His reaction
576 Words
For a long moment, the room was silent.
Liam’s expression didn’t change. His jaw remained tight, his eyes unreadable—but something behind them shifted. A storm rising. Controlled. But present.
“You’re sure?” he asked softly. Not cold. Not cruel. Just… measured.
Ariana nodded, her voice barely audible. “Yes.”
She braced herself—for anger, for blame, for the typical male response. But it didn’t come.
Instead, Liam ran a hand through his hair, walking toward his desk slowly, like someone trying to process a sudden explosion.
“How long have you known?” he asked, back to her now.
“About a week,” she said. “I wasn’t sure at first. I wanted to be... before I told you.”
“And were you planning to tell me at all?”
Ariana hesitated. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to trap you, if that’s what you think.”
His head snapped around.
“Trap me?” he repeated, eyebrows drawn. “Do you even know who I am? If I were thinking like that, I’d say you trapped me.”
Her chest tightened. “That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” he said, his voice dropping into something sharper now. “One night. No contact after. Then three weeks later, you show up here. Pregnant.”
“I didn’t know I’d end up here!” Ariana snapped, her voice rising with emotion. “I applied before that night even happened. This internship was part of my plan—my career. The pregnancy wasn’t!”
Liam looked at her, really looked at her, and the fire behind his gaze flickered.
“You’re scared,” he said, softer now.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Wouldn’t you be?”
He stepped closer, slowly, his presence no longer imposing but steady. Controlled. Intentional.
“I’m not angry,” he said.
Ariana blinked. “You’re not?”
“No. Shocked? Yes. But not angry.” He paused. “I don’t run from problems. And I don’t walk away from responsibility.”
His voice was calm, yet it stirred something in her chest. A warmth. A fear.
“What… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” he said, “this changes everything. I don’t know what it means yet—for either of us—but I want to be involved.”
Ariana folded her arms, instinctively defensive. “You want to take control of my life now? Decide what I should do?”
“No,” he said firmly. “But this baby is half mine, and I intend to be part of its life. And yours, if you’ll let me.”
She shook her head. “We barely know each other.”
He nodded. “Then maybe it’s time we change that.”
Ariana looked away, heart pounding.
This wasn’t how life was supposed to go. A one-night mistake wasn’t supposed to turn into... this.
But there was something in Liam’s voice—steady, grounded—that made her want to trust him.
That terrified her even more.
Later, after she left his office, Liam sat in silence. Alone again.
A baby.
His.
He looked out over the New York skyline, but his thoughts weren’t on the city.
They were on Ariana.
And for the first time in years, the man who had vowed never to love again felt something crack open inside him.
- Writer
