Chapter 164 I Did It on Purpose
Olivia's POV:
I turned my head away, refusing to look at him.
"Ethan, we need to take a break. Just for a while. If we're meant to—"
If we're still meant to be together...
I didn't get to finish.
His hand clamped around my waist, and suddenly I was airborne. He hauled me up and slammed me down onto his lap, the movement so violent I gasped.
"Why?" His fingers dug into my waist with one hand, the other gripping my jaw, forcing me to meet his eyes. The rage in them was biblical. "Why the fuck do you keep trying to leave me? Why?"
My heart hammered against my ribs. "I'm not trying to leave you. I just—I can't keep living like this. Like I can't breathe. I spent years working my ass off to get into college, to have a future, to be free. Not to become someone's... someone's fucking property."
Ethan's laugh was sharp, broken. His eyes went red at the corners. "Property? That's what you think you are to me? A goddamn toy?"
"What else would you call it?" My voice cracked. "You won't let me see my friends. You monitor my phone. You decide where I go, who I talk to, what I fucking wear. That's not love, Ethan. That's ownership."
His gaze burned into me—molten, furious, desperate. For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
"Just six more months, Liv." His voice dropped to something softer, almost pleading. "Let me get through this acquisition. This summer, I'll take you anywhere you want. And after that... after that, you can go wherever the hell you want. I swear."
I felt all the fight drain out of me. My body went slack against his chest.
"Okay," I whispered.
---
The next few weeks blurred together.
I stayed home writing my thesis. The defense was my only reason to leave—Ethan drove me and waited outside.
Graduation approached. Invitations flooded in. Class reunions. Beach barbecues. Rooftop bars.
I went to none of them.
Ethan said crowds were too unpredictable.
Emma and Grace stopped messaging. Daisy stopped calling.
I couldn't fit into Ethan's world, and my old world had shut me out.
---
Today was graduation. I woke up early. Did my hair and makeup.
When I came downstairs, Ethan was in the kitchen. He looked up and froze.
His eyes traced over me slowly. Something dark and hungry flickered across his face.
"You look beautiful." He crossed the room and touched my face. "Almost don't want to take you. Don't want anyone else seeing you like this."
My heart lurched.
"It's graduation," I said quickly. "If I miss it, I'll regret it forever."
His jaw ticked. Then he pulled me against him and kissed my head.
"I'm just messing with you. Of course you're going."
---
The ceremony dragged on. Graduates in caps and gowns, parents taking photos, professors talking about limitless potential.
When it ended, I walked out into blinding sunlight.
Around me, groups of students huddled together, laughing, taking selfies, making plans for the future.
Emma and Grace stood off to one side with girls from the neighboring dorm. They didn't look my way.
I descended the steps alone.
At the bottom, Ethan stood with his phone pressed to his ear, one hand shoved in his pocket, his expression tense. He looked exhausted. Thinner than he'd been a month ago, shadows under his eyes.
He'd been working nonstop lately. Calls at all hours.
I started toward him.
Then I saw it.
A man in a cap and gown stepped from behind a pillar. His hand went to his waistband.
Time slowed.
Metal glinted. His arm swung toward Ethan's back.
A knife.
I didn't think.
I threw myself forward, wrapping my arms around Ethan, spinning so my back faced the attacker.
---
I woke up to the smell of antiseptic.
My eyelids felt like they'd been glued shut. It took three tries to open them.
The hospital room swam into focus.
Voices drifted in from the hallway.
Dr. Fuller's voice.
"The baby didn't make it."
I stopped breathing.
"Fortunately, the uterus wasn't damaged. She's young. Once she's healed, you'll have plenty of time to try again."
Baby.
I pressed a trembling hand to my stomach.
It was flat. Empty.
The pain hit me then—not just the dull, grinding ache in my abdomen, but something deeper. Something that felt like my chest was being crushed.
I'd been pregnant.
I hadn't even known.
And now... now it was gone.
I thought back, frantically. My last period had been over a month ago, but I'd been so busy with my thesis I hadn't even noticed. And Ethan—
Oh God.
He'd used condoms. Every time during my ovulation window. I remembered because he'd been uncharacteristically careful about it.
Which meant he'd tampered with them.
He'd planned this.
The door opened.
Ethan walked in, and the sight of him made my heart crack open all over again.
His white shirt was stained with blood—my blood. The collar hung open, revealing bruises along his collarbone. His hair was disheveled, falling into his eyes. He looked wrecked. Devastated. Human in a way I'd never seen before.
He stopped at the foot of the bed, staring at me.
I stared back.
And then I said, in a voice that didn't sound like mine:
"I'll trade you one and a half lives for my freedom. Is that fair?"
His expression froze.
Then his eyes narrowed, something dark and vicious flickering across his face.
"You knew." His voice was deadly quiet. "You knew you were pregnant. And you used our child—you used my child—to force my hand. You threw yourself in front of that knife on purpose."
I should have denied it. Should have told him the truth.
But instead, I lifted my chin and met his gaze head-on.
"Yes," I said. "I did it on purpose."
His face went white.
"Even if no one had tried to kill you today," I continued, my voice flat, "I would've found another way. I would've thrown myself down the stairs. Walked into traffic. Whatever it took to make sure that baby never saw the light of day."
I watched something die in his eyes.
He laughed—a broken, bitter sound that made my skin crawl.
"You're ruthless, Olivia Reed." He dragged a hand through his hair, his jaw working. "You're fucking ruthless."
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I didn't let them fall.
---
Autumn came to Los Angeles with dry heat and dying leaves.
I stood outside Oakwood Estate with a single suitcase.
Ethan was in the garden, his back to me. The setting sun turned everything gold—the bare trees, his rigid shoulders.
He didn't turn around.
"I'm only going to say this once, Olivia." His voice was flat. Empty. "Walk away now, and you're never coming back. Ever. You step foot in Los Angeles again, and I'll fucking destroy you."
I bowed my head. "Thank you, Mr. Bennett. I won't come back. Not ever."