Begin Again novel Chapter 116

Sometime after lunch Friday afternoon, Eden picked up her phone and called Brenda to remind her she would be home late because of the team outing with the other assistants.

As usual, the nanny had no issues watching Aiden after hours, and they spent a few more minutes chatting about their plans for the afternoon.

Brenda wanted to hit the rooftop market for some fruit and vegetables, and Eden was more than happy for her to take Aiden. She had meant to take him to the flea market, but somehow her home improvements and playdates with Isaac and Zoe always seemed to eat up her weekends.

"Thanks, Brenda. Give him a big smooch for me," Eden smiled and hung up.

Now that she knew Aiden had an eventful afternoon planned as well, she could at least pretend to be excited about a drinking fest that didn't include Liam.

When she left at 04:30 PM, the other ladies were still dolling themselves up in the bathroom. They tried to get her to join in, but Eden declined, insisting on going ahead to reserve a booth for them.

She'd decided not to drive into work today because finding parking at Crush was always a nightmare. She was glad to see her Uber was already waiting at the entrance when she eventually made it out of the building.

She was at the club in under ten minutes, and the hostess—dressed in a latex dominatrix catsuit—was nice enough to show her to a VIP booth even though they hadn't booked one.

She'd just sat down when José stopped by to take her order, and she was mighty relieved to see he didn't have his bum cheeks out on display today, and he was somewhat dressed, though in a pair of tight-fitting pants, a leather harness over his toned chest and a collar around his neck.

From his outfit and the hostess', it wasn't hard to figure out tonight's theme was BDSM.

They spent a few minutes catching up like they were old friends, and he tried to bump Lydia's phone number from her, spending an awfully long five minutes convincing her why he wanted to collaborate with her friend on a makeup vlog.

"Let me confirm with her first," Eden told him as she reached inside her bag for her phone.

She highly doubted her bestie would even want to shoot a video with him, but she sent her a text in the group chat anyway.

"You gotta help me. I mean, my idea has the potential to triple her fanbase, and of course, get me out of here," José begged her once more before he returned to the bar.

He was back in a flash with her sparkling water and a cocktail.

"I didn't order that," Eden said, nodding at the fancy glass garnished with a cute neon green cocktail umbrella.

"It's from him," the waiter pointed at the lone man sitting at the deserted bar. The place was still half-empty, but it would be hopping with the usual Friday night crowd in an hour or so.

The man lit a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke in her direction, maintaining firm eye contact with her.

It was hard to tell his age since he was so far away, but Eden guessed he couldn't have been that much older than her.

She could swear she saw a small smirk on his lips when he dipped his head at her in a brief nod even though she couldn't see his features clearly from up here.

Mildly annoyed at his cocky assumption that she'd accept a drink from him, she barely acknowledged his presence as she flitted her gaze back at José. "While I appreciate the gesture, tell him I can buy my own drinks."

The waiter was stumped by her announcement. He shook his dark head, his thin lips twitching downwards as he frowned at her. "Don't you know who that is?"

Eden didn't. And she wasn't in the least bothered by her blissful ignorance. "I don't, and I'm not interested."

"I would if I were you." José placed the tray on the cube and sat beside her. "That's Aleksei, one-half of the Ivanov twins. The other is Andrei. They're heirs to Aero Shipping. His family is worth billions."

"So?" Eden asked. Her baby's father was a billionaire, too. It would take a whole lot more than the man's net-worth to fill her eyes with stars.

"So, if you don't want to live the rest of your life in abject poverty, I'd accept the drink if I were you. Aleksei can open worlds mere mortals like us can only dream of. He knows everyone and even has the president on speed dial."