Forced To Marry My Cousin's Fiancé

Chapter 21: Chapter 21

The atmosphere inside Ethan Blackwood’s office was as cold and tense as usual. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the sprawling city skyline, while the quiet, rhythmic ticking of the expensive wall clock echoed faintly throughout the room.

Several files lay open across Ethan’s desk, though he had barely looked at any of them properly for the past twenty minutes. His thoughts were drifting elsewhere again—somewhere they absolutely shouldn’t have been.

Rubbing a hand slowly against his jaw, he forced his gaze back down, trying to focus on the contract in front of him. Numbers, meetings, and deadlines were things that made sense; feelings didn’t. Especially not lately, and especially not whenever Lane somehow managed to find her way into his mind.

A sharp knock interrupted the silence. Without looking up, Ethan snapped, "I said no interruptions."

From outside the door, his assistant hesitated briefly before speaking carefully. "Mr. Brad Harrison is here, sir."

Ethan’s expression tightened faintly. Brad. Of course. Leaning back slightly against his executive chair, he exhaled a quiet, defeated sigh. "I told you not to let anyone in."

"He insisted, sir."

That sounded exactly like Brad. Closing the file in front of him with a definitive thud, Ethan finally relented. "Let him in."

A few seconds later, the heavy office door swung open, and Brad Harrison walked in as casually as if he owned the building himself. Tall, sharply dressed, and annoyingly relaxed, Brad had always carried himself with the kind of effortless confidence that irritated strangers and entertained those who actually knew him.

His dark eyes immediately landed on Ethan, and a knowing grin spread across his face as he walked further into the room.

"Well," Brad said, his voice laced with amusement, "congratulations."

Ethan already looked exhausted. "What do you want?"

Ignoring the question completely, Brad dropped into the leather chair across from Ethan’s desk, making himself entirely comfortable.

"I leave the country for a few weeks and suddenly you’re a married man."

When Ethan remained stubbornly silent, Brad leaned back, crossing one leg over the other to continue dramatically, "And not just married. Married to Olivia’s cousin."

Still, Ethan offered nothing but silence, his jaw tightening faintly as Brad stared at him for several seconds, slowly shaking his head.

"You really know how to create chaos, Ethan."

"What are you here for, Brad?" Ethan asked, his voice clipping the edge of his patience.

Brad laughed quietly. "To understand what the hell happened."

The office fell quiet after that. For a moment, Ethan genuinely considered ending the conversation and throwing him out, but Brad was one of the only people who had known him long enough to speak this openly. And unfortunately, Ethan knew the questions weren’t unreasonable; the entire city had been gossiping about the scandal for months.

Lane’s pregnancy, Olivia disappearing into thin air, the sudden shotgun marriage, and the relentless rumors online—none of it made an ounce of sense from the outside.

Resting one arm against the chair, Brad studied his friend carefully. "What happened to Olivia?"

Something cold flickered across Ethan’s expression immediately. "I don’t know."

Brad frowned slightly. "You still can’t reach her?"

"No," Ethan replied, the word coming out sharp, short, and laced with frustration. He had tried everything in the beginning—calls, messages, tracking down mutual contacts—but it all led to nothing.

Olivia had vanished completely the moment she heard about the pregnancy. No matter how angry Ethan became, a part of him still couldn’t fully comprehend how everything had spiraled this disastrously.

Brad leaned forward slightly, shifting the focus. "And Lane?"

Ethan looked away, his gaze drifting back toward the windows behind him. The silence stretched long enough for Brad to read between the lines, understanding immediately that things were complicated.

Finally, Ethan spoke, his voice heavy. "It was an accident. We were drunk. It happened once."

The memory still irritated him—not because of Lane exactly, but because of the wreckage left in its wake. Everything had changed after that single night. One mistake, one moment of recklessness, and his entire life had exploded.

Brad rubbed a hand against his chin thoughtfully, summarizing the fallout. "And she got pregnant, Olivia left, and now you’re here."

"Yes," Ethan muttered, his expression hardening as the office became quiet once more.

Brad sighed heavily, leaning back into his chair. "You really messed up this time." When Ethan’s eyes narrowed dangerously, Brad lifted both hands in a calm gesture of surrender.

"I’m serious. You have to admit, Olivia was already insecure about Lane."

That made Ethan look up immediately, his brow furrowing. "What?"

Brad stared at him like he’d completely lost his mind. "You seriously never noticed? You never realized that Olivia hated how much people liked Lane? Lane is sweet, quiet, and easy to get along with. Your parents clearly adore her, too."

The mention of his parents made Ethan’s jaw tighten again because he couldn’t deny it. His mother, especially, had completely accepted Lane into the family despite the scandalous circumstances—sometimes a little too much.

Brad studied him, letting the reality sink in. "And now you’re married to her with a baby on the way."

The words still sounded strange to Ethan’s ears, even now. Leaning back against his chair, he reached up to loosen his tie slightly, trying to alleviate the sudden tightness in his throat. "It wasn’t supposed to happen this way."

"No kidding," Brad agreed softly.

A heavy silence settled between them for several moments before Brad’s expression shifted, becoming noticeably more serious.

"What’s Lane like?"

Ethan frowned faintly at the sudden inquiry. "What kind of question is that?"

"A normal one," Brad replied, completely ignoring Ethan’s irritation. "You live with her now, don’t you? So, what is she like?"

Ethan looked away again, finding that answering was unexpectedly difficult. Lane was... complicated. She wasn’t loud, demanding, or manipulative in the way he had initially convinced himself she would be.

In fact, Lane mostly stayed out of his way entirely. She avoided him constantly, waiting for him to leave the house before she even came down for breakfast. She prepared food quietly and spent the vast majority of her time alone.

Suddenly, an unbidden image flashed through Ethan’s mind: Lane sitting alone in the dimly lit kitchen late at night, gently holding her stomach and whispering to herself, ’Mommy is trying to be strong for you... it’s just the two of us.’

Something uncomfortable twisted faintly inside his chest at the memory.

Brad noticed the sudden hesitation immediately. "Well?" he prompted.

When Ethan spoke, his voice was much quieter than before. "She doesn’t complain."

Brad blinked in disbelief. "That’s your description of your wife?"

Ethan ignored the sarcasm, pressing on. "She stays quiet most of the time. She cooks."

Brad stared at him blankly for a second before bursting into a sudden laugh.

"You sound entirely confused by basic domestic behavior."

When Ethan shot him a lethal glare, Brad’s grin only widened. "Look, I’m just trying to understand if you actually hate this girl or not."

Ethan’s expression cooled instantly, his mask sliding back into place. "I never said I hated her."

Brad went silent, his amusement fading as he processed the defensive tone. Then, slowly, a quiet "Oh" escaped his lips.

That single syllable irritated Ethan instantly. "What?"

"That’s interesting," Brad murmured, leaning back to study him with newfound scrutiny.

"There’s nothing interesting about this situation," Ethan snapped.

"No, there definitely is," Brad countered smoothly, tilting his head. "Do you like her?"

Ethan immediately threw him a freezing look, which only caused Brad to chuckle softly.

"That reaction alone answers enough, Ethan."

"I was engaged to Olivia," Ethan reminded him, his voice darkening as if stating a fact could change reality.

"And now you’re married to Lane." The reminder felt much sharper than it should have. Brad held his gaze, his tone turning perceptive.

"You know what I think? I think you’re confused. Because if you truly hated Lane, you wouldn’t be thinking about her this much."

Ethan’s jaw tightened, his voice dropping an octave. "I don’t think about her."

Brad actually laughed aloud at that. "Right."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!