The Surrogate Mafia Princess

Chapter One: Luck or Not!

Iliana

“You’re in luck”, Phoenix, director of the Surrogacy Agency said from behind her desk as I took a seat opposite her in her prim and proper office, the grey and green colors emanating off each other in sequence.

With a name like Phoenix, you’d expect everything about her to be artsy and fire, from her office to her hair, but it was the genuine opposite, as minimalist as a newborn baby. With her gray slicked back bun and the round spectacles perched on her petite nose, Phoenix looked as straight as an iron ruler, unbending and unmoving from the rules that she made up for herself. She looked perfect, put-together, just the person to help my life from the chaotic mess it was at the moment. I stared around, taking note of the plants lining up her windows that faced her desk and the lined-up cabinets. The middle-aged woman had already done me more than a world of good by just taking me in and offering me a place to stay after finding me drenched on the streets.

“Someone wants a surrogate, and they are not demanding you must have carried a child first as a prerequisite”, Phoenix’s voice broke my thoughts, her glasses catching the sun rays and forcing me to notice it.

“Really?”, I asked s***h said, because I had no idea what that meant for me.

You see, my story was I was a fugitive, a runaway, and there was currently a bounty out for my head by my own father. Phoenix had found me looking lost at the back of her office building in the rain. She took one look at me, invited me to her place and offered me a job. To be a surrogate mother.

To carry someone else’s child.

“Iliana?”, Phoenix called, and I snapped out of my trance. “Did you hear all I just said?”

“No. I’m sorry”, I responded, tucking in my brown curly hair behind my ears and sitting up straighter. I couldn’t mess this up.

“The family is a very wealthy one, possibly one of the wealthiest in Chicago.” Phoenix repeated herself as I stared at her, masking my expression. I knew a thing or two about the wealthy. I knew more than a thing or two about the wealthy.

“If I may ask, I’m sorry if I sound ignorant or mean but why do they need a surrogate?”

“There are various reasons why families need a surrogate, from illness to old age. In this case, however, the man preferred not to disclose”, Phoenix replied, and I grew curious. Who knew men opted for these kinds of services?

“Your body will be monitored from now on to ensure you’re ready to carry the baby. Like I said earlier, the client doesn’t mind if your womb is still a little bit new to this because it’s our agencies job to see you carry the baby through”, she continued, her eyes crinkling as she laughed at the bit new part.

“Throughout the period, you can hang out with friends and go to school but then once you hit the six-month mark, your movement will become limited and the client has the right to ask you to stay on his property until the baby is born”, Phoenix looked like she wanted to say something else but stopped, looking up at me to confirm I understood everything she had said up till this point.

The stipulations were fine by me. I had no friends anyway and if there was an offer to stay on the client’s property full time, I would jump at it with open arms. There was a knife on my neck and friends were the least of my worries. What i wanted to know was if the pay would be enough to get the knife off my neck.

“Um, and how much would I get for carrying the baby full term?”, I asked in a timid voice.

“Fifteen million dollars to carry the baby full term”, Phoenix answered matter-of-factly, and my eyes grew wide in shock. That amount to carry a baby? Sign me the f**k up.

“I see you’re pleased with the amount. It’ll be enough to set you up after the birth and then if you’d want to have another go, we can work something out,” Phoenix added and I nodded, taking in the piece of information and salivating over it. I could use the money to disappear to another country and settle down. I could start life over.

“That’s fine by me”, I responded even though there was no need to. My eyes had done all the talking.

“Good”, Phoenix said and stood, moving to one of the grey cabinets lined up behind her and pulling out some files before sitting back down. “You’ll just have to sign here and sign here to be an official surrogate of the Surrogacy Agency”. “Linda would guide you through the remaining paperwork”.

I signed at the indicated spots, interchanging my surname with my mother’s maiden name in case someone ran a check on me and noticed I wasn’t even supposed to be here at all.

“Any questions or concerns?”

“So, where will I be staying during the whole pregnancy?”, I asked in a mumble. “I don’t really have family or friends in this part of town”, i lied.

“Well, we’ll be going to see the client tomorrow evening to iron out the fine details, like when the embryo transfer will be and a place to stay for you”, Phoenix provided, and I sank into the seat with relief. All will be well. “From then, there will be series of medical tests, drugs, to get your body ready for the journey it’s about to embark on.”

I nodded in acceptance. Even I knew carrying a baby wasn’t an easy feat. All I had to do was ask my mother, she didn’t make it.

A million and something questions thrummed through my head as I watched Phoenix strike her fingers on her keyboard, the clacking sounds echoing round her dainty office. Was I really ready to do this? What if the client took one look at me and thought I wasn’t surrogate material? What was I going to do then? Where was i going to move to in this world that my father wouldn’t find me?

Someone walking into Phoenix broke my thinking spell again and I found her gesturing for me to follow her with a smile. This must be Linda. She was decked in floral prints from head to toe, her hair an unruly Afro that she bound by a floral scarf and let the ends fly free. Now this was someone worthy of the name Phoenix.

“This way, please. There are some forms for you to fill out front”, the lady said and I could tell she was already used to the hesitance from people that came here.

I stood to follow, and Phoenix smiled at me. “Welcome to the Surrogacy Agency, Iliana. You’re about to give a family the greatest joy in the world.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________

I slumped in the basement room Phoenix had let out to me, fighting the urge to chew my nails in anxiety. The meeting was this evening, and Phoenix just informed me the client was throwing a party the same evening. Ergo, I needed to look my best. I had been scrubbed clean, picked and primed like a chicken to slaughter. My blood had been drawn for various tests that I blissfully lost track of by the third visit to the hospital. Phoenix always kept me in the loop though, and after telling me that there was nothing wrong with my body or there was no underlying disease I wasn't aware of, I checked out.

