Dark Secret Of A Billionaire's Surrogate

Avery's POV

'Two freaking days! That's all you have. Failure to comply, I will haunt you and burn you to the ground!'

I slip my phone back in my purse, still living in denial like I didn't just read a freaking death threat from Don Donald, the loan-shark I'm indebted to.

It's even scary that my brain suppresses something as gruesome as this, like it keeps doing lately, when my family and friends can be affected by the blaring doom.

I'm still in my wedding dress, after the tragic incident at my wedding, three days ago. I was this freaking close to being Mrs. Orion! Fucking close, until he collapsed without responding to the priest!

Sadly, he was diagnosed of heart failure and in immediate need of an open heart surgery.

I shoot upward at the weird sound of Orion, my fiancé's labored breathing, as though he's drowning.

"Doctor! Doctor!!"

Like a fired missile, I sprint for the door as I run to call for help, the hem of my wedding dress sweeping the hospital's floor.

The thought of losing him taunt my mind, driving me in all shades of crazy at once

"Ouch!" I groan, my foot hitting a trolley by the door.

"I'm sorry," the nurse in charge of the trolley with drugs, says almost immediately. "Miss Avery?" She calls my attention.

I stop abruptly with the sudden realization that she can help me.

"He's choking! ... He's dying!"

Thankfully, we're just a few steps away from the ward Orion is bedridden. On arrival, he's still gasping for air as he inhales deeply, as if he's struggling for his life, his chest region forming an arc along his skinny frame.

"Calm down." She assures me, adjusting the oxygen meter.

Like a miracle, he stops gasping a few minutes later, putting my heart at ease with this singular act. I close my eyes momentarily, calming my nerves.

How freckle can life be? I swear, the thoughts of losing him a minute ago almost made me crazy.

'Breathe, Avery,' I inhale deeply, and exhale slowly at my command.

"He's almost out on oxygen," the nurse breaks through my thought.

"How long can this go?" I look at the almost empty cylinder, blinking back tears threatening a downfall.

"Twenty-four hours... Maybe less." She shrugs. "Please, I'll advice you get it as soon as possible, it's important he has a new tank on standby."

Everything seems urgent these days.

"Of course" I murmur, finding a good spot to level my frustration on.

Alone once more, I sit back on the chair beside his bed, my shaky hands take his, rubbing around his clammy skin.

He's lying almost in a vegetative state for about two weeks now.

"One more wish..."

It feels like the whole world is on my frail shoulders and my knees are too wobbly to hold me up for long. Being the only family he has, asides from his friend, Andrew, that occasionally comes to check in on him, I'm saddled with the responsibility of tending to every of his needs.

"... Please, stay with me." I sob silently, unable to hold it in anymore.

This isn't the life he promised me, we both had our lives figured out, or we thought. We'd get married, make the cutest couple and have the smartest babies... Not abandon the other.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

With blurred vision, I watch the vital signs monitor connected to him by a lube, the numerous chest tubes, oxygen mask and drip stand. I don't have to be in his shoes to feel his pain.

"How is he fairing?" Andrew's voice sounds from behind.

He was the best man at our wedding, and Orion's best friend.

Too devastated to respond, I duck my head, hiding my wet cheeks from him.

"Come on, Avery," he rubs my shoulders. "you're crying again?"

"He's dying..."

"He isn't and he won't." He stops me from whimpering. "Come here," He pulls me in for a warm hug and I helplessly cry in his arms.

"The nurse said he needs a new oxygen tank."

"I came with some money, hopefully, it goes a long way."

"Thank you." My grip around his tightens, before I pull away.

"He's my friend too, yunno. Come on, you should get some rest." He suggests. "I'm on a short break, so I can look after him for a while."

I pack a few of my things and leave the ward, after waving Andrew goodbye. I flag down a taxi and barely mumble my address, as I gather my bulky gown into the taxi and begin to sulk at the back seat.

Pulling out my phone from my pocket, the creepy text from Mr. Donald, makes my skin crawl. I remember running to him for help about six months ago, when I was in total bankruptcy and my bakery was about folding up.

Six months down the lane, my bakery is gone, I'm a petty debtor, always fleeing from her creditor, and I'm about losing my fiance.

I can't fault Don Donald, it's already two weeks past the deadline. My only grievance is that things are just crumbling at once.

With my eyes returning to the text, I make a hasty decision.

"Please, stop the car." I tell the driver. "8B Cobbler street." I change my route on a second thought.

Without saying a word, he takes a U-turn and follows my new direction. I'm thankful that he didn't make a fuss out of it. On arrival, I settle the fee and walk into Piper, my best friend's yard.

