Chap 2
590 Words
Mara noticed the changes in her body. Before the nausea, the ache in her lower back, the subtle tightening of her jeans, there was the awareness that something inside her had begun to take up space. Not just physically. Emotionally Existentially.
Helix Fertility Clinic called twice that week. Both times, it was Evelyn shaw, the surrogacy agency director. Not to ask how she felt only to confirm compliance.
“Elena Cross has requested an updated nutrition log,” Evelyn Shaw said pleasantly over the phone. “And a reminder no deviation from approved supplements.”
“Of course,” Mara replied automatically.
She hung up and stared at the spreadsheet on her laptop. Every calorie accounted for. Every movement tracked. It felt less like pregnancy and more like surveillance.
At her next appointment in the exam room, Dr. Lillian Moore angled the monitor, screen flickering with movement. She listened to the heartbeat steady and strong. For a brief moment, her expression softened.
“Everything looks perfect,” she said. “Exactly as expected.” Mara watched the screen.
"Do you have the textbook," she added.
Mara wanted to ask whose textbook. Instead, she nodded.
In the corridor outside the exam room, she saw him for the first time since the signing. Nathan Cross stood near the window, phone pressed to his ear. When he noticed her, he paused mid-sentence.
“I’ll call you back,” he said quietly, and ended the call.
They stood there, awkward and unsure. “How are you?” he asked.
It was the first personal question he’d ever directed at her.
“I’m fine,” Mara replied. Then, after a beat, “The baby is healthy.”
He exhaled, relief flickering across his face before he pulled it back into place. “Thank you.”
For what? Carrying life? Following instructions? Not asking questions?
Before either could say more, Evelyn appeared beside them.
“Elena won't be joining us today,” she said briskly. “We’ll relay all updates.”
Nathan posture changed.
That night, Iris sat cross-legged on Mara’s couch, watching her poke at food she couldn’t finish.
“You’re quieter,” Iris said. “That’s never a good sign.”
“They don’t talk to me,” Mara admitted. “Not really. It’s like I’m a process.”
Iris’s eyes hardened. “You’re a person. Don’t forget that.”
Mara smiled, but her hand drifted unconsciously to her stomach.
Across the city, Nathan stood in the Cross estate’s vast dining room, untouched food cooling before him. Vivienne Cross observed him with sharp patience.
“Elena hasn’t answered in days,” Nathan said.
“She’s dramatic,” Vivienne replied, lifting her glass. “Focus on the outcome.”
Arthur Cross said nothing. He rarely did.
Meanwhile, Seraphina Blake watched Nathan from across a boardroom table earlier that day, noting his distraction, his absence. She’d known Elena long enough to recognize disappearance as strategy.
“Careful,” she warned him quietly after the meeting. “Elena never leaves without securing leverage.”
By the end of the second month, Elena Cross was officially unreachable.
No messages. No instructions. No control. Just silence.
The silence pressed against her ribs, settled in her chest, wrapped itself around the life growing inside her. As she lay awake that night, listening to the city breathe beyond her window, one thought surfaced, uninvited and terrifying: If the woman who wants this baby disappears… what happens to the woman carrying it?
Her hand rested on her stomach, she felt the connection.
- Writer
