Begin Again novel Chapter 115

Clara was waiting in her office when Eden returned from the marketing meeting.

She took one look at her beaming face and immediately wanted to vanish back in the direction she just came from. But it was too late; her friend had already seen her.

"Eden McBride, you won't believe the amazing news I have!" She squealed, waving a black corporate card in front of her face.

Eden sighed and crashed in her seat. "Do I want to know this amazing news?"

"Well, the Dragon gave us his corporate card for the team drinks tomorrow afternoon! He said we could choose any place we want." Clara carried on, ignoring her lack of enthusiasm.

"That's great, enjoy!" Eden said, praying and hoping Liam's assistant couldn't see the sadness in her eyes.

It's been two weeks since Liam tried to fire Lucy, and she begged him to take back his decision. Two weeks since he last kissed and held her. Two weeks of silence from him.

She should have been happy he was keeping his distance like she'd asked.

But she wasn't.

She missed him so much she was almost going out of her mind with need.

Other than work-related stuff, they'd barely talked. Liam looked stressed out of his head every time she ran into him. She was concerned about him; after all, he's Aiden's father. But what right did she have to ask him about his wellbeing?

"Are you even listening to me?" Clara asked, still flashing the card.

"I am," Eden lied quickly.

"Okay, great then! We'll all meet at Crush tomorrow after work for sundowners."

"Whoa! Why are we meeting at Crush, and who's 'we'?" Eden panicked when she realised she'd unwittingly agreed to an afternoon of drinking because she didn't want Clara to know she'd spaced out.

"Eden, stay with me!" Her friend sighed impatiently and flicked her caramel-coloured braids over her shoulder. "We've just talked about this, and you agreed."

"Okay, but—" She tried to come up with an excuse to skip out on the outing, but Liam's assistant wasn't having any of it.

"And to answer the 'who'," Clara clapped her hands excitedly. "It's all the other assistants, and it's really an excuse for all of us to get drunk while we plan Gibby's farewell party. You gotta admit it has to be legendary since the oldie is a legend around here—"

At some point, Eden zoned out and let her prattle on with her big dreams and bright ideas, zeroing in instead on what she hadn't said. "So, Mr Anderson's not coming?"

She didn't realise she'd blurted out her thoughts till Clara turned to her with a perplexed frown.

"Don't think so. He has a round-robin poker game with other CEOs and Execs; I doubt he'll be there. He's made it to the semi-finals, and a hundred million and some change is at stake. So yeah, our little drink fest is way below the Dragon's league. He plays with the big boys."

Of course, Eden thought, trying her best not to show her disappointment.

Over the past couple of weeks, while she was pining for Liam, the world had gone to shit, and a shadowy crew had gone on a rampage, targeting quite a few prominent logistics companies. Freight trucks were set on fire, drivers brutally attacked or killed, and millions worth of stock destroyed, resulting in staggering revenue losses.

The attacks were a huge concern for the industry. Bigger than the last recession.

"So far, we've been very fortunate we haven't run into any issues," Jim announced.

Ted picked up the narrative. "But the big bosses are on high alert. They're constantly on the second floor with the security team, monitoring the situation with our trucks."

"I had no idea," Eden said, horrified at her own ignorance. Even though she worked on the 36th floor, She had no frigging clue what went on at Anderson Logistics. Liam's grim face over the past couple of weeks now made sense in the context of this new information.

"We should have lunch soon," Ted said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, our table is not the same without you," Jim nodded.

"Of course. My treat," Eden agreed as she waved goodbye. "And we'll go somewhere fancy, like Rise."

"It's a date," the guards called after her as she turned to the parking lot.

Eden couldn't help but replay her conversation with the two guards on her way home. She didn't have to be a genius to figure out if someone was targeting shipping companies it was only a matter of time before Anderson Logistics found itself in the crosshairs. She just hoped Liam would be out of harm's way.