Begin Again novel Chapter 215

6:00 PM.

That was the time they were supposed to meet.

Liam was there at 4:30 PM, though. Not because he was eager to strike a deal with the devil, but James and his guys wanted to scope out the place for possible threats.

Ordinarily, entering the venue after hours would have been a hassle, but as a former motorsport driver, his lifetime pass allowed Liam 24/7 access, and within minutes they were in the VIP lounge.

He slipped off his messenger bag, took off his coat and placed both on the coffee table.

"Do you need anything, Sir?" James asked as he scanned the room.

Most of the general workers had already gone home, and other than the bartender and a few waitstaff, the place was empty. No surprises there. Liam figured if Aleksei planned to off him, he wanted no witnesses.

"I'm good, thanks, James," he murmured as he sank into the club chair and pulled out his laptop from the bag to get some work done.

By 4:55 PM, his head of security and six of his guys had already done a sweep of the place, and Liam was almost finished with the proposal for one of the largest big pharma companies in the country and halfway through his first drink.

It seemed James wasn't the only one with trust issues. Not even five minutes after his head of security declared the lounge safe, Aleksei showed up with an impressive number of guards.

"Well, well," he drawled as he shrugged out of his coat and threw it at one of his men. "If I knew you were so eager to see me, I would have moved up our date, Anderson."

"Shut the fuck up, Ivanov," Liam barked, called one of the waiters over and ordered a bottle of Scotch. If he had to be in the man's company and hand over twenty percent of his money, he preferred to do it drunk.

Never one to be outshined, Aleksei ordered the most expensive bottle of bourbon and pulled out a Cuban cigar.

"Now," he stuck the cigar in his mouth and rubbed his hands together. "Where is the delectable Ms McBride? I was hoping you'd bring her today. It's always such a delight to see her."

"Leave her out of this," Liam growled, a muscle twitching on his clenched jaw as he gazed forlornly at the track beyond the pane, his heart squeezing in his chest when memories of all the countless days he'd spent here stirred to life. Some of his best and worst days had played out right here. His dreams had begun and ended here, too.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Aleksei poured himself a shot. The waiter had dropped off their drinks while Liam was lost in thought.

"What?" He asked, feigning ignorance as he reached for his bottle. He'd never admit it, especially to Aleksei. But yes, even though he knew coming back here would hurt, Liam never expected the pain to be so complete, so crippling.

"Being back here," Aleksei tipped his glass at him and swallowed down his drink. "The same way it hurt when you stole my money from me, Anderson!"

"I didn't steal shit from you!"

"Lusso was mine!"

"You went after my trucks!" Liam roared. "You killed my drivers. Your reckless actions changed the lives of three families forever!"

"We had nothing to do with that fire and your trucks!"

"Fuck you!" Liam barked. "If we're going to be business partners, the least you can do is be fucking honest with me!"

His future partner nodded but refused to say any more on the trucks. Instead, he changed the subject, "Did you like the gift I sent with your woman? I have two more where that came from, and I'm sure you can figure out the initials on those."

Liam knew Aleksei was trying to goad him by continuously bringing Eden up, so he pulled his glass closer and took a long sip, willing himself not to lose his shit.

Aleksei carried on, undeterred by his silence. "I'm guessing that's why you're here. Because your kitten got spooked, and I have your fucking attention now?"

Wordlessly Liam reached inside his messenger bag, and in an instant, when he looked up, he found himself staring down the barrel of Aleksei's gun, while James and his men were caught in a tense standoff with Ivanovs' goons, their weapons drawn and aimed at each other.

Liam held his breath, a thin line of sweat trickling down the side of his face. This was a major plot twist in the already shitty script that was his day. None of them should have been carrying any guns because they were supposed to have left them at the security checkpoint at the entrance.

"What are you doing? What's the meaning of this?" Liam asked. Despite being shit scared, his voice was steady as a rock. He knew Aleksei would have his brains splattered on the window before he could even blink if he made any sudden movement.

Still waving his gun around, the Russian screeched. "No, what the fuck are you doing, Anderson? What's inside the bag?"

"Put that shit away before it goes off. I'm not armed. You can search my bag if you don't believe me. What the hell is this?" Liam held out his hands to show him he meant no harm.

"But your men are," Aleksei retorted. "How am I supposed to trust you when you bring armed guards to our first date?"

His patience running out fast, Liam scoffed. "Are you insane? I'm not the one holding a gun. Your guards are armed too. Drop that shit, or I'm out of here, and I'm taking your share of Lusso with me."

Like he hoped it would, Liam's threat worked. Nothing excited Aleksei more than the prospect of money made through shady means. He nodded and signalled at his guys to stand down.

