Kelly

 

Not even ten minutes had passed since I signed the contract when there was another knock at the door. I was just settling in to start reading that romance novel of mine, but I guessed that would have to wait. Maybe it was Stacy. It would be like her to take an hour off work to come and visit. She was sweet like that.

 

Nope. The same man had returned.

 

I gaped at him. “N-now?” I squeaked. I hadn’t showered yet, hadn’t eaten. My mother needed food.

 

“The sooner, the better.”

 

No. I might have signed the dotted line, but I wasn’t going to be a sex slave. I wasn’t going to come the second Andrei snapped his fingers.

 

“I’ll come as soon as I’m ready.”

 

The bodyguard blinked a few times. Obviously, he hadn’t expected me to have a backbone.

 

“I won’t be too long,” I added, suddenly wondering if he was afraid he’d get in trouble if I dashed to the bathroom and took the quickest shower of her life. Then I made toast for myself and inhaled it as I made another batch of toast for my mother. I poured a glassful of green tea and put it on the tray next to the toast and carried it into my mom’s room and placed the tray on the nightstand.

 

“Oh, good. You’re awake.” I smiled at Mom. “How did you sleep?”

 

Please don’t tell me you’ve heard voices, that you didn’t hear me talk to the bodyguard either now or earlier.

 

“Like a rock. Didn’t dream, hardly moved. I actually feel a little better today.”

 

I exhaled a sigh of relief. Hearing this made leaving slightly better. Nothing would make it completely better, so I would take what I could get. I reached to help her sit up, but she waved me away and was able to sit up all by herself. I handed her the tray and waited for her mom to eat some of her food before clearing my throat. “Mom?”

 

“Yes?” My mom glanced up at me, and for the first time in a long while, I saw some of the strength she used to have, back before she got sick. She raised an eyebrow. “What do you have to tell me?”

 

I forced a laugh. “You act like I’m about to confess to sneaking out or something.”

 

“You did seem a little guilty. What is it?”

 

“It’s not guilt, Mom,” I said. Or maybe just a little bit. I sat beside her mom. “I got a new job.”

 

“You did? What’s the catch?”

 

“It’s in another city,” I lied. No way could I tell my mom the truth. Eventually, Mom would realize I was pregnant and then realize I didn’t have a baby, but I would work around that later. “I’ll be gone for days at a time, but don’t worry. I’ll be back to take you to all of your chemo appointments.”

 

It was so hard to say all of this, to hide the real reason for my going away, to leave my mom behind, but what choice did I have? She needed to focus on getting better. She didn’t need to worry about money. That was all on me. I would do whatever it took to ensure she didn’t miss a single chemo appointment.

 

“I have my good days and my bad days, and either way, I’ll be fine.” She had stopped eating the moment I started to talk, but now she resumed eating her breakfast. “You do what you want to do. I hate that I’ve been such a burden on you—”

 

“You aren’t a burden!” I hugged her hard. “Don’t ever say that.”

 

She looked away and lowered her toast to the plate. “I never thought you would have to be the one to take care of me. That’s my job.”

 

“You can’t blame yourself for getting sick. It’s all right. We’ll get through this. You’ll get better, and then you can go back to being the mom again, and yell at me if I turn the TV up too loud.”

 

She didn’t crack a smile at the joke. Actually, one of the first things I had cut back on was cable.

 

“Or if I stay out too late or sleep over at a guy’s place.”

 

She stared at me now. “You do need to find yourself a man, one who can take care of you.”

 

I did find a guy, but he’s not the kind you bring home to meet ma, and he’s not the kind you’ll approve of, Mom.

 

“Not the usual guys you date either,” my mom continued. “One with a steady job with good income. One who wants to settle down and start a family.”

 

I snorted.

 

My mom narrowed her eyes. “Snorting isn’t the kind of sound a guy wants to hear.”

 

“Mom!” I laughed. “You must be feeling better.”

 

“Yes, well…” She paled slightly, and she drank some tea. “If you have to go, go. I don’t want to hold you back, Kelly.”

 

“Thanks, Mom.” I gave her one last hug that ended up being a long one because I couldn’t bring myself to let go first. Be strong, Kelly. I pulled away, stood, and managed to walk to the door without looking back.

 

But then my mom called out to me. “Promise me one thing, Kelly.”

 

“Anything.” I turned around and waited expectantly.

 

“Don’t put your life on hold for me. Okay?”

 

I hesitated.

 

“And don’t you dare stop living if I die,” my mom added firmly. “I want you to have everything life has to offer. Okay? Promise me.”

 

“Mom! I can’t—”

 

“Promise me.”

 

“Fine. I’ll promise if you promise not to die.”

 

Her eyes clouded over. “You know I can’t—”

 

“Promise me you won’t stop living until…”

 

Understanding flashed in my mother’s eyes. “I promise.”

 

“I promise, too.”

