Kelly

 

The next day, I woke up and rubbed my eyes. Had the night before been a terrible dream? My fingers went to my lips. I could almost swear that they were still swollen. That kiss had almost been too perfect, though, so maybe I had dreamed it all up.

 

Andrei. The mob boss. And soon, my business partner.

 

If I signed the contract.

 

A knock pounded on the door.

 

“Just a minute,” I called.

 

Who could that be? I wasn’t expecting anyone.

 

I quickly got changed — no way was I going to open the door in my pajamas — and opened the door. A man I’d never seen before stood there.

 

He looked down at me. “Hello. I’m looking for a Kelly Greene.”

 

“That’s me.” I nodded, but I didn’t move to open the door wider or to give him entry to the house.

 

Wait. Was this Andrei’s man? I never did tell Andrei my name, not even my first name. He never asked, and I hadn’t been thinking the clearest, not after that kiss, and not before it either. How had he tracked me down? Everything after the kiss was a giant blur in my mind, so maybe I had given him my name and address after all.

 

Or maybe his resources were that good. Somehow the thought of being watched or studied or being checked up on made me uneasy. Had he run a background check on me? While I had nothing to hide and his wanting to do a check made sense, it still made me angry. My private home life had nothing to do with our agreement. I needed space away from Andrei and his mob and his way of life.

 

The man opened his long, black coat and removed a large manila envelope. “This is for you.”

 

I accepted it. The contract. Wow. This really was all real. “Ah…thanks.” I moved to shut the door.

 

He slid his foot forward slightly to stop me. “I’m supposed to stay and answer any questions you may have, if you want to request any changes…”

 

This man had to stay and watch me sign, I realized. Great. Just what I wanted. An audience. This was embarrassing enough as it was.

 

Hoping Mom would stay asleep a little while longer, I quietly ushered him into my room, having nowhere else to hide him.

 

“You can sit…” I offered, pointing with the envelope to my bed.

 

He stood by my bedroom door, his arms clasped behind his back. “I am fine.” His legs were spread, and his stance reminded me a hired bodyguard.

 

Who knew? Maybe he was a hired bodyguard. Andrei needed an heir desperately if he was going to dole out two million to get one. Desperately and as quickly as possible, which suggested that he had a huge reason for needing an heir so fast.

 

Because he didn’t think he would be around for long, maybe? Was he in danger? Doubts were starting to creep in already, and I hadn’t even started to read the contract. Two million was a lot of money, and it would solve all of my financial problems, but that didn’t mean I had to be blinded by the dollar signs. I would check out the contract and make sure it suited me before I would sign.

 

The envelope was heavy in my hand, and since the bodyguard hadn’t taken up my offer to sit on my bed, I sat there myself. I ripped open the envelope and removed the pristine white papers, the black ink a sharp contrast.

 

My throat grew dry as I read each line. So these were the details and the negotiations from Andrei.

 

The surrogate, hereafter referred to by name as Kelly Greene, agrees to enter into this contract of her free will. She will be paid one million dollars as soon as the contract is signed by both parties, the other party being one Andrei Petrov.

 

Kelly agrees to have sex up to four times a week until she becomes pregnant, at which time she will be under the care of a doctor of Andrei’s choosing until she delivers.

 

The job will be considered successful once Kelly gives Andrei a male heir. If she should produce a female, Kelly will have two choices. She will either forfeit the second million dollars, or she will complete the job again.

 

There was a bit more too it, and a lot more technical jargon that sounded very stiff and formal and lawyer-y, but I got the gist of it.

 

Could I really do this? Yes, one million would be a godsend. It would keep Mom and I stable for years, decades. Two million and we would be set for life.

 

But could I have sex with Andrei in exchange for pay? And it was more than that. I wouldn’t be his hooker. I would be his surrogate. We would be having sex with the sole purpose of wanting to bring a child into the world. We would fuck and fuck and fuck until I got knocked up.

 

And at the end of those nine months, I would turn over the baby to him. To Andrei. To a mob boss.

 

This was way too crazy to even contemplate.

 

I glanced at my nightstand. At the stack of mounting bills. At my phone which had missed calls and voicemails from people I had to pay or else we’d be without electricity. Even before I lost my job, money had started to get super tight. Between increased cost of living prices and everything Mom needed for her treatment and having to pay for someone else to take her to and from the hospital when I had been working, it had all equaled to more money than I made. Even before I lost my job, I had already started to look for a second part-time gig. Hadn’t found anything in the three months I’d been looking, so what made me think I would find a full-time position somewhere any time soon? And I’d never be able to find one that paid so much either.

 

I reread the entire contract. He wanted me to stay at his place. Okay. Time for questions.

 

“I can come and go as I please from his house?” I asked the guard.

 

He nodded. “As long as you make arrangements with Andrei first. He would like for you to be near at hand obviously, so you can—”

 

“I get the picture. He’d be reasonable, do you think?” I had to be able to take Mom back and forth to her appointments, and since I wasn’t working set hours, I would love to sit with her through the entirety of at least some of her chemo treatments.

 

“He is a reasonable man.” The guard nodded, smiling slightly.

 

Good. So he wasn’t a robot. I was beginning to wonder if he had been programmed or brainwashed. That was good. I stared at the guard point blank. Would he tell me the truth? Did he even know? “Why is he willing to pay so much for an heir?”

 

“I’m not sure.”

 

I narrowed my eyes. “You have to have a guess, though.”

 

“My guess is only that you seem to need money, and Andrei is willing to pay you. The only question is whether or not you’ll let him. If you do what he wants, he will take care of you. I can assure you that.”

 

I still had misgivings, but the sound of Mom coughing, hacking up a lung, and the springs in her bed creaking, forced my hand. I grabbed a pen and signed the contract.

 

The guard jumped forward, gathered all of the papers for me, and eased them back into the envelope. “I will bring you a copy shortly,” he said. “Do you need anything else? Any last questions?”

 

Wordlessly, I shook my head. In a daze, I walked him out. After I closed the door, I shut my eyes and leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit on the carpet. I couldn’t help wondering if I had completely lost my mind.