Begin Again novel Chapter 199

The first hour of the board meeting would go down as one of the longest Liam had ever sat through, and he couldn't race upstairs fast enough to tell his cousins exactly what he thought of them for deserting him in his hour of need.

Eden was on the phone, pacing outside the nursery while his cousins fussed over Aiden. It was only a little over forty minutes since they met him, but his son had both brothers wrapped around his little finger already.

"How's it going out there?" Matthew asked as he looked up briefly from one of the tallest LEGO® towers Liam had seen in a while, and if Aiden had his way and kept adding to it, the Leaning Tower of Pisa would have nothing on it.

"So?" Julian prodded and placed one more piece on the structure at Aiden's urging, of course.

Liam closed his eyes, convinced any moment now, the whole thing would collapse.

He was right. Not even a second later, all his son's hard work came tumbling down. Much to his surprise, though, it wasn't the force of gravity that brought down the tower. Aiden himself had smashed it to pieces, and he looked super thrilled with the mess he'd created as he clapped his hands and chuckled, demanding 'more' from his uncles.

His laugh was too infectious. Liam found himself chuckling along, amazed by his appetite for destruction.

"Did they finally agree on something, at least?" Matthew stood up and dusted off his palms on the front of his jeans.

"Yep," Liam nodded. "They all want me gone."

"I'm so sorry," Eden murmured as she walked into the room and gave him a back hug. "It's all my fault."

"Hey," he pulled her in front of him and held her face in his hands before kissing her slowly. "This isn't your fault. They're all just bitter old men and women with too much time on their hands."

"But—"

"No buts," he shook his head and kissed her forehead. "I'll be okay even if they give me a pink slip. I'll still support you and Aiden, so you don't have to sell your paintings on the side of the road yet."

"You!" Eden pulled away briefly to poke him on the chest with her finger. "You doubt my talent!"

"Not at all; I believe in your talent," he laughed and laced his arm around her neck, amazed at how soft her hair felt on his skin. It smelled divine too.

"You'd better," she looked up, smiling impishly at him. "Because very soon, you'll be paying good money to see my exhibition at Fugue. Watch this space."

"What's going on?" Liam asked, his smile faltering when his eyes fell on the bags in front of the crib. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, back to my place," Eden replied and looked around the room, avoiding his gaze.

"Princess?" He lifted her chin with his finger and searched her face. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

She shook her head quickly. But she was a terrible liar, and since she couldn't even meet his eyes, Liam knew something had gone down, but for the life of him, he couldn't imagine what.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"That only takes care of one problem," Bill grunted from his living room. "What about the conflict of interest? He hired his girlfriend. Are we just going to overlook that? Heir apparent is becoming a huge liability the longer we sit in this meeting."

"They were not dating when he hired her," Lois jumped in and tried to fix an unfixable situation with bigger and better lies that sounded very plausible. "But they've recently rekindled their love, and they want to do what's best for their child."

Clarke eased in as well with more fairytales of his own. "Liam's engagement party will be at The Empress a month from now, and you are all invited."

"But of course, everyone will officially meet his fiancée and his child at the upcoming family day. We hope to see you all there," Lois added, her smile as radiant as the diamond necklace hanging around her neck.

Liam fell back in his seat and held his head in his hands.

Not for the first time since he woke up to this nightmare of a day, he wished someone could hand him the remote. He was ready to press the reset button and start over.

His parents had no idea the mess they had just plunged him into. In their attempt to bury the truth about his therapy, they'd unknowingly backed him into a corner. Now, he'd have no choice but to push Eden into something he knew deep down in his heart she wasn't ready for, and there was no telling what she would do when she felt pressured—

"—This isn't right." The aunt by marriage shook her head, pulling Liam out of his apprehension, and he couldn't agree with her more. This whole thing of covering up one simple truth with so many lies didn't sit well with him.

"Then we'll do things democratically. Let's vote," Lois suggested quickly. "All those in favour of the crisis management plan raise your hands."

Surprisingly everyone was on board, but they wanted Liam to fire Eden as a matter of urgency.