Chapter 623: The Reveal

Oric, Connor and Mills were the only ones who did not have a dramatic reaction to Olivia finding out she was having a boy. Mills had been indifferent to what gender the baby was after Olivia told her that she just wanted her child to be born healthy, and while she had been leaning toward the boy side, it was only because she, like Mina, could not see the ragtag group raising a little girl in the standards of the country.

As Olivia cut into her cake, the doorbell rang and Cylus excitedly jumped to answer it. He had been waiting to see Ash since she left, and while he and the woman stayed connected via text, he wanted to see her again, and if she was willing, he wanted to be with her again. He recklessly swung open the door, only to reveal Peter, whose eyes immediately snapped to Olivia, who had her belly on full display as she served cake to her guests. He was holding the woman's favorite flower in his hands, having come to wish her a happy birthday, but those thoughts had flown away.

Cylus was unaware that Peter was the father of Olivia's child, likewise, he had no idea that she and the man had ever been intimate, so in his mind, Peter had been doing something nice and was caught off guard by his cousin's condition. However, the silence that fell over the room when everyone realized who was standing in the doorway told him that it was a little more than that, but Cylus was still working based on the assumption that Olivia did not know who the father of her child was.

Dom had not been in the room when Peter came, he had stepped away to answer a call from president Lee who wanted to make sure that Mina was enjoying herself, but as soon as he saw Peter, he went to push the door shut, but Peter used his body as a wedge, grunting as the weight of the metal reinforced door pushed against him.

"Olivia," the man called out. "How far along are you?" Peter was no mathematician, but he could clearly see that she was heavier than the four months that they had been broken up. The woman did not answer him, and he watched her friends shield her as she was pulled out of his sight.

"You need to leave now, and if you mention a word to anyone about what you saw, I will deal with you personally," Dom said, not realizing that he was giving Peter more hints toward the paternity of Olivia's baby.

Peter backed away, raising his hands in surrender as he stepped out of the doorframe, and as soon as they shut, he felt a wave of nausea overtake him. Matthew was waiting for him by the lift of the building, but he rushed down the fire exit stairs, desperately needing to get to fresh air. When Matthew, who had come to call an ambulance if Peter were beaten by who they believed was Olivia's husband, caught up to him, he immediately asked his friend if he needed help, but he asked for assistance finding a family law attorney.

"Peter, family law doesn't work that way. You can't force Olivia to get a divorce."

"She is pregnant," the man whispered, not forgetting that Olivia had been keeping it a secret. He did not want anyone to overhear, even if very few people were out for a walk.

"Okay then it's settled. She is happily married, and you are not going to break up her family."

"No, no, no, no. Matthew, she is very pregnant. I mean, not enough time has passed."

"Don't be ridiculous, we collaborated with her. We would have noticed," Matthew replied.

----

Back in the apartment, the happy atmosphere had gone dark as Olivia explained the truth to Cylus, who had already guessed most of the story on his own. She also allowed Connor and Oric into the secret, thinking that she would need their help to avoid Peter, who she knew would not give up until he got an answer.

Cylus was mostly quiet, keeping to himself how wrong he thought his cousin was for not trying harder to tell Peter that she was carrying his child, but then again, he could not imagine being in her shoes. She had caught the man cheating, and when she tried to contact him, he rubbed it in her face by boasting that he had moved on. It was probably for the best that she had not reached out again because she deserved more, and she deserved better.

Mina's phone chirped, and she looked at it, thinking it was President Lee coming to collect her, but it was Director Porter, and she showed the message to Cylus who cursed. Olivia looked panic stricken by the reaction, and Mina passed her phone to Connor whose family practiced law. He made a few phone calls to confirm if Peter had a legal leg to stand on; he did.

"Olivia, he isn't asking for much right now. Let's just invite him back up and see where the conversation goes. Connor already confirmed and while he may not win, he will at least get his day in court. You don't want that, not for you and especially not for him." Cylus pointed to Olivia's belly, and she nodded in understanding.

"You don't have to agree to anything he asks," Dom reminded her. "You gave him a chance to be involved and he threw it away; you owe him nothing." The woman nodded again, suddenly feeling as though she should not have gone through with the pregnancy. She was selfish for wanting to keep a child knowing that the truth would have eventually revealed itself.

"Olivia," Mina said sweetly. "Better sooner than later. No matter where or how far away I am. You will always have me, okay?" Olivia did not like the way Mina had phrased her sentence, but she was too scared about what Peter wanted to comment on it.

