From a Wrong Turn to Mr. Right novel Chapter 8

There were plenty of women after his money, but this was the first time Ethan Carter had ever heard of a woman trying to pay him.

Olivia Bennett felt her confidence slipping away. She pressed her lips together nervously. “So… what do you want then?”

He didn’t want her money.

Did he want… the baby?

Olivia instinctively shielded her belly, taking a couple of steps back, her gaze wary. “The baby is mine.”

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced at her stomach, his voice cool and even. “I’m not here to fight you for the baby.”

Olivia let out a relieved breath. “Then… what do you want?”

“Accountability,” Ethan said flatly.

“Huh?” Olivia blinked, confused, and shook her head. “I don’t need you to take responsibility.”

She remembered that night—well, sort of. It was all a blur, but she was pretty sure she’d been the one to start things. She couldn’t just pin it all on Ethan.

Ethan looked her straight in the eyes, his tone deliberate. “You slept with me. Now you’re responsible for me.”

Olivia’s eyes widened in disbelief. Was she hearing him right?

Wasn’t this supposed to be the other way around?

He stared, unblinking. “You think you can just walk away after a one-night stand?”

“I didn’t— I mean, that’s not—” Olivia stammered, her brain turning to mush. She hadn’t expected him to say that at all.

“It was an accident,” she finally managed to blurt out.

Ethan arched an eyebrow. “You think you can just call it an accident and pretend it never happened?”

The way he said it made her feel like some heartless player who’d just put her clothes on and walked out.

Ethan’s eyes darkened. He looked at Olivia with unwavering seriousness. “A child deserves a father. You don’t want your kid growing up hearing people whisper about how they don’t have one, do you? Marriage is the responsible thing—for the baby’s sake.

“And I’m not about to let my child go through life without a family.”

Olivia bit her lip, knowing deep down he was right—and he was even being gentle about it.

She’d grown up without parents, gotten used to the cruel things people said about “kids with no family.” She knew exactly how much it hurt.

She looked up, mouth opening as if to ask, If she gave up the baby…

But the words stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

She couldn’t do it. She’d wrestled with this decision for so long; she couldn’t give the child up now.

Why couldn’t he have shown up sooner? Maybe then she wouldn’t have let herself hope for this baby at all.

Olivia dropped her gaze, her emotions a tangled mess.