After hospital visits, I went to the salon that Phoenix owned on her instructions to get myself looking put together, but my mission was to erase any trace of my existence, at least physically. I dyed my brown hair a deep burgundy shade because it was unconventional, at least for me, straightened it and requested for extensions. My father’s goons were definitely not going to be looking for me with red hair. I also requested for contacts and although Phoenix had raised eyebrows at the choice, she allowed it. She didn’t need to know the true reason behind it, and I offered no explanation.

But as I looked at my hazel contacts starring back at me and hiding my sea green eyes, I felt as though I hadn’t done enough. Someone was going to take one look at me at the party and know who I was. They were going to call me out at once and I was going to be sent back to my father and my life as I knew it was going to end.

Sweat dripped down my back even though the air conditioner was on full blast. There was no going back now, was there?

As if to answer my question, Phoenix popped her head into the basement s***h makeshift room lined with shelves filled with knickknacks the middle-aged woman in front of me refused to let go off.

“You ready?”, Phoenix asked, her eyes roaming down my body and back up. I nodded with a shy smile. Truth was I couldn't talk from all the nerves. “The dress fits you perfectly”

I replied with another smile, turning to the full-length mirror by the bed and allowing myself to look at what I was wearing for the first time. The rust-colored strapless dress clung to my body and fell to the floor in waves of tulle, the slit to my upper thigh adding some drama to the almost boring dress. I gave a little spin and thanked the heavens my bun stayed in place with tendrils of my hair kissing my face. There was barely any makeup on my face, except for gloss and a little mascara. Phoenix had said it was a party, but I was going there for business.

The hazel contacts and red hair were already enough makeup. I felt like I was looking at myself in a costume.

“Our car is here”, Phoenix informed, pulling me out of my reverie. I grabbed the gold purse on the weary looking drawer and prayed all the way to the car parked outside Phoenix’s three bedroom apartment. As the car drove, I prayed some more, my hands digging into themselves and my heart drumming like an earthquake.

Phoenix seemed to have sensed my discomfort because she said, “Relax. You won’t have to do anything just look pretty and smile”. “The rich are more vain than they let on. They care more about clothes, high cheekbones, and fillers than what is in your head”,

Oh, I knew. Wasn’t that why I was seated right next to her? Because my father cared about a stupid piece of jewelry more than my life.

The car rolled to a stop out of nowhere and my stomach rolled alongside with it. I could feel the sweat sliding down my back as Phoenix gave me a reassuring smile and made to open her door. We were here. We were here, and there was no turning back now. f**k my life.

After a valet helped her out, the suited up man put out his hand and did the same for me. I stepped out and was robbed of my breath at the castle laid out before me.

Warm amber lights flooded out as people trickled towards the entrance of what looked like an ancient medieval fortress that somehow wandered into a modern suburb. I followed Phoenix’s lead, doing everything within my power to keep my mouth from hanging open as we were led in and graced by a magnificent foyer. I had been present for my fair share of extravagant parties, even if it was just watching from a narrow crack in the wall. But this. This was the stuff of fairytales.

We made our way into an open ball room, the ceiling soaring above 30 feet and crossed with heavy dark wood beams that someone had wrapped in looping strands of warm-white fairy lights so dense they looked like stars frozen in place. While the outside of the castle gave off a bright feel, the inside was encompassed with the quiet enrapture of the night. The soft lilt music coming from an orchestra placed on a pedestal on the right corner of the room added to the allure

“Come”, Phoenix tapped my hand, and I came back to my body.

Phoenix was dressed in a simple black gown, her greyish white hair wrapped in her usual unbending style. Luckily, she had ditched her glasses for contacts. She greeted people as she passed and I had no option but to nod my head dimly as their attention turned to me. Thankfully, Phoenix had the fortitude not to introduce me to anyone.

Possibly one hour, five canapés, and four champagne glasses later to calm my nerves, Phoenix tapped my hand and began walking towards the entrance. Like a dutiful employee, I followed, already feeling the effects of downing champagnes. My alcohol threshold was as thin as an invisible thread.

We walked out of the grand ballroom into the large foyer and somehow found ourselves in a hallway. That was when I noticed Phoenix was following a huge hulk of a man in a black suit. His blonde hair was long and tied back. His shoulders looked like they had been sculpted by the beauty gods. What would his face look like? I shook my head, and breathed out slowly, wondering where that had come from. I looked at the man again as we passed doors after doors down the sweeping hallway. A feeling of dread and familiarity prickled my skin as I stared at the man and tried to follow.

We came to an abrupt stop in front of a door by the end of the hallway. My mind skipped a beat as the man with the blonde hair turned an smiled a salty smile, “The boss will see you in here”.

Fuck my life. It can’t be possible. Fate couldn’t deal me such a cruel hand.

I tapped Phoenix and bent my head to whisper as we were led inside what looked like a mini office. An office I had pled for my life. “Who are we meeting with?”

Oh...urm”, Phoenix paused, scanning me to see if I was alright before she answered, “Jalen Winnetka”

At the mention of the name, my heart took a backseat in my throat. That wasn’t the name of a frail old man. Jalen Winnetka was the name of the most powerful man in Chicago. A name my father feared and hated. A name I had encountered.

I whimpered as another door opened and Jalen walked in and took a seat at the desk opposite us. Midnight black hair, gossamer skin, a commanding presence, and even darker eyes than his hair. Eyes with no life in them stared at me, pinning me to the seat like he was seeing the minute capillaries that made up my body.

And what he didn’t realize was that we’d already met, and I was the daughter of his number one public enemy. The daughter of his number one public enemy was going to be carrying his child.