Begin Again novel Chapter 174

If George was mildly puzzled before, he was now downright confounded as they all sat in numb disbelief and watched the negotiations that should have been over in under forty-five minutes reach a screeching end before they'd even begun.

Liam was equally shocked. He really wasn't expecting Eden to take it all the way.

She sipped her drink and swiped and tapped on her phone while his legal team sputtered in their seats, demanding to know if she understood the terms of the agreement.

"Yes," she replied, barely looking up from her glass, making it known loud and clear who was in charge.

If he wasn't so furious with her, Liam would have reached for her and kissed her senseless, and maybe fucked her right there on the table too, because her composure, her level-headedness at a time when she should have been an emotional mess, was a huge turn-on for him.

George tried to take control of the meeting once more as he addressed Eden again in a much firmer tone this time. "Ms McBride, if you sign this, your son will live with his father one hundred percent of the time. You'll have access to him on some weekends and—"

"I can read," Eden replied, her gorgeous eyes harder than Liam's ever seen them before as she threw him a sidelong glance, and he knew at that moment he'd done and fucked up badly. He should have taken her up on her offer to settle this shit themselves without involving third parties. Now she was determined to jump headlong over the cliff and drag him with her.

"And you still want to go ahead with it?"

"Yes," she nodded and threw Whitman a blinding smile, but the anger in her eyes burned bright and hot.

"Why?" The paralegal, whose name Liam couldn't remember now, asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Eden fired back at him. "I want what's best for Aiden."

With that, she stood up, fixed her suit and picked up her Louis Vuitton bag.

"Eden—" Liam stood up as well, ready to go after her.

But she gave him one hard look, "Don't you dare follow me! You wanted this. Now live with it!"

No, he didn't want any of this, Liam thought as he plopped back in his seat and poured himself another drink. He wanted her to come home with their son.

Turning back to Whitman, Eden continued, "You'll send me the finalised contract. I'll sign it and send it back."

"Ms McBride, we're not done yet!" Whitman yelled.

"Oh, we are, Mr Whitman. Isn't this what you all wanted, to get the best deal for Mr Anderson with little resistance on my part? Didn't you want me to roll over like a good dog?" She didn't wait for him to respond. She threw Liam one final look before she eased out of the room.

The minute the door slammed shut behind her, George and his team swiftly stepped into damage control mode as they ran around the room, urgently looking through their documents for anything to help them salvage what was clearly an unsalvageable situation.

Liam reached for the bottle in front of him and poured himself another shot— his third, maybe fourth for the day, he'd lost count— and knocked it back in one go. He really should stop drinking, especially since he has his annual medicals coming up. But alcohol and drinking himself into a coma had proven to be the best medicine for his torn heart and frayed nerves in the past.

He set the glass down and watched the chaos unfold, and he couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

"Eden McBride is not most people! You assured me this would swing my way. You told me I'd have my son and his mother under my roof by the end of this week."

"She signed the contract!" The paralegal chimed in.

Liam turned to George and gritted his teeth. "Fire him!"

Wordlessly his lead attorney led the guy out of the room and was back moments later.

"We can't just fire people, but I've taken him off your team, Sir." He announced as he sat down.

"Now," Liam began as he pulled out a chair and crossed his arms. "What the fuck am I supposed to do with a custody agreement I didn't want? Did you think I want to keep Eden from her son? I wanted them both with me where they belong!"

Both George and Bethany grew as quiet as church mice. Neither had any more bright ideas.

"Let me tell you how this is going to play out," he carried on, his voice deathly quiet. "I have to go to Eden now with my tail between my legs and fucking beg her for mercy because you failed to do your jobs. Do you know how much I hate begging? I don't fucking beg! But because of your incompetence, I'll have to get on my knees and bow my head!"

"My apologies, Mr Anderson," George bowed his own head.

"You're all fired. Tell Blaine to give me a call. I want a new team." He growled as he got up and rapidly made his way out of the room.