James and his men also withdrew from the fight. But both sides lingered nearby. They wanted no repeats.

Liam released a long, staggering breath he didn't know he was holding all along and collapsed in his seat, his mind struggling to keep up with his racing heart.

And as he sat there, contemplating drinking the entire bottle of Scotch in one go, he finally understood why Julian and his father had told him to stay away from Lusso. The Ivanovs were crazy bastards through and through, and this was exactly why giving them twenty percent was a terrible idea.

"Woo me!" Aleksei clapped his hands in anticipation, the look in his eyes crazier than ever. Liam didn't mind it, though. He was just glad the crazy bastard wasn't pointing a gun at him anymore. He liked the idea of returning to Eden and their son in one piece.

With shaky hands, he pulled out a white envelope and shoved it at the other man. "My offer."

While Aleksei tore through the envelope and browsed the contract, Liam found himself going down memory lane, thinking back to his first tournament win back in '11.

He didn't have the fastest car back then. He wasn't the most experienced driver either. His win had boiled down to luck and maybe his sheer stubbornness to stick it to his old man and prove to Clarke he could make it on his own.

He had nothing to prove to his father now. But he hoped the same luck that had carried him to the finish line back then would hold out today, and the dreaded negotiations would be quick and painless, and with no guns being drawn again—

"—On paper, it looks legit," Aleksei said, breaking through his thoughts. "We're happy to take the shipping, and you'll handle the storage."

"I'm glad," Liam nodded even though he was far from it.

He thought about everything in that moment, yet it seemed his mind was empty of all thought.

Liam tried to remember if he had updated his life insurance policies and whether he had kissed Aiden goodbye that morning or if he told Eden he loved her during their last phone conversation. He remembered she told him she loved him. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember if he said the words back to her.

"Sit down, Sir, don't move," James pushed him on the ground and propped him against one of the club chairs as he pressed his hand over the gash on his side to stop the bleeding while he issued instructions at his team to call for help.

"James," Liam whispered, his breathing laboured. "Call Eden."

She said she had something to tell him. But he didn't think he'd make it home tonight, and he knew if James couldn't control the bleeding, things weren't looking good for him. But he had to know. He had to know what Eden had wanted to tell him, and he had to tell her he loved her.

"No, Sir, help is on the way. The chopper will be here in three minutes, you hear me? Hang on, okay?" His head of security shook his head, his eyes bright with tears. "We're getting you out of here. You'll see the missus in no time."

"Okay," Liam murmured and waited for the white light. But it never came, and he realised then that was another lie. In movies, there was always a white light at the end of one's life. So, where was his white light? Had he missed it? Did he do too many horrible things in his life that even God didn't think he deserved a white light?

Suddenly Liam's aware of the intense heat radiating from the wound to his core. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and no matter how hard he tried to describe it to himself, death was the only thing that came to mind.

Yes, it felt like death, and if he was dying, he wanted to spend his last moments with Eden.

"Call Paradise right now!" He croaked.

"Okay," James nodded, looked through Liam's coat and pulled out his phone, his other hand still firmly compressing his wound.

Eden picked up on the second ring. "Liam, are you on your way home? Aiden's waiting for you."

"Princess," Liam cried at the sound of her voice, and just for that moment, he forgot the excruciating pain burning his midsection. "I can't remember if I told you I love you today."

"Liam?" Eden said on her end, her panic spilling through the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Aleksei shot me. That crazy bastard shot me, and I don't know what my odds are. I don't know if I'll make it home tonight. But I wanted you to know I love you and Aiden so much. You are my heart." He laughed, unable to believe the irony of it all.

Who knew that the very day he planned to make peace with the man would be his last. But in a way, it seemed fitting that he went out with a bang at the very place where he'd burned so brightly he never thought his star would fade.

"Put James on the phone," Eden wailed on her end. "Put James on the phone right now. I'm not listening to this. I don't know know what this is, but I'm not listening to it. You said you're coming home. You said you'll bath Aiden, and you'll read him a bedtime story. We're both waiting for you, so you had better come home right now because I need you—"

"—The past three months were the happiest I've been because of you. You are my hell, my paradise and my heart. I love you so much."

"Clarke Liam Anderson, you are not doing this to me, do you hear me? You are not leaving me. What am I supposed to do with two kids on my own? I'm pregnant. Do you hear me? I'm pregnant, and you are not leaving me today!"

"That's great, Princess," he laughed tearfully. "That's so awesome. I hope it's a girl, and she has the heart of a warrior like you. I hope—"

Liam gasped his last breath as the light died in his eyes, his head lolling to his side.