Eden had just returned from the breakroom with a steaming cup of tea—her last for the day—ready to wind down for the afternoon when her office phone rang.
After listening for a moment or two at the voice on the other end of the line, she placed the phone back on its stand.
She took several shaky breaths to calm herself before she dashed out of her office.
Their meeting was bound to happen at some point; she didn't expect it to be so soon, though.
How could she possibly look at Liam now when she couldn't even remember a large part of Friday night?
She knew she had drunk-called him at some point during her alcohol-fueled binge. A quick check of her call records, while she sipped on Brenda's hangover cure sometime after midday on Saturday, had confirmed that much.
As she weaved through the hallways, Eden tried yet again to access what seemed to be her permanently deleted memories. But the only things her foggy mind came up with were Aleks
"Did you miss me?" Liam asked. "Only like one percent," Eden mumbled absently. Her attention was now on the envelope, her eyes shining with joy as she stared at it in wonder like it was a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Well, in the fashion world, it most certainly was. When Lydia showed off her ticket weeks ago, Eden was insanely envious of her. Since she's now a mom, there are things she had learned she would have to slowly let go of, like attending late-night events. But now, because of a work commitment, she'd get a front-row seat to the best fashion in the country before the general public saw it. Eden was so thrilled she wanted to shout with joy and break into a happy dance. If she wasn't in the CEO's office, she would have. But— She turned to Liam, suspicion clouding her eyes again. Why was she going as his date when he had Clara? "Shouldn't you take Clara or one of the senior as
Dazedly, Eden drifted in front of the screen and watched the news anchor report live from the N1, where three of Anderson Logistics freight trucks, en route to shipping depots in different parts of the country, were engulfed in flames, in what the police had termed a highly sophisticated attack. The reasons for the ambush, though, were still unclear. Within seconds, Liam's office door shot open. Matthew, Julian, and the other senior executives stormed in, along with their PAs, and they all held an impromptu meeting. The room was in stunning chaos for three hours as everyone lost their heads trying to do damage control. Julian was close to tears as they all watched Anderson Logistics' share prices tank on the markets. Matthew had a PR nightmare on his hands. Speculations and rumours about the attack, which was eerily similar to those that had befallen other logistics companies in recent days, were already spreading like wildfire. Every man and
Eden raced back inside the building, planning to sneak in and out of Liam's office to grab her phone. She knocked once and eased inside when she didn't get an answer. Her heart splintered in two when she found Liam on the couch, cradling his face in his hands, his shoulders sagged in defeat. He turned when he heard the door close softly behind her, his gaze darkening when their eyes locked. "I forgot my phone," Eden explained, lingering just inside, feeling like she'd intruded on a private moment. "It's here." Liam held it up in the air, and she dashed over to grab it. When she tried to reach for it, though, he grabbed her instead, and she clumsily fell on his lap. "Mr Anderson," she cried breathlessly, startled by his swift move. "Liam," he groaned, his lips hovering so close to hers she could smell the bourbon on his breath. "Liam," she said, matching his quiet tone. "I don't think I should be here." "
It rained for a week straight following the incident with the burning of the trucks, adding even more gloom to the sadness and depression that had settled over the company soon after Liam had called an emergency meeting to pay tribute to the fallen drivers. It was almost as if the heavens above felt their loss just as fiercely, and they, too, were in mourning. Incidentally, the horrid weather coincided with Gibby's departure from Anderson Logistics. By the third day, when the relentless storm showed no sign of ceasing, all the assistants on the 36th floor began to think that maybe the dark clouds and torrential rains were an omen and a sign that the older woman wasn't meant to leave. Gibby, though, as she told everyone in her farewell speech, firmly believed the rain was a blessing and a clear sign of all the wonderful things that awaited her in her next chapter and retirement. There wasn't a dry eye in the medium-sized private room at La Fami
Over the next few weeks following the burning of the trucks, Liam threw himself into his work with newfound vigour and determination, spurred on by his unyielding guilt and grief over losing three of his drivers. When he wasn't hounding the detectives about the lack of progress on the case, he was permanently on the second floor with the security team, monitoring all their freight trucks all over the country in real-time over a satellite feed. Ellie, the head of the area, was happy to have him on board for the first week but nicely asked him not to return the following week. Her guys worked far better when they were at ease. They couldn't relax with him constantly hovering over their shoulders, barking and growling instructions. With too many fires to put out, Liam didn't want to waste energy arguing with her. There were many ways to skin a cat. He demanded the technology team set up a live feed on his laptop where he could tap in at any time from the comfort
Like Liam had expected, the board—Clarke included—was firmly on Julian's side, and for two hours, he had to sit and take the tongue lashing from all the senior board members when they nicely asked him to stop his reckless shopping spree! "Why the hell can't you all see this is a good thing for us? All these small towns are light years behind us, relying on postal services for their goods. If we have shipping depots—" "That was not part of our expansion plan, Son," Clarke said, his voice barely above a whisper. He was still frail and should not even be sitting in such lengthy meetings. But as the chairman, his presence was required. "Plans are meant to be altered!" Liam pushed back, refusing to give up on his vision. "You can't make up for the loss of life by snapping up all these struggling companies!" His mom tried to reason with him. "I'm giving them a new lease on life, creating jobs, restarting economies! What's the issue?" Liam asked. He
Eden stared at her phone, unable to believe the last five minutes. "What the hell?" She fumed as she dumped it on the table and picked up her glass of water. "Is everything okay?" Cassandra asked. They were at Heat, an Asian fusion eatery in downtown Rock Castle, celebrating Sienna's 26th birthday. To say Liam's call was unexpected was an understatement. "Three weeks without a word from him, and when he finally calls, he has the nerve to make demands on me!" Eden fumed and seethed and fussed as she replayed her phone conversation to her friends. They all listened and sipped their saké and nibbled on their sushi. "Can you believe him?" She asked for the millionth time as she picked up her chopsticks, twirled them in her fingers and dumped them on the table again. "What did he want?" Sienna asked. "To go with him to see his—" She stopped herself before she could let the cat out of the bag. Her friends still didn't
Eden stayed a little while with James, demanding answers, an explanation or a hint of the alert level of the shit storm she was in. But Liam's head of security was not at liberty to reveal anything. Dissatisfied with his lack of cooperation, Eden stormed off, almost bursting into tears of relief when she walked into her living room and found her friends crowded around the couch, gawking at a passed-out Liam snoring peacefully. She glared at his sleeping form, properly pissed off with him for making himself so comfortable on her new couch. But the traitor in her, the one driven by her heart and not her head, wanted to reach down and brush his tousled hair away from his face. Brenda rushed up to her from her bedroom, a worried expression on her face as she twisted and unclasped her hands in front of her. "I'm sorry, Eden, he just came in before I could even stop him. He kept saying something about being home at last before he passed out on the couch. He's drunk