Begin Again novel Chapter 172

Eden spent a restless night, imagining every possible scenario, her mind already inside the plush offices of Thomas Blaine Inc.

By the time 5:00 AM rolled around, she was highly agitated.

The longer she went through her morning routine and tried to pretend it was just like any other normal Wednesday morning, the harder it became to resist the urge to pack Aiden up and make a run for it.

Liam would hunt her down for sure, but if she left now, she'd have a three-hour head start.

She strolled to Brenda's room while she brushed her teeth and stared at Aiden, still sleeping peacefully in his cot.

She could totally pull it off.

She won't take a lot of stuff. Just an overnight bag and—

Her phone pinged in her room, and she went to get it, her heart dropping to her feet as she read Liam's short but firm text. 'Don't even think about it.'

Was he psychic?

How did he know she was thinking of skipping town?

Did he know her so well?

What did it even matter?

While she was still trying to come up with a response, he sent a follow-up message, demanding a new photo of his son and Brenda's phone number.

She ignored his photo request because she'd sent him all thousand photos and videos of Aiden already. But she sent him the nanny's contact details without asking him why he needed them. The less she said to him, the better.

She threw the phone on the bed and stepped inside the bathroom to take the longest shower in history in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable.

By the time she headed out, dressed in a Marc Jacobs black power suit, one she'd recently invested in despite her bank account's screams, she was a bundle of nerves, ready to puke all over her fancy shoes.

She called her father on her way to the business district.

"Edie, is everything okay?" Steve sounded wide awake and alert even though it was just after 6:15 AM. He always was at this time of the morning. Both her parents were morning people. A fine trait she never inherited from them.

"Dad, I'm about to go close the most important deal of my life, and I'm shit scared." She said tearfully.

"What kind of deal, honey?"

"I can't get into it right now, but I don't know what to do. I was supposed to bring legal counsel, but the only attorney I know is out of town, working a divorce case—" She would have carried on babbling, but her father gently cut in.

Eden hung up from her father, feeling more rattled than she was before she called him. She wasn't so sure about his strategy, but with no attorney at her side, she had no choice but to wing it and rely on her father's crash course.

Blaine On 1 —the fifty-story building housing the thousands of high-profile attorneys who pandered only to the upper echelons of society—was as imposing as Eden had imagined it would be. And the smell of old and new money hit her as soon as she stepped inside the all-glass structure.

A paralegal with no court experience but enough confidence to win even the toughest case came to meet her in the lobby.

Half-hearted introductions were made. Sincerity wasn't needed since they'd never see each other again.

But in the five minutes it took to whisk her to the top floor, Cindy quickly brought her up to speed on the day's proceedings. Depending on how quickly they took to reach an agreement, the whole thing would be over in forty-five minutes, or it could last the whole day if Eden proved to be a formidable negotiator. But one thing was certain, by the time she left—however late —there would be an agreement in place.

Eden was ready to throw up from all her anxiety by the time Cindy ushered her inside the elegantly-decked out corner boardroom on the 50th floor.

Three people, two men and one woman, presumably all attorneys, sat on one side of the long, black table, lined with important-looking documents and refreshments.

A clean-shaven Liam, looking sinful in his black three-piece suit, had arranged himself at the back of the room, away from all the fanfare.

It was just after 7:00 AM, but he was already nursing a glass of cognac in his hand, and a still full bottle of Hennessy sat in front of him.

All four pairs of eyes turned to her when she shut the door behind her.