With a decision made, everyone who did not live in the apartment, save for Cylus, left. Mina insisted on staying, saying that she had invested too much into the child to leave, and while Mills wanted to stay, she feared that she would be unable to control herself if Peter said something disrespectful, so she arranged for someone to pick her up from the bar that she had followed Willow, Oric and Connor to.

Not sure how much Olivia wanted Peter to know, Mina and Jay cleaned up anything that could reveal the gender of the baby, and when the men entered, Jay ushered Matthew into her bedroom, where Dom and Emma were already waiting, while Mina and Cylus made their way into the kitchen, giving Olivia and Peter a semblance of privacy.

"How far along are you?"

"I don't know," Olivia answered honestly. Since she did not know the date of conception, her due date was a complete guess, and while her belly measurements said she was around five months, she knew she had to be further along than that.

"Why didn't you tell me? Olivia had often dreamed of the horrible things she would say to Peter if he found out, but in the current, she just wanted him to leave.

"I tried, but because you had moved on, you didn't want to listen to me." Peter thought back to the time when she had called him. He thought she wanted to get back together, and he dismissed her the way he believed she had dismissed him.

Peter just stared at Olivia, not sure if he wanted to ask the woman if the child was his or not. He wanted her back, but he was not sure he was ready to be a father. If she had found love in someone who was prepared and willing, he was not entirely sure he had the heart to break her and the person up. He had acted rashly in having Matthew contact Mina with the threat of a paternity suit, but now that he was sitting in the moment, he did not know what to do in it.

"Are you really married?"

"No," Olivia said simply. She did not see a need to give the man any more information than he needed.

"In a relationship?"

"Irrelevant."

"Olivia… Is it mine?"

"It's mine," she said, wanting to let the man know that she expected nothing from him. "It's mine, and Mina's, and Willow's, and Jay's, and Emma's, and Mills,' and Dom's." All Peter heard was the male name in the bunch.

"Biologically?" He asked although he already knew.'

"That right goes to someone else," Olivia said, refusing to acknowledge the man as the father until Cylus chimed in from the kitchen, telling them that there was no point in a meeting if they were not going to talk. "Fine," Olivia said. "You are biologically related to the baby that I am carrying, but Ollie and I don't need anything from you. We are leaving the country soon, but if you want a relationship with him when we return, I won't be cruel enough to stop you."

"I'm having a son," Peter said, choosing to ignore everything else the woman said. She tried to correct him, but Cylus cleared his throat making her look up at him. Mina wore an expression of pity, although Olivia had no idea why, while her cousin wore an expression that told her to placate the man to avoid issues. "Can I touch him?" Olivia blanched. It was not an uncommon request, but she did not think Peter would ask.

"It's not a good idea," she replied, but once again the man ignored her.

"I'll move back in with my family; their house is bigger than my apartment. You will move in as soon as possible, and we'll get married before he is born." Olivia's eyes widened and she stood up abruptly making Peter stand up as well. He tried to steady her, thinking that something was wrong, but he was the problem.

"Peter, you are moving too fast. I do not want any of that. Did you not hear me when I said I was leaving?"

"You are not taking my child anywhere that I'm not. You either move in with me, or we take this to court. I spoke to an attorney and he said that your uncle has already smeared your name enough to give me full custodial rights as soon as you give birth." Olivia ran to her room, and Peter followed her. Mina wanted to chase after them, but Cylus stopped her, telling her that the man was right. She watched Peter catch up to, and lock himself in the room with Olivia, and she began to shake in fear.

"He won't hurt her," Cylus said, almost positive that the man was simply scared and confused.

Inside of Olivia's room, Peter sat her down on her bed while he sat on the floor in front of her. He let his head hang as he realized that he was threatening the woman into a relationship with him, but that was not what he wanted to do. He apologized, and while he was humbling himself, he also explained the situation with Mary, which Olivia scoffed at. He could not even fault her because he also would have behaved similarly if he had seen a naked man in her bed.

"Olivia, you and I knew what we were doing had risks, but we shouldn't punish the child for our mistakes. We used to be happy, we can get that back again." Olivia chuckled, laughing at the man's use of the word we.

"But I don't want that," the woman said frankly. "Peter, it has been months. Every time I was sick, or depressed, every craving or mood swing I had; not you, but someone else was there for me."