the influencer why becoming the face of Anderson Logistics was a logical career progression for her.

The whole time Eden and Matthew fielded questions from Lydia's team, Liam couldn't take his eyes off her. She wasn't the most beautiful woman in the room. But she was the only one his heart wanted, more so now that he knew she was the mother of his child.

He'd be the first to admit he was an infuriating jerk over the past few weeks and said some horrible things to her. He could almost forgive her for not telling him about Aiden when she first came back from the Blue Mountains. But what was her excuse two years ago when she learned she was pregnant? Why did she vanish without letting him know about their son?

"Is everything okay?" Matthew whispered when he sat back down, and the head of PR took over, running them through the publicity and media-blitz proposal for the new partnership.

"I'm fine," Liam said, even though he was far from fine. The longer he remained in the room and tried to process his new reality, the more enraged he grew. He wanted answers, and he needed to understand why Eden kept Aiden away from him. Didn't she have any faith in him? Was he so useless to her that she didn't want or need his help?

Liam reached for the bottle of still water in front of him, hoping it would calm him down. After a few sips, his fury showed no signs of cooling. He had never met anyone who filled him with as much conflict as Eden. On the one hand, he was furious with her for keeping the truth from him. But on the other hand, he was grateful to her for giving him such a beautiful, perfect son—

"All you've done is sit there and glare at Eden. Did she do something wrong?" Matthew was still ranting away, oblivious to his broody thoughts. "I thought she handled it like a pro for her first major proposal."

"She did," Liam replied as the room erupted in applause. Lydia and her handlers were clearly thrilled with the pitch.

Handshakes were exchanged as champagne bottles, and finger snacks were carted in by smiling waiters from their go-to events company.

"Come on, let's mingle," Matthew pulled him to his feet.

For fifteen minutes, Liam circulated the room, sipping champagne he couldn't taste.

"So what's the deal?" His cousin bumped his shoulder as they watched Eden and Lydia giggle at something on the latter's phone. "Is she still mad at you?"

Liam nodded, but didn't offer more. His cousins knew about his fight with Eden, but they didn't know what it was about. He still didn't know why she was furious with him over a discussion he had with Laura three years ago about a vasectomy that never happened.

"You have to suck it up and get on your knees," Matthew said and reached for his second glass. "I mean, if Eden's still unhappy with you, what are the chances she'll introduce me to Rapunzel?"

"Her name is Cassandra." Liam frowned, regretting telling him he ran into her in Forrest Creek when he picked Eden up for their meeting with Randolph. His cousin had been angling for a meeting with her since then, and Liam had run out of excuses and reasons why it was a terrible idea.

"I know her name," Matthew smirked. "I just think Rapunzel suits her better."

Liam sighed and forced himself to eat something from the plate of hors d'oeuvre Clara had shoved in his hands before she left the room to finalise his schedule for his upcoming tour of all their overseas depots.

"So, when will you apologise?" Matthew demanded. He wasn't planning to let this go, and it annoyed Liam.

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