I ring the door bell once and twice, waiting for her to respond.

"A minute." Her bubbly voice calls out. Seconds letter, the doorknob twists and she is in my face. "My baby,"

"I'll do it." I say on the spot like a zombie. "The surrogacy thing, I want to do it... I need to..."

"Shhh," she pulls me in her arms, comforting me in a big hug. "Let's talk about it." She helps me in.

It's being three days she playfully told me of being a surrogate, and yesterday, she brought up the idea. The concept of carrying another's child, and eventually letting go, didn't sit well with me.

Orion won't be happy if he finds out, it feels like I'm selling a child... So many reasons to not consider it, but right now, Orion's life is a good enough reason to carpet all the bad ideas about this deal.

"Whoa." She teases, on seeing me gulp down the entire content of the glass of chilled water she served me a while ago.

I set the glass down, feeling hydrated and charged.

"I have a problem though, my medical condition isn't compatible with stuff like this, and I can't get a better means to get such an amount of money."

"I thought about that too, when I brought up the offer to you." She comes closer, like she does when we gossip. "I have a plan."

She sound mischievous. I roll my eyes at her.

Not saying a word, she gets up, goes to the locker and pull out a small plastic. When she returns to my side, she dangles the bottle I now recognize as Amlodipine pills, in my face.

"No way!"

"Yes way."

"What if they find out?"

"Who's going to tell them?" She puts the bottle of pills in my hand and goes to get a glass of room temperature water. "Certainly not me, or will you?"

"I... I..."

"I thought so too." She hands me the glass of water next.

"It may affect the baby."

"May." She hints on it. "So we have to do all we can to keep the pregnancy. Besides, you need the money desperately and if this is a secret you'll take to your grave, so be it."

She's right, or maybe she isn't, but I'm stuck.

Popping the lid open, I pour out the necessary amount because overdosing on it can be critical. The glass to my lips, I swallow them with a heavy heart.

I'm about to commit a deadly sin and I hope that the devil doesn't visit... soon.

Thane's POV

"Babe?!"

I startle, snapping back to reality to see Lily approaching me.

"What're you thinking about?" She sits on my lap, seductively dressed in my long sleeve that's too big for her petite frame, and it's short regardless, stopping half way through her thighs.

Lily, isn't totally my girlfriend, maybe friends with benefit, or my sexy female friend... Anything but a girlfriend.

"Thane?" Her face goes up in a frown. Slightly, she rocks the budge of my crotch, moving effortlessly on top of me like a fluid. She relaxes her back, so she comfortably fits in my bosom.

"What's getting you worked up, babe?" Her voice is soft and thickly laced with concern. It's certain that she wants more...

... Sadly, I can't give her that. We had our boundaries defined before whisking our butts in this situation, and she had no problem with it initially, until lately, she's either acting too cozy or concerned... Argh!

The sense of commitment makes me cringe. Bound to the vows of matrimony, isn't in my bucket list, not now, nor ever.

I arch my brow, tired of everything. My aunt, Lena, has taken a liking to Lily, but that's because she is that desperate to wheel me off to the next available person.

Lily caresses the line on my forehead that only surfaces when I'm stressed.

About three days ago, Dr. Cain informed me that he's seen a few persons that indicated interest in the surrogacy idea I finally succumbed to, the same one he pressured me to get, as it has being preserved in the bank almost ten years ago and it's losing its potency. I had preserved my last sperm in his hospital's sperm bank after I suffered a sport injury that dealt a blunt trauma on my lower body, and affected my reproductive ability, literally shattering the whole of my existence.

"Keeping a lady waiting is rude."

"You should stop prying, yunno." I dismiss her subtly.

I don't want her to know of my plans to pay a woman just have my child, when she'll cheerfully do it a million times for free, especially since it will be my only child and heir to my empire.

"Whatever." Lily sighs, getting emotional.

She stands up to leave, but I pull her back in my bosom, plastering wet kisses on her face and trailing it all over her smooth skin. Damn! She knows how to make me yearn for her every freaking time.

My phone buzz, and I struggle to get it out of my pocket. She makes an attempt to stop me, while deepening the kiss.

I pull it out and adjust to take it.

She sighed yet again, breaking the kiss.

"Really?"

"I need to get this."

I look to see it's Dr. Cain. Plugging in my ear pod, I tap on the sensor.

"Hello, Mr. Thane, is now a good time?"

Of course, it's like my life is revolving around the whole surrogacy thing of late.

"Go on."

"I've made the pick, her name is Miss Avery Grayson."

