The Billionaire's Surrogate: A Deal with the Enemy

"You can't buy a child the same way you buy a business, Mr. Black." My fists clenched under the desk. "Nor will you buy me, however much money or maybe Zeros you add on that check." Elena Black didn't flinch at the way I referred to her as Mr and her surname. Instead, she smiled across her oak desk, lowered her pen, and shrugged. "I don't require you to like me, Miss Chen. I don't expect you to love my son either. All I need is for you to get impregnated, give birth safely, and then receive your $200,000 payment, that's all… are we clear?" I pressed my palms against my thighs, so that she couldn't notice my left leg bouncing. "Where's your son in all of this?" I held her gaze even though my throat kept trying to close up. "Does he even know you're shopping for a womb?” Elena grabbed the file on her desk, on whose tab I saw my surname printed in thick black letters. She opened it and ran her finger over the first page without glancing up. "Damon is aware of what I tell him. He'll meet you in the clinic tomorrow morning. And whatever he isn't aware of won't harm him." Whatever he isn't aware of ?! My kitchen table—53 files of rejected payments laid in a haphazard pile, every single one stamped 'coverage refused' in red letters. Black Health rejected my mom's cancer treatment plan six months ago. My dad battled with the company's lawyers for three months, after that his heart failed and betrayed him at the very front wheel of his car, just outside Black Health's headquarters. Now I was facing the lady who controls the company. "You know everything about me. You know about my mother, her illness, the refusal and how Black Health murdered my father. You know everything." Even as my throat tightened, I forced myself to look directly at this woman. Elena closed my folder and leaned forward to look straight into my eyes. "Maya Lin, pancreatic cancer stage four, experimental immunotherapy refused. Your dad Leo Chen's heart failure and death occurred on March 12th. Your mother has been suffering from her disease alone for nine months and you've been taking care of her alone" She set the file aside and interlaced her fingers. "Yes, Miss Chen, I know everything about you. And I know the exact sum of money that you need." I pressed my teeth on the outer roof of my lip. It took me years to save up that sum. I'd never told anyone the exact figure—not the hospital clerk, not charities, not even my mom, who would've clasped my wrist and pleaded with her eyes not to sell my womb. "Then you know that you're the murderer of my father." My voice came out raspy. In my ear, I could hear my father sigh with relief in his car, feeling his glasses steam up on the wheel. His smartphone still had the rejection letter open. Elena raised an eyebrow but didn't look ashamed. "Black Health is the holding group of 17 subsidiaries. I don't oversee claim cases personally. It would be inefficient." "That's convenient for you." "true," she agreed calmly. Elena rose and walked to the window, where the rain pounded the glass behind her platinum hair. "I didn't invite you here to offer my apologies, Miss Chen. I invited you here because you are desperate, you are healthy, and, most importantly, you are a virgin. You make yourself extremely valuable to me." I remembered what my dad use to say ‘Never forgive them, Sera,’ My phone buzzed, and I fished it out from inside my skirt. "Ms. Chen, your mother's blood oxygen level has gone down to 84%. You are urgently required." I couldn't bring myself to push the call button. My thumb wouldn't move. Elena came closer to see my phone's screen. Her eyes showed pity. "There are dozens of girls that I can hire for surrogacy services," she said, her voice slipping like silk. "If you leave today, I'll have another candidate by the end of this week. And your mother will suffer in her hospital bed until she dies." Elena waited a couple of seconds, giving me some time to think it over. "You'll have to live your life knowing that you refused this simple job because of being too proud to help your dying mother." The picture of my father's car idling in front of Black Health headquarters. His body wrapped in a sheet, stretched out in an autopsy room. Mom lying in that horrible room 412, her hair falling out. I picked up the pen immediately. I could barely grip it, but i managed. "I want the full amount of money to be deposited in her hospital account in 48hrs I do not say 49hrs but precisely 48 hours." With great effort, I pushed the pen to sign my name on the empty lines. "Exactly 48 hours, or this contract will mean nothing more." Elena nodded and signed her part of the contract. "48 hours. The clinic will call you tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. and arrange a meeting with Damon. You'll go through screening, and, if everything works out fine, in two weeks you'll receive an embryo transfer." She raised an eyebrow and glanced at me over her glasses asking a rhetorical question. "And if you refuse?" At the other side of the contract I signed my name again but this time in bold letters: Sera Chen, agreed. My trembling hand made my handwriting slant to the right. "You won't refuse." Elena folded the contract in half and inserted it back in the folder. "You aren't that kind of girl. You always stick to the deal. You finish what you've started." I collected my things and rose from my chair. The bag strap hung loosely on my shoulder; I grasped it with my hand. "You don't pay me for anything." I looked the woman directly in the eye and turned to the door. "I do this only to watch your son's empire crumble and expose the Blacks to the public." Elena's smile grew wider. "Indeed. I'm counting on that, my dear." * It was raining as soon as I walked out onto the road. I didn't have an umbrella nor a car; besides, I didn't want to drive anywhere else. No one was waiting for me except my mom in the hospital. Cold rain was flowing off my hair into my jacket as I rushed to the curb. Water splashing from my heels reflected the bright windows of the Black mansion. I pressed my hand to my belly, through my soaked coat—empty and flat, as it was before today. This baby will become my weapon. The thought was so sinister that I laughed out loud in the middle of the empty road. I'll carry his child, accept his money, and expose his family to public shame. My phone buzzed again. I pulled it out of the pocket; my dripping hair made it impossible to read the screen clearly. My screen was misbehaving, operating by itself because of the rain water. The unknown sender sent another message. "You're making a mistake, Miss Chen. Your mother's room is 412. Remember that." I spun around; almost fell from the slippery curb. I caught myself by a lamppost. The mansion's windows were dark. There weren't any cars or people around; the road was completely empty. Nobody was standing in the shadow of a door, nobody was watching me in the pouring rain. Somebody sent this message. A stranger who already knew where and in what hospital and room my mom was staying in. That person wanted me to remember the exact room number of my mom's bed.