SURROGATE BY ACCIDENT

Chapter 2

The night pressed heavy against my skin as I stood outside the hospital once more, my arms wrapped tight around myself as though I could hold all my broken pieces together.

Marcus’s betrayal still burned like acid in my chest. I had replayed the scene a hundred times in my head already—the curve of Sophie’s smile, the way his hands had tangled in her hair, the sound of their laughter. A sound that used to be mine.

And now, layered over that agony, came the doctor’s words.

A mix-up.

A surrogate.

High-profile client.

The words spun in my head, circling like vultures over the carcass of my life.

I wanted to scream. To run. To vanish into the night and never look back. But instead, I walked through the sterile glass doors, each step carrying me deeper into a future I hadn’t chosen.

“Miss Carter.” Dr. Lewis appeared in the waiting area, his white coat pressed, his eyes shadowed with something close to guilt. “Thank you for coming back so quickly. Please, follow me.”

My throat was dry, my palms clammy. “I don’t understand,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I came here to donate eggs. That’s what I signed up for. What happened?”

He cleared his throat, avoiding my eyes. “There was… a clerical error. A patient file mix-up. You were mistakenly placed into a surrogacy procedure for one of our private clients.”

I blinked at him, my chest tightening. “A mistake? You’re telling me—you put someone else’s child inside me? Without my consent?”

His wince was answer enough.

I staggered back, a hand flying to my stomach as if I could already feel the weight of it, though I knew it was far too soon. “You can’t be serious.”

“I understand this is overwhelming,” he said softly. “But the client in question… he insists on meeting with you. Immediately.”

My laugh was hollow, bitter. “The client? This isn’t some business transaction. This is my body!”

Dr. Lewis’s gaze flickered to the door behind him, his composure faltering. “Miss Carter… he’s already here.”

Before I could respond, the door opened.

And there he was.

Alexander Knight.

I didn’t know his name then, but I knew him. Everyone in the city knew him, even if they pretended not to. He was the kind of man whispered about in offices and bars, the kind of man who appeared on magazine covers with headlines like The Billionaire King or Ruthless and Rich.

He filled the doorway like he owned it—broad shoulders beneath a tailored suit, dark hair perfectly styled, storm-gray eyes that cut through the room and locked onto me with terrifying precision.

And just like that, I couldn’t breathe.

“Miss Carter,” Dr. Lewis stammered, “this is Mr. Alexander Knight.”

Knight. The name suited him—sharp, unyielding, a weapon and a shield all at once.

His gaze didn’t waver. It pinned me where I stood, stripping me bare. I felt like a rabbit cornered by a wolf.

“So this,” he said, his voice low, smooth, dangerous, “is the woman carrying my child.”

My stomach dropped. “I’m not—” The words broke in my throat. “This was a mistake. I didn’t sign up for this.”

His jaw tightened, but his eyes remained unreadable. “A mistake that can’t be undone.”

I shook my head, panic clawing up my spine. “You can’t expect me to just—just go along with this! I don’t even know you!”

“Yet you’re carrying my heir.”

The word heir cut through me like ice. This wasn’t about a child to him. It was about legacy. Ownership. Power.

I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want anything from you. I just… I want my life back.”

For a flicker of a moment, something shifted in his gaze—something almost human, almost soft. But it vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by steel.

“Your life changed the moment that procedure happened. Whether you like it or not, you are involved now. And I take what’s mine seriously.”

Dr. Lewis stepped between us, his voice trembling. “Mr. Knight, perhaps we should discuss the contract—”

“Contract?” I repeated, my voice sharp.

Alexander’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile. It was something colder. “Yes. A contract. You will carry this child to term. In return, you’ll be compensated—generously.”

Anger flared hot in my chest. “So that’s it? You think you can buy me? That this is just another business deal to you?”

He took a step closer, and I found myself trapped by his presence, by the sheer weight of him. His cologne was dark, expensive, intoxicating, and I hated that it made my pulse quicken.

“Everything,” he said quietly, “is a business deal.”

I wanted to slap him. To scream. To run. But my body betrayed me, frozen in place beneath his storm-gray gaze.

Dr. Lewis cleared his throat again, desperate to cut the tension. “Mr. Knight, Miss Carter… perhaps we should sit down and discuss terms calmly.”

But calm was impossible. My world had already been flipped upside down. Betrayal by Marcus, this surreal mistake, this stranger who looked at me like I was both a problem and a possession.

“I need time,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

Alexander studied me for a long moment, then nodded once. “You’ll have twenty-four hours. No more.”

His certainty left no room for argument. No room for freedom.

As he turned to leave, his words lingered in the air like a sentence carved in stone.

“You may not have chosen this, Miss Carter. But you are carrying my child. And I don’t let go of what’s mine.”

---

I stumbled home long after midnight, my body heavy, my mind a storm. My apartment felt smaller than ever, its walls closing in, suffocating.

I sank onto the edge of my bed, burying my face in my hands as the weight of it all crashed down. Marcus’s betrayal. Sophie’s smile. The doctor’s mistake. Alexander Knight’s storm-gray eyes.

I thought I had lost everything when I found Marcus with Sophie. But tonight, I realized something even more terrifying.

I hadn’t lost everything.

I had been claimed.

And I didn’t know whether to fight it… or fall.