"Is..." I pause, choosing my words carefully. "Have you done through check-ups?"

"Yeah we're past that phase. We need your permission to proceed with the main part of it."

Lily just stares at me, eager to know who it is and what the whole conversation that gets my muscles twitching anxiously, is about.

"I'll call you back." I cut his rant off abruptly, ending the call seconds later.

"Babe, who's that?" She demands. "You keep getting calls that leaves you agitated nonstop this weekend."

I press my lips in a firm line, trying not to lash out on her recent clingy and inquisitive attitude.

"I need to be alone." I say instead, completely breaking the blissful moment.

"Babe..." She stops mid sentence, seeing my lifted hand. Standing up, she started upstairs.

"It's late Lily, you should leave."

"The more reason why I should stay in one of your numerous rooms..."

"Please, don't push this." I get off the couch and head for the bar.

I pull out a bottle of brandy and uncork it, not needing a glass. Putting the bottle to my lips, I take a greedy slurp, trying so hard to keep my demons away.

It's so vivid in my head, like it happened yesterday, the incident that got me disconnected from the world... disliked being in the same space with people... hated having kids!

The whole bloody surrogacy idea, was for aunt Lena, her demand for an heir is getting crazy, I had to oblige. She made me salvage what's left of my sperm after the sport incident, that they feel got me into this messy isolated state, only if they knew half of the real shit I'm dealing with.

Lily takes gentle strides towards me.

"Babe, you're free to talk to me."

She attempts to touch me and I flinch.

"Freaking leave!"

I growl, slamming my fist on the counter.

"What's wrong with you?!" She's fed up of my constantly pushing her away.

"Everything... You bloody trying to act homely!" I smack my lips, putting my emotions in check. "Fucking leave!"

"To hell with you!"

She runs upstairs in rage. Minutes later, I hear my door slam hard, it's definitely her leaving my sorry ass.

"Argh!" I clap my head in my palms, dying to block out the tortuous images and screams in my head that haunts me till date. During the day, it's the crazy hallucination, and at night, a creepy dream..

My efforts to remain sane are futile.

Clutching the bottle of brandy, I take a swig, my teeth clenching as an effect of the alcohol.

Restless, I get off the bar stool and begin pacing about.

"Damn you!" I toss the bottle recklessly, smashing an object from the impact, the strong smell of spirit envelope the room.

Cringing, I plaster myself on the wall, shielding myself from the world and my dreadful past.

If the blogs gets a hold of this side of me, their sophisticated idol, and eligible bachelor, or Lily, her boyfriend and possibly, more, in her mind, they'll be fascinated, which will eventually leads to my doom.

Once, aunt Lena has met me in this messed up state and she suggested a shrink... I declined, scared of my secret leaking to the media.

For a moment or two, I try to catch my breath,, finally getting a hold of my sanity.

Again, my phone buzzes and it happens to be Dr. Cain. I didn't give him a definite response earlier.

I just stare at the phone ring, suddenly having cold feet on proceeding with the entire plan. It's still early to put a halt to it.

"Mr. Thane, what's your..."

"Go ahead." I order him, not even giving him the time to finish.

Avery's POV

Three Months Later

If only I had a glimpse of the devil visiting today, I would never have opened the door...

My phone vibrates on the center table and I just stare at it, too tired to move an inch.

I mean, I've seen a thousand women get pregnant, their bump as heavy as a volleyball pitch, but I never knew this is what they have to deal with , probably the tip of an iceberg.

It's frustrating. I hate cheesecake and some of my favorite meal, and oddly, I love strong coffee, as the scent works magically on my mood, pizza... It has to be an expensive baby, because how the fuck do I only love things I can't afford?

"Are you okay?" Piper asks on arrival. "Your phone is ringing."

"Please, can you help me get it?" I look from her to the phone.

"Wow!" She laughs wryly. I get it and I don't blame her, barely three months in, and I'm acting bloated.

Part of the deal states for me to get paid another quarter of the fee, the pregnancy has to be successfully implanted and there is no miscarriage after three months.

With sex being a cause of this, I lied to Dr. Cain that I have no boyfriend or any male interest... I don't know why I did that, I guess I'm that desperate. And the aspect of a good living condition, I wrote off Piper's address as mine with her permission, as my house is nothing close to being conducive at the very least.

"It's Dr. Cain." She informs me, snapping me out of my head.

I look at her, demanding if I should respond. The whole concept of lying about everything gets me scared whenever I get a call from him or have to go to the clinic.

She motions for me to answer it and put it on speaker.

