Accidental Surrogate

Ella

Up until this point of my life, I’ve hated a handful of people. At the moment Mike and Kate are at the top of my list, but they aren’t alone. However Dominic Sinclair is very quickly rising through the ranks and making a play for the top spot. Mike and Kate’s betrayal hurt so much because I cared for them both, but Sinclair might be the first person I’ve encountered who I dislike this strongly after so short a time.

He’s looking me up and down with the bearing of a wolf deciding how to devour the rabbit in its claws, and I realize that’s all I am to him. All those intense looks over the last couple of years, every encounter, every smile – the entire time he’s been thinking I’m some lesser being, the prey to his predator. Maybe he’s like Mike and thought I was a particularly attractive specimen, but in the end they’re the same sort of monster.

“There is no offer you could ever make me that would convince me to give you my child.” I tell him sharply. “I am not for sale, and neither is my baby.”

“Now you’re just being stubborn.” Sinclair sighs, “digging in your heels because you don’t like me.”

“What gave it away?” I deride. For the second time, it seems like he wants to smile despite his better judgment, but again he holds back.

“Use your head, Ella.” He instructs patronizingly. “Let’s say I believe you didn’t do this just to cash in on a big pay day.”

“You obviously don’t!” I interrupt, earning myself a look so stern a shiver runs down my spine.

“Let’s say I do. What are your options? How are you going to raise this child? If you try to abort it I will take you to court and I guarantee the judge will prevent you from going through with it – which means you can either keep the baby and try to get by on your own, or let me have it.”

my will to go through with terminating the pregnancy has gotten weaker and weaker from the moment I learned it was real. “You forget

I’m offering a child a good life and I have more political sway than you can imagine.” He flashes his teeth at me, teeth that look alarmingly like fangs. “Not to mention I’m a donor at every hospital in the city, no physician will perform the procedure

how this man acquired so much money and power, he has more cunning than I know how to contemplate, with a clear killer instinct. All at

this baby to term whether I can afford it or not. My best hope is to find some other job in that time, but even

“If you cooperate, I’ll pay off your debts. I’ll help you find a job and cover every last one of your medical and living expenses. If you deliver me an heir, I will also pay you

just a surrogate.” I remind him, feeling as though my heart was crumbling to pieces in my chest. “I’m this child’s mother. It has

a powerful one at that – my genes guarantee it. It will be raised with its own kind. And

trust me, why do you expect me

you have no reason not to

me mine – even if you didn’t make the call, whoever did reported that I

in your womb – a place it never should have been.” His foreboding expression softens for a moment. “And I truly am sorry about your job – I know how much Jake and Millie loved you. If you want your

to see my precious charges again, but I don’t know if I can get past their mother’s cruelty. “Money can’t fix everything.” I reply, “and all your promises – what good is having everything I need if I’ll never

can help you adopt a human baby.” He offers, circling me as if he’s some

my lip begin to tremble as fresh tears threaten. It feels selfish to say ‘but I want this baby’, especially when I grew up an orphan and know how many children need good homes. In truth Sinclair is offering me the world on a platter – my baby gets to live and have a good life, all my problems will be solved, and I can adopt a child that needs a mother as badly as I need to be one. Am I being silly, holding onto my childhood baggage about wanting to be part of a family bonded through more than just affection, a family bonded by blood? After all, blood is no guarantee of love – how many kids did I grow up with whose natural parents abandoned or

do this. Knowing my baby will be loved and cared for, will have