"You've been scarce, Liam. What's wrong?" Cole questioned once he settled down in Liam's office.
"I'm sorry, man. I've been swamped with work. Meetings after meetings; I don't even have time for myself anymore," Liam sighed.
"You on the other hand, you're literally glowing. I haven't seen you this happy in a long time. Did you do some rejuvenation therapy? Or have you started doing yoga?" Liam teased, and Cole couldn't help but laugh.
"Yoga, indeed. I don't have the time for that. I guess it's the fact that I'm a part of my son's life now. I feel some kind of responsibility over him, and love seeing him smile. He and his mother, of course," Cole said with a smile on his face.
"You haven't told me why you dropped the case abruptly, Cole. I mean...," Liam drew closer to him, "... Do you have any plans you're not telling me?" He asked in a lower tone.
"Nope," Cole answered.
Liam looked surprised.
"So why did you call it off? You spent a lot of money and time on that case. You risked your reputation multiple times, like when you snuck Tris out of the zoo. You paid the doctor who did the DNA test, a lot of money. Let's not talk about how much you paid your lawyers. You mean you did all that for nothing?" Liam asked, confused.
Cole sighed.
"You see, I figured that I'd been going about it the wrong way. It was right of me to force myself in Tris's life. Sure I could get what I want - I could take him away from his mother and keep him to myself, but what would be the point, if the boy was not happy? It was traumatic enough for the mother to have a son taken away from her, but did Tris really need that trauma, choosing and picking sides between his mom and dad?" He began to explain. "Plus, I realized at the dying minute that not only was I doing it the wrong way, I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was scared that the boy wouldn't love me with his mum in the picture. I was jealous of the bond he shared with his mum, and was scared that we would never share something that strong when he'd get to find out that I was his father. I mean, everyone is happy now. I get to be in the boy's life, he gets to keep his mum and his dad, and Amy still has him in custody. Everyone is living in harmony, and that's what is important," Cole smiled.
Liam returned the smile, but he wasn't excited within him. He blew his chances of being with Amy by telling a lie for Cole in court. Amy and Kayla hated him right now.
Wasn't it unfair that Cole had to be the one who got away with it, leaving Liam in Amy's black book?
"Does your father know about it? About Tris, I mean," Liam asked.
"He doesn't, and I don't want to tell him, yet. I don't know how he'd take the information that I impregnated a lady from highschool that wasn't Shantel seven years ago, and I'd had a son living without my knowledge and out of the pack. You know, a dark moon son should not be outside the pack not more of an alpha's son," Cole replied.
"Yeah, you're right," Liam nodded in acknowledgement. " And so that means, Shantel doesn't know either?" Liam questioned again.
"I don't really know, but I don't think so. I'll tell her at the right time. She doesn't need to know for now," Cole answered.
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
"It seems you have work to attend to. Should I leave?"
"There's no need for that," he said to Cole.
"Come in!" He replied to the person at the door.
Cole heard as the door got open, and the person walked into the office.
"Good morning, Mr. Liam," a familiar feminine voice greeted.
"Good morning, Amy. How are you doing?" Liam replied to her greeting.
Cole's eyes widened at the mention of his baby mother's name.
He took a sharp turn, and to his uttermost shock, it was Amy, dressed in a work outfit, approaching the table.
"Amy? What are you doing here?" Cole questioned in appall.
"Hey, Cole. I didn't expect to see you here," she looked quite surprised.
"What is she doing here?" Coke turned to Liam.
"She works here now, Cole. I reemployed her," Liam replied.
"What... Why?" He questioned.
"You don't want her to work here?" Liam squinted in confusion.
"No, but...," Cole didn't know what to say anymore.
"I came to inform you that the investors are here for a meeting. You need to see them now," Amy informed.
"Okay, thank you very much. I'll be with them shortly. You're a darling for reminding me," Liam said with a smile Cole found creepy as Amy took her leave.
He hated everything about this arrangement.
"She's a darling to you? What kind of statement is that? Is that something you say to all of your employees for doing their job?" Cole faced Liam once she left.
"Cole, what's wrong? Why are you pissed? It was a harmless compliment that I could give anyone.," Liam feigned innocence.
Cole looked livid, but he didn't say a word to Liam.
"What's going on, Cole? It seems you have a problem with her working in my company?" Liam asked, concern evident in his voice.
"Not that I have a problem with it, but... She's my mate and my baby's mother, Liam, "
"Exactly, Cole. She's just your baby mother. Why would you have a problem with your baby mother working with your best friend?"
"Because you confessed yourself that you had feelings for her," Cole uttered in a serious tone.
"And so? That was long ago. Besides, there's nothing wrong if I have feelings for her... Except she is more than a baby mother to you?" Liam questioned.
Cole didn't give him any response.
"Cole?"
"Yeah?" Cole replied.
"Is she more than your baby's mother to you?" Liam asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Do you have feelings for her?" Liam rephrased the question.
"What?! No... No, not at all. She... She's just my baby mama. That's... That's all," Cole defended himself.
"Good. Remember that you have Shantel to deal with already. You haven't told her that you have a baby for someone else, and it would be a different ball game if you have feelings for that someone else," Liam pointed out.
"If you don't have anything else we can talk about, I need to go attend to investors... The ones my secretary just informed me about," Liam got up from behind the desk, buttoned his jacket, and walked out of the office.