"Hello, good morning Dr. Cain," I mutter, my tongue caught in my mouth.

"Morning. How are you both doing?"

"Fine," I pause my breathe waiting for the reason he called.

"It's already a month and two weeks, you should stop by the clinic today, say 3 PM."

Piper makes a 'yay!' cry, the thought of walking to the bank with that cheque like a boss.

"Oh, for the part payment, yeah... Of course."

"That too, and briefly meeting with the father of the child."

Oh, my god!

I pause for a moment, swallowing thick knots of saliva. Piper suspects my state and quickly demands that I breathe in and out, her hands going up and down her body in demonstration.

"Hello?... Are you there, miss Avery?"

"Ye...ah..." I mumble.

"Alright. Later today, 3 PM." With that, the call ended.

"Don't freak out... Take a deep breath." Piper cautions me.

"Don't freak out?!" I'm suddenly having troubles breathing. "What if he finds out that I'm sick? I will soon get registered for antenatal... and..."

"Look, he may just want to confirm you're fine and his baby is doing okay," she holds my shoulders and squeezes it gently.

"He could have easily asked his doctor... Why will he go through so much trouble when he can just ring his doctor?"

"You can't be so sure." She chips in. "I could follow you there if you want."

I look up at her, relieved for a moment. "Really?"

She nods.

"I'd appreciate that."

"We have roughly four hours to get ready, you should get some sleep, I will make you something to eat when you wake up."

I pout and blink nonstop, acting all goofy with her. Taking her advice, I walk to my room to lay my head. I open my phone and dial Andrew, it's almost a week I last visited Orion, the smell of the hospital makes me gag, and if he as little as suspect that I'm pregnant, it may ruin everything.

Orion will eventually find out, but I need time to live with my reality before telling him.

"Avery, how are you feeling?" His voice booms.

"Getting better." I murmur. "How's he doing?"

"Fine, the doctor said that he may not need a second surgery, he's recuperating well."

I nod, suppressing tears welling up in my eyes. It means he will be home soon, and will realize what I've done sooner than I imagined.

"That's good," I sniffle.

"Are you fine though?"

"Yeah." I hurriedly respond. "Alright bye." I end the call before I will blow off my cover.

Just laying on my bed and sobbing silently, I slowly drift to sleep.

"Wakey-wakey." Piper gently taps my foot and I just sprawl like an octopus. "It's already 2 PM."

"Jeez!"

I hurriedly get up from bed. I can't believe that I slept three hours straight.

"Easy, we still have time, plus I'm driving."

"You really made food?" I smile, jogging down the flight of stairs as I let the delicious aroma of the food lead me.

Piper laughs and joins me downstairs. It took me roughly thirty minutes to be done, and we head for the clinic.

"I'm miss Avery, and I have an appointment with Dr. Cain by 3."

"A minute, please." The receptionist says and uses the landline. "You can go in,"

"Thanks."

I signal Piper and we walk to Dr. Cain's office.

"Come in." he responds on the first knock. "Please, sit down."

"This is Piper, my friend, and Piper, this is Dr. Cain."

"Good day, doctor." She waves at him.

We talk for a while and sit in silence some minutes, before the door opens, revealing a gentle man in a neatly tailored suit that leaves me gawking. He's tall, has a nose mask, and sunglasses on to conceal his identity. To say the least, he reeks of class...

Wait, is he my baby daddy?!

His baby! My brain screams at me like I lost all form of sanity.

"Miss Avery, I suppose," his voice is soothing like a cool breeze. With his hands in his pocket, he walks in and takes a seat, cockily.

"Yeah, and Piper, my..."

"Excuse us." His tone is dead flat.

"She can't..."

"I believe you read the contract, clause for clause, this act alone is a breach of my privacy, and you will be held accountable..."

"Mr...."

He cuts off the doctor rudely merely by lifting his finger.

"Why is she here, doctor?" He looks at him, his eyes red with anger. "Leave, now."

Piper gives my hand a gentle squeeze before walking out of the office.

Alone with this rude and cocky pyscho, my heart literally skip beats.

"As agreed, you'll undergo thorough medical check-up, monthly, that's after the antenatal of course and he will send me the results "

"Huh?" I stutter, about to suffer from a heart attack.

"We don't have time, Miss Avery," he urges me to stand up, his stern gaze hovering around me.

Mumbling silent words of prayer, I stand up, my legs too wobbly to carry my frame. I'm scared to my bones and Piper is not around to hold my hands.

With each step I take, my vision gets blur.

Unexpectedly, I slump, falling backward, and hitting a hard frame. Slowly, I slip into oblivion.