Legally Bound: Pregnant with my Rival's Baby

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I collapsed onto my couch, phone pressed to my ear, as I recounted the day's events to Lily. My sister listened patiently as I described the tense meeting with Derek, my voice rising with frustration as I spoke.

"And then," I fumed, "he had the audacity to smirk at me when the mediator sided with his point. Can you believe it, Lily? The man is insufferable!"

Lily's sigh crackled through the phone. "Soph, don't you think you're being a little... harsh? I mean, he is the father of your child."

I felt my jaw clench. "Being the father of my child doesn't give him a free pass to be an arrogant jerk. If anything, it makes it worse."

"Okay," Lily said, her voice maddeningly calm. "But from what you've told me, he's been trying to be supportive. Didn't he come to your doctor's appointment?"

I rolled my eyes, even though Lily couldn't see me. "Yeah, and then he went right back to being cold and professional. It's like he has a split personality or something."

"Or maybe," Lily suggested gently, "he's just as confused and conflicted as you are."

I sat up straight, indignation flaring. "I am not confused or conflicted! I know exactly how I feel about Derek Hawthorne. He's arrogant, infuriating, and completely full of himself."

"Uh-huh," Lily said, her tone dripping with skepticism. "And that's why you can't stop talking about him, right?"

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. As much as I hated to admit it, Lily had a point. Derek had been occupying an alarming amount of my thoughts lately. But it wasn't because I had feelings for him. It couldn't be.

"It's just the stress of the situation," I said, trying to convince myself as much as Lily. "We're on opposite sides of a major case, and now we're having a baby together. It's a lot to process."

Lily hummed thoughtfully. "Sure, that's part of it. But Sophia, have you considered that maybe, just maybe, there might be something more there?"

I felt a flutter in my stomach that had nothing to do with the baby. "No," I said firmly. "There's nothing more there. Derek and I... we're oil and water. We don't mix."

"Except you did mix," Lily pointed out. "Rather spectacularly, if I remember correctly."

Heat rose to my cheeks as memories of that night flooded back. The intensity in Derek's eyes, the feel of his hands on my skin, the way he'd made me feel things I'd never felt before...

"That was a mistake," I said, my voice sounding weak even to my own ears. "A moment of weakness. It didn't mean anything."

Lily's silence spoke volumes. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. "Sophia, it's okay to have complicated feelings about this. It's a complicated situation. But I think you need to be honest with yourself about what you're really feeling."

I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. "And what if I don't know what I'm feeling? What if I'm just... a mess of contradictions?"

"Then that's okay too," Lily assured me. "But Soph, I think you need to give Derek a chance. Not as a romantic partner if you're not ready for that, but as a co-parent. As someone who's going through this with you."

I thought about Derek's face when we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. The mix of awe and terror in his eyes had mirrored my own feelings so perfectly. For a moment, we'd been completely in sync.

But then I remembered his cold demeanor in the meeting today, the way he'd argued against my points with ruthless efficiency. How could the same man who'd looked at me with such tenderness in the doctor's office be so distant and professional just days later?

"I don't know if I can, Lily," I admitted. "Every time I think I'm starting to see a different side of him, he goes right back to being the Derek I've always known. The one I... hate."

The word felt hollow as I said it. Did I really hate Derek? Or was that just easier than admitting to the confusing swirl of emotions I felt whenever I thought about him?

"Oh, Soph," Lily sighed. "I think you need to ask yourself if you really hate him, or if you're just scared of what it might mean if you don't."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. I opened my mouth to protest, to insist that of course I hated Derek Hawthorne. But the words wouldn't come.

Instead, I found myself saying, "What if... what if I don't hate him? What then?"

Lily's voice was gentle when she replied. "Then you figure it out. Together. But Sophia, you can't keep pretending that there's nothing there. It's not fair to you, it's not fair to Derek, and it's certainly not fair to your baby."

I nodded, forgetting for a moment that Lily couldn't see me. "I hear you. I just... I don't know how to do this. How to navigate this mess we've created."

"One day at a time," Lily said. "And hey, maybe start by actually talking to Derek. Not about work, not about the baby. Just... talk. Get to know him as a person, not just as your rival or the father of your child."

The idea was terrifying, but a small part of me recognized the wisdom in Lily's words. "I'll think about it," I said finally.

As I hung up the phone, I found myself staring at Derek's contact information on my screen. My finger hovered over the call button for a long moment before I set the phone down with a sigh.

Not today, I thought. But soon. Because as much as I wanted to cling to my hatred, to the familiarity of our rivalry, I knew Lily was right. Something had to change.

For the sake of our child, if nothing else, Derek and I needed to figure out how to coexist. And maybe, just maybe, in the process of doing that, I'd figure out what I really felt for the infuriating, complex man who'd turned my life upside down.

But for now, I allowed myself to admit one small truth: I didn't hate Derek Hawthorne. Not really. And that realization was more terrifying than any hatred could ever be.