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82|I Don't Want Your Shiny Things
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Still raw from her encounter with Lucy earlier and reeling from the warning she didn't see coming, Eden dreaded going back to the battleground, to the place where all the drama began, but she'd already missed out on three hours of work.
Matthew's reports and minutes weren't going to type themselves. Gibby's training and handover session, too, wouldn't attend itself.
With a loud sigh, she pushed her office door and stepped inside.
Instead of being blown away by all the elegance surrounding her like she was earlier, Eden was suddenly filled with a rage so fierce if she didn't find something to distract herself, and if she didn't look for something to do, she was so convinced it would swallow her up.
She glared at Liam's blazer on her desk, hating him a little.
She knew it's irrational. But she needed someone to blame for her anger and hurt, and Liam was the perfect scapegoat.
He should have left her broom closet the way it was, and he sh
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"Come on! Don't tell me you've let that stupid rumour upset you." Liam said, returning her phone. "It's office gossip. It means nothing." "It means nothing when you're the boss. No one dares say anything bad about you!" Eden pointed out, hot, angry tears brimming in her eyes, fogging up her vision. "I'm not good at this job, and I try my best every day. But now, this stupid rumour has set me back ten years. My credibility has been shattered, my reputation ruined. I'm no longer Matthew's junior assistant. I'm just the new girl who got the job because she's sleeping with the big boss!" "Don't talk like that!" Liam growled. "You know it's not true!" "Isn't it, though?" Eden asked. "We both know why you hired me, and after last night can we honestly say it's not true? It was only a matter of time before we do. I suppose we have these rumours to thank. Now we can both come back to our senses." "Eden—" Liam tried to say, but she held up her hands. "
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"Anderson!" Liam barked into the phone as he watched Eden through the window make her way back to her office. An office she now hated. An office he had no business messing with because she had loved it just the way it was. It was Gibby. "Sir, Laura Stone is on her way to see you; I tried to stop her." "Got it!" Liam grunted and slammed the phone back on the hook. He had enough shit on his plate; he didn't need Laura's crap as well. It seemed he'd have to take it. His ex knocked once and pranced in, bringing in with her the cloyingly sweet but expensive smell of her perfume. "Liam—" She cooed as she ran into his arms but paused when he kept them at his sides and glared at her. "I have a meeting in fifteen minutes," he said, making a point of checking his Cartier. Laura was easily one of the most beautiful women he'd ever fucked. She had the body and the legs to make a man forget all his problems too. But his attention was on the
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The sun was still high up in the sky when Eden left the office and walked to her car in the staff parking lot. She unlocked her doors but couldn't bring herself to jump in behind the wheel because she was still racking her brain for an excuse, a reason, a plausible lie for the mark on her cheek. Brenda would fret as soon as she saw it, and Eden was not ready for the coddling, however, well-intentioned. She didn't want all the inevitable questions and a few minutes in the sun was what she needed, she decided, as she turned up her face to the sky and soaked in the warm rays. It was a perfect Indian summer afternoon, and for a minute, everything was as it should be as she released the long breath she had been holding in the whole day, leaving her lungs empty. She felt as light as a feather while she imagined herself drifting away, like a balloon floating in the sky. But then her phone rang, shattering her moment of bliss. Sienna wanted to
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"God, someone, please take him away," Eden complained as she booted Lydia off the bench and sat down. Her friends gasped and fussed at Lucy's handiwork when she took off her oversized sunglasses. They were outraged and wanted blood—Lydia more than the other two—when Eden told them all about her office renovations and her fight with Lucy. "Who the hell is this bitch?" She yelled, startling Aiden playing at their feet with his toy bucket and spade. He thought she's shouting at him, and he yelled back, "no!" Eden groaned. "That's his favourite word now. Today especially, everything is a huge 'no' for him." "Well, he's probably pissed his mom was assaulted." Sienna leaned over and ruffled his hair. Aiden looked up and smiled sweetly at her, the small dimple on the side of his mouth—the only thing he'd inherited from Eden—blinking at them as he sprayed sand everywhere and chuckled his little heart out. "I found her address," Lydia a
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Eden looked up, startled out of her mind to see his eyes were open. "Liam!" She was instantly on her feet and kissing him on the lips as she sobbed so loud she thought she'd wake the patients in the neighbouring rooms. "Oh my God, it's true. You're awake! I was starting to think they lied." "If you keep crying, I might just pass out again!" He growled and patted the empty spot on the bed. "Come here!" She sank beside him, and he drew her closer and placed his hand on her tummy. "How's my little warrior?" Eden burst into tears again at his words. "You heard everything I said that night?" "Of course I did," he smiled tearfully as well. "I may have been dying, but I'm not deaf, you know." "And you're not angry?" "Why would I be angry?" Liam asked. "Because you just found out about Aiden and now—" "Now our family will be complete," he pulled her down, and she nestled in his arms, careful not to touch his wound. "I l
