Begin Again novel Chapter 158

As soon as his head of security left, Liam gathered up 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, they are waiting for you. Ms Edwards and her team are already here."

"I'm right behind you, Ms Winston." Liam nodded and followed her out of his office, his mind still racing at unprecedented 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 held Eden's gaze briefly 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, all 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 were not in a room full of people, Liam was sure he would have—

"—Mr Anderson?" Eden prompted him from the front of the room as she played with the presentation clicker in her hand. "Can we start, Sir?"

She was right, he thought as he searched her face, looking for traces of their son. But Aiden didn't look anything like her. His son was his spitting image. Their resemblance was so uncanny it was almost frightening.

Matthew rammed him hard on his side with his elbow, jolting him out of his daze.

He closed his eyes briefly and breathed in sharply, convinced he'd cracked a rib or two.

"Quit spacing out on us!" His cousin growled through clenched 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, work had to carry on.

He looked up at Eden and murmured in a surprisingly steady voice, "go ahead, Ms McBride."

"Thank you, Sir." She threw him a blinding smile and turned to the presentation in front of her.

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.

Did she not have any faith in him at all?

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 help calm him down. But after a few sips, his fury showed no signs of cooling.

He had never met anyone who filled him with so much conflict like Eden did. On the one hand, he was furious with her for keeping the truth from him. But on the other, he couldn't help but be grateful to her for birthing 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 going off at him, oblivious to his broody thoughts. "I thought she handled it like a pro for her first major proposal."

"She did," Liam replied just as the room erupted in applause.

Lydia and her handlers were thrilled with the pitch.