Eden's POV:I'm pretty sure grandma shouldn't be having caffeine so I forgo the coffee and just wander around instead. I tell myself that I'll give them ten minutes – exactly ten minutes – and then I'll head back.I hope Noah knows what he's getting himself into. Grandma is sneaky and she knows exactly how to dig for information. She'll have a wedding date, the number of kids he wants and the names and numbers of his immediate family members all within that ten minutes I'm giving them.Any longer and she'll wrangle every secret he's ever kept out of him.I'm not sure where to go so I head towards the exit, thinking that I'll get a little air. My mind immediately returns to the events of the previous day. It had taken ages to explain everything to the police. They'd have what felt like hundreds of questions.They have more, of course. They want witness statements from all of us. I guess, that's what I'll be doing tomorrow in between trying to fix the mess that James and Lewis have
Noah's POV:Mrs Clancy is happily talking away about Eden. Her voice is filled with evident pride. I'm surprised that Eden's been gone this long. It's been almost half an hour and I had gotten the distinct impression that she would rush back."I wonder what's taking Eden so long," Mrs Clancy's words echo my own thoughts.Getting to my feet, I reply, "I should go find her."Mrs Clancy smiles at me as I make my way out of the room in search of her granddaughter. Just outside, I'm glance around. I'm not really sure where to look for Eden. Coffee was just Mrs Clancy's excuse to get Eden out of the room. All so she could ambush me with questions. Questions I would have answered even if Eden had been in the room.The nurses are sitting at their desk, chatting away happily and there are several patients wandering about, but there's no sign of Eden. I pull my phone out of my pocket and call her. It's not like I can search the entire hospital, although I will if I have to. Even if it does
Noah's POV:When I manage to get through the crowd of people, I find Eden sitting at the centre. She's in a metal chair with a hot drink in her hand and she's shaking slightly. My eyes linger on her momentarily before they take in the person talking to her, or more precisely the clothes they are wearing.Eden is speaking to a police officer.What the hell happened? I move to her side quickly, before crouching down to check on her."Eden, are you okay?" I ask.She gives me a small smile and offers me a shaky hand. I take it, feeling the cold that is emanating from her skin."I'm alright," she answers but I struggle to believe her."What happened?" I demand."James…"That's all she needs to say for me to see red. "Where is he?""The police have him now," she tells me, her voice hollow like she's overwrought with emotion."Do you need to stay here?" I want to take her away from all the prying eyes. I know Eden won't be enjoying the attention she's currently getting."I don't
"Let's break up."Did he really just say that? It's hard to believe that he could actually be that much of a jerk. Then again, maybe it's not that surprising. This always happens.Just when I begin to think he's different. Just when I begin to trust.He proves me wrong.What I don't understand is why it always has to be in a public place. If you're going to dump a person you should at least have the decency to do it privately. But no. They always seem to pick the best restaurant in the most affluent part of the city, the most expensive dish and the priciest wine. And only when they've finished their desert, do they tell me that it's over. That they're done. That we're through.Which would be fine, if it wasn't for the fact they always leave me with the bill. Every time. It's like they're trying to get their money's worth or something."Okay. Let's do that," I say with a surprising amount of tenacity. I have no intentions of letting him know that I'm hurt; my shoulders tense, my breath
My hand on the doorknob, I rally my nerves. Chances are my grandma has already heard all about it from her assistant, Martin. There are no secrets in my family. I shouldn't have called Martin but I don't know anyone else who would resolve everything as quickly as he will, and expedience trumps privacy.I can already imagine what my grandma will have to say. She's a meddlesome one, my grandma. Not that I'd have her any other way. She'll have about a million meaningless platitudes, meant to ease my heartbreak on the tip of her tongue. I've heard them all before though and I'm not sure I want to hear them again. It's embarrassing. Only a few days ago I was telling her how great he was and now I've got to tell her that I was wrong. Again."He's not even a person," she barks out as soon as I enter the house.She's clearly been waiting for me, pacing angrily. She's so tiny, no more than five foot and yet you shouldn't let her size fool you. My granny is terrifying."Then what is he? A dog?"
"A bet? Are you serious?""Perfectly.""Go on then. What is it?"My grandma isn't one to make bets. She says there's no fun to be had when the odds always fall in your favour."Give it all up," she says completely losing me.Bewildered, I ask, "give up what?""The money. All of it.""Why?""If it's not there, you won't be second guessing yourself, paranoid that everyone is out for what they can get.""You're joking? Surely.""No. Not at all. What better way to vet someone than to actually experience how they will treat you without the wealth and the connections that come with it.""But…"It's not like I haven't considered it before but I always thought it was just a pipe dream. One where I go away somewhere, someplace where no one knows anything about me. But it's not real. You can't just pretend to be something you're not.I can't go around pretending to be poor when I have billions sitting in the bank.I think Grandma might have lost her marbles. She can't possible be serious but she
I'm pretty sure this is a mistake and a massive one at that. There is no world in which this ends well.I am a terrible liar and every time I try to so much as keep a secret it blows up in my face.As soon as I woke up this morning, I regretted agreeing to Grandma's crackpot scheme but at breakfast she had informed me that there would be no take backs. She had sat there opposite me with a gleeful smile on her face and I knew instantly that she had played me.I'd only fallen right into her trap like a fool.She'd been far too happy as she told me that I'd need to take the tube to work. I hadn't realised that she had intended that I should start quite so immediately and when I told her as much she told me, her face completely deadpan, that there was no time like the present."Martin will arrange an apartment for you. It won't be quite like what you're used to but it will be clean and safe," she had told me as if those were the only two criteria that mattered."Thanks," I'd replied, a lit
Noah's POV:"What do you mean I have a new assistant?" I almost shout down the phone at the head of HR. He has got to be joking. There is no way he's serious.My last assistant didn't even last a week?That has to be some sort of record."What happened to Becky?" I ask when he doesn't answer."Er… She wanted something a little less…" His voice drifts off before he blurts out, "she said you were a slave driver.""A slave driver?" I ask, chuckling slightly as I lean back in my chair."Well… What she actually said was that you were and I quote 'a f*cking slave driver with a stick up your arse."Now I really am laughing. And here I was thinking I was going easy on her since it was her first week."Right, so tell me about her replacement.""Eden Winters," he says in a voice that suggests her name is all I need to know. "She's just filling in some paperwork and then she'll be heading up to your floor.""Great," I say irritably.This is the last thing I need. I really don't have the time to l