Chapter 4
Two hours later, the three of them were in Ethan’s penthouse on the thirteenth floor of the city’s most luxurious building. Leo, recovered and cheerful, crawled curiously across the soft living-room carpet while Ethan watched him with almost hypnotic fascination.
“Does he walk yet?” he asked, without taking his eyes off the boy.
“A few steps, holding on to furniture,” Mariah said, embarrassed by the contrast between the lavish surroundings and the simplicity of her clothes.
“Why did you decide to have the baby?” Ethan asked, turning to face her. “You knew who I was. You could have demanded anything. A settlement. Money.”
Mariah straightened, visibly offended. “I never wanted your money. And deciding to have the baby was never even a question for me. He was my son. Period. End of story.”
Ethan recognized his mistake immediately. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I’m used to people approaching me out of self-interest. It’s hard to believe someone simply wanted nothing from me.”
“I just wanted Leo to know who his father was,” she said, softening. “For you to know he existed. The rest was up to you.”
Leo chose that moment to crawl over, pull himself up by Ethan’s knees, and stand, looking at him with a toothless smile that could have melted stone. Ethan lifted him instinctively, feeling the small heart beat against his own.
“I missed a whole year,” he said, his voice trembling. “His first steps. His first words. Everything.”
A solitary tear rolled down his face when Leo, in a spontaneous gesture, rested his head against his chest — as if recognizing an innate security in him. Ethan held his son close, breathing in the scent of baby soap, an aroma he had never known and that instantly became the most precious thing in the world.
“Never again,” he promised, looking at Mariah through unshed tears. “Never again will I miss a moment of his life.”
The week that followed was an emotional whirlwind. Ethan, impulsive by nature, wanted to make up for lost time all at once. The very next morning his lawyer arrived with paternity acknowledgment papers and a child-support proposal that made Mariah choke on her coffee.
“This is more than I make in two years,” she protested, handing back the document.
“It’s the least I can offer. My son deserves the best.”
“Our son,” Mariah corrected softly. “And the best doesn’t always mean the most expensive, Ethan.”
It felt strange to use his first name after so long imagining this moment. Everything felt surreal — sitting in a magazine-worthy apartment, discussing Leo’s life with a man who, forty-eight hours earlier, had not known his son existed.
“I don’t want you to move in here,” Ethan said, surprising her. “Not yet. It would be too much for all of us. But I’d like to buy a suitable apartment for you both, in a safe neighborhood near your college.”
Mariah hesitated, her pride battling the desire to give Leo a better life. “I need to think. Everything is happening too fast.”
Ethan nodded, respecting her space.
In the following days, they built an improbable routine. He appeared at her small apartment after work, always with a new toy for Leo, but respecting her rules about not overdoing it. In return, she let him spend time with their son — learning to change diapers, give baths, put Leo to sleep.
It was on one of those nights that Mariah found him crying silently on the small sofa, Leo asleep in his arms.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.
“He held my finger while he fell asleep,” Ethan replied, his voice thick. “And I realized — I’ve never felt anything so important. Nothing. Not even when I closed my first million-dollar contract. Not even when I bought my first mansion.”
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He looked at her with glistening eyes. “I have everything money can buy, Mariah. And I never knew what happiness was until I felt his little hand holding my finger.”
Something changed between them that night. An invisible bridge began to form — not built on the brief physical attraction that had once united them, but on something deeper. The unconditional love they both felt for the small person sleeping innocently, unaware of the upheaval he had caused in two adult lives.
