Chapter 2

Elena suddenly grabbed my hand. "Audrey, please! I truly don't have any hidden motives! I just admire Sean. This is my only chance to repay him. The second the baby is born, I'll hand it over to you. I beg of you, just let me carry this child."

"You have everything in the world, Audrey... but this baby is all I have..."

"I'll beg you on my knees! Please!"

Sean rushed forward in an instant, gripping her by the arms and pulling her up.

His eyes were filled with raw heartache. "Don't kneel to her."

I watched his hands wrap protectively around her arms. I watched him shield the girl who had just knelt before me, pulling her gently behind his back.

A memory from years ago flashed through my mind.

The first time I got pregnant, my heart was brimming with joy.

Back then, the startup had just launched. Our bank accounts were empty. He held me, whispering that the timing was wrong, that we couldn't afford to raise a child.

No matter how I begged, he wouldn't budge.

When I finally lay on the cold operating table for an abortion, I had to borrow money just to pay the surgical fees myself.

The second time, our company was fighting for crucial venture capital. I took all the client drinks for him, swallowing glass after glass until my stomach started bleeding. I collapsed at the dinner table and was rushed to the ER.

When I woke up, the doctor told me the baby was gone.

He sat beside my hospital bed, softly telling me we would have another. Then his phone rang, and he hurried off without looking back.

The third time, he told me our biggest rival was poaching our core clients. He begged me to fly out and secure the deals.

I worked three days straight without sleep. By the time I landed in the fourth city, I was hemorrhaging.

He told me over the phone to hold on just a little longer, that if we closed this client, our future would be set in stone.

I held on. And I nearly bled to death.

That incident completely wrecked my reproductive health.

Three times. Every single time, it was for him.

If only once—just once—he had stepped forward like this, reached out his hand, and held me up.

My oldest child would have been in elementary school by now.

But he never did.

Instead, he stepped forward to protect a twenty-two-year-old girl who was begging me to bless their affair.

I chuckled bitterly. "Sean, your heart aches for her, doesn't it?"

His expression shifted slightly. "Audrey, you're forty years old! I'm trying to spare you the pain!"

"Do you really have to compete with a young girl like her?"

I looked at him, then at the girl hiding behind him.

"Spare me the pain? Finding a twenty-two-year-old to carry my embryo—that's what you call sparing me?"

"When you forced me onto that abortion table, why didn't you care about my pain then?"

Compete with her? What did I even have left to compete with?

She was twenty-two, glowing with youth and collagen. Even her tears looked fragile and endearing.

Her vibrant body declared that she could start over at any given moment.

And what about me?

Forty years old. Weathered by exhaustion. Losing clumps of hair. My skin littered with injection bruises.

My cycles were more erratic than a broken weather forecast. The specialists had warned me that pushing my body any further could kill me.

My body was hollowed out, like an empty bag turned inside out one too many times.

She knelt there, begging me for an opportunity.

Yet she had youth, she had health, and she held the hearts of my entire family in her hands.

Most of all, she had the fearless arrogance of youth.

I had nothing left.

She only wanted this one chance. But they all forgot—this was my last chance, too.

"Give me back my embryo," I said, my voice dead. "And I'll grant your wish."

Elena looked up sharply, a flash of pure triumph gleaming in her eyes before she quickly masked it. "Audrey, that's not what I meant... I only wanted to repay Sean..."

My mother glared at me. "The poor girl knelt before you for so long, and you dismiss her with one sentence? Do you have any idea how well Elena has taken care of Trevor and me this past year?"

"You owe her compensation, Audrey!"

Trevor stood up as well. "Audrey, 'granting our wish'? You're insulting Elena!"

Elena sobbed softly, "Audrey, I swear, I never wanted to steal your baby..."

"No?" I stepped closer. "Did I sponsor your education just so you could graduate into being my husband's side-chick?"

*SLAP!*

The sharp crack echoed through the room.

Sean's palm struck across my cheek.

"Audrey! Do you really have to be so vile?" Sean barked, breathing heavily. "The two of us could have had a baby naturally! The only reason we wanted to transfer the embryo to her was for your sake! Don't assume everyone in the world is as filthy-minded as you!"

My cheek burned like fire.

Elena trembled, crying hysterically. "It's all my fault... I'll leave..."

Before she could finish her sentence, her knees buckled, and she slumped toward the floor.

My mother let out a bloodcurdling scream. "Call 911! Call an ambulance! She's carrying a baby!"

A baby?

The embryo transfer... was already successful?