Chapter 177
LIVIA-
Blair froze with the test still in her hand.
“Do you hear shouting?”
I listened. She was right.
There shouldn’t be any shouting happening outside. That was strange.
We were still in the bathroom trying to process a future that had arrived too fast. I dropped the test on the counter and ran to see what the hell was happening.
Blair was right behind me. “Be careful. You’re pregnant!”
Then she shouted at herself, breathless, furious at her own body for not moving fast enough. “I’m pregnant too! We should not be running like this!”
I ignored her.
I hit the stairs. Then out the front door.
That’s when I saw them.
My heart skipped a beat at the sight in front of me. Blair caught up just then and gasped, “we have to stop
them!”
Ethan was beating Roman in the driveway.
Roman was bleeding from his mouth, his jaw, and other places.
He was not even fighting back. His hands were open at his sides like he had decided he deserved every hit.
I lost my mind.
“Ethan, stop!” I screamed, running onto the driveway. “Please, Ethan. I’m begging you. Please stop it! I love him!”
Ethan did not look at me at first. Another shove. Roman staggered and stayed standing, stubborn even in surrender.
“Go back inside,” Ethan said. His voice was filled with anger and a hint of betrayal. “You will never see him again.”
I grabbed his arm. “Stop. I will not stand back and let you hit Roman like this!”
“Let go, Olivia.”
“Please try to understand.” The words came out rushed as the tears continued to fall. “He tried to push me away at first. I’m the one who loved him first. I kept going after him. He kept denying me. He kept turning me down because he didn’t want to ruin your friendship. He sat in this house and treated me like I was off-
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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
limits because of you. He stayed away Ethan, this hasn’t been going around long at all. Please stop.”
han yanked his hand away.
His movement was too sharp and unexpected. I lost my balance and went down on my ass on the ground, pain hitting my palms in response.
Roman’s eyes widened.
He moved then. He shoved Ethan down and put himself between us, furious in a way I had only seen in him around Luca.
“Be careful. She’s fucking pregnant.” He growled. I could see the worry in his face and my heart melted.
I loved this side of him so much.
Ethan stared at me on the ground like he had not meant to put me there. He looked pissed at Roman bu also at himself.
Roman was already kneeling, hands hovering like he did not know if he was allowed to touch me in front of my brother.
“I’m okay,” I whispered.
Roman looked at Ethan anyway, blood on his teeth, eyes dark.
“I love her.” His voice shook and he did not hide it. “I’m not just fucking around. I love her, Ethan. I don’t love anyone else as much as I love her. There is no other man who would treat her better than me and you know it. And I love her even more since she’s your sister and I know what she means to you. I’m not letting her go. I can’t be without her. I already tried it and fucking failed. I don’t want to lose you as my friend either, so you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Ethan did not get up right away.
He looked at Roman. Then at me. Then at the way Roman’s hand had found mine on the ground without asking permission from anyone.
Something in my brother’s face changed. Not forgiveness. Recognition. The fight went out of his shoulders as he realized this was not a random hookup. This was his best friend on his knees in our driveway, bleeding, saying he could not live without me.
“I’m sorry,” Roman said. He did not look away from Ethan. “I should have told you the second I started having feelings for her. I know I’m a bad friend. I know I sat at your table and lied by saying nothing. But I love Olivia. I cannot live without her. I tried. I used Eden. I used distance. I used you as a reason. It still brought me here. To her. To this.”
Ethan dragged a hand over his face.
“You got her pregnant.”
“Yes. I should have been more careful but she’s just so-forget it. I couldn’t help myself.”
“You love her.”
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The Nockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“Yes.”
han looked at me. “And you.”
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“I have been in love with him for a long time now,” I said. “Longer than I should admit. He saved me once and I never got over it. This is not a game. This is not me pretending to like Luca. This is real. I/love him.”
Blair joined in, “it’s true. The both of them are in love. Please try to understand that, brother. Please.”
Ethan stared at our joined hands for a long time.
He did not say it was okay.
He did not say Roman could come inside.
He just stopped fighting.
And in the quiet that followed, Roman pulled me against his chest right there on the driveway, mouth in my hair, whispering that he had me, that he was sorry, that he was not going anywhere, while my brother sat a few feet away and tried to live with the fact that the two people he trusted most had become one story he had never been told.
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143 Mon, Sep 21 MJ.
The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.