 

For a moment, the amount of time it took for me to leave my mom’s room to return to my room and start packing, I felt better, but then the fear of leaving her here alone formed a terrible pit in my stomach. I threw some clothes into a suitcase, grabbed some toiletries, and hurried to the front door, where the bodyguard was still waiting for me. He took the suitcase from me, and I grabbed my cellphone and charger. There. Now I was set to go…well, as set as I could be.

 

Before he could open the door, there was a knock. Confused, I sprang forward and opened it.

 

A kindly gray-haired woman smiled at me. “Hello. You must be Kelly. I’m here for your mother.”

 

“You are?”

 

“Yes. I’m to be her nurse.” And she bustled into the place, walking straight in as if she had every right to be there.

 

What in the world? How did she know? Who was she? She could be anyone. A crazy person. A serial killer.

 

I glanced at the bodyguard. He nodded.

 

So Andrei was behind this. He was making sure my mom was taken care of while I was away. It was a touching gesture, and something I hadn’t at all expected from someone like the kind of man Andrei was. This was all happening way too fast. I had wanted to do some research on Andrei, to learn who exactly he was, but it was too late now. What was done was done. The ink had dried on the contract, and now I was legally bound to have sex with Andrei up to four times a week until he got me pregnant. And if nine months passed, and I gave birth to a girl, I would have to go through it again. Another sex binge session. Another pregnancy. Another baby to give up.

 

Still, he obviously wasn’t a complete monster. He had not been obligated to send a nurse here to stay with Mom. It was kind of moving. It made leaving a little bit easier, and it made my heart soften a little bit toward him. Mom will be taken care of. She’ll be looked after. She’s in good hands.

 

“Ready?” the bodyguard asked.

 

I nodded and squared my shoulders. Time to leave. Time to take the next step.

 

The bodyguard walked out first, and I followed him out to a sleek black car. He put my suitcase in the trunk and opened the back door.

 

I pointed to the passenger door. “I’ll sit up with you.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Are you a bodyguard or a chauffeur?”

 

He grinned. “It is possible to be both.”

 

“You aren’t transporting goods. You’re transporting a person. I’m not a special delivery. I’ll sit up front.”

 

He closed the back door and opened the front for me. “If you insist.”

 

“Thank you.” But I hesitated. “I don’t need you to open doors for me.”

 

“Force of habit.”

 

I frowned. “Because of working for Andrei.”

 

The bodyguard laughed. “No. My mom instilled good manners into me. A man should open the door for a woman. I swear, I’m doing it to be nice, not for the job.”

 

“In that case, thank you.” But I still hesitated. “I didn’t mean to come across—”

 

“You’re fine, Kelly,” he insisted.

 

I blinked. I kind of expected him to call me something more formal.

 

“Yes.” He sighed. “Around others, I will refer to you as Ms. Greene, but I thought you might prefer I call you Kelly when we’re alone.”

 

“I do. Yes. Thank you.”

 

He was quiet for the drive, and I didn’t pester him with questions, even though I did wonder what his name was. At least he seemed like a good enough guy, and I liked that he didn’t treat me like a freak for agreeing to something so crazy. I also appreciated that he didn’t treat me like I was royalty or anything like that, though I had a feeling he treated Andrei very differently from how he treated me.

 

And Andrei…well, I didn’t know what to think about him. I turned on my phone and did a little research, but all in all, there wasn’t a ton of info on him online. Now he didn’t have a hand in that, did he? He was obviously powerful, but no one could control the internet.

 

I put my phone away and stared out my window. Gradually, the houses grew wider and wider apart, as well as taller and more elegant. I’d never been to this part of town before. All of the stores had me way priced out, and the restaurants that had a price tag of at least one hundred a plate weren’t on my agenda either. And the houses? They were worth way too much for me to even look at.

 

The bodyguard turned down another street. At the top of a hill stood the most majestic house yet. It had four stories and stretched so wide it might be big enough to have its own zip code. A tall, wrought iron gate greeted us. He stepped out of the car and input a code into a metal box. The gates swung open noiselessly. He climbed back in and drove up the driveway. Through the rearview mirror, I watched the gates close behind us. It was ridiculous, but I felt trapped and closed in; my chest grew tight, and I couldn’t catch my breath.

 

“Are you all right?” the bodyguard asked.

 

I nodded. The panic subsided slowly as I stared at the mansion. The walls were perfectly white, and there were even pillars on the front porch. The lawn was precisely cut without a patch of dead grass anywhere. The front of the house was full of beautiful flowers. Along the side of the driveway were shaped bushes. Most were made into shapes like triangles or squares, but a few were more intricately shaped, and a few were cut into animals. Far to the left was a fountain.

 

“Wow,” I murmured.

 

“Impressive, right?” He grinned at me. “Just wait until you see the inside.”

 

He pulled in front of a four-car garage, but he didn’t park inside it. He climbed out, and even though he probably planned on opening my door for me, I got out by myself and closed the door.

 

“If you would follow me.”

 

I trailed behind him, looking everywhere, soaking in the sights. I felt like I was a tourist, about to walk into a historic home of someone important. Andrei is important. An important mob boss. I shuddered. Would I ever forgive myself for agreeing to do this? Yes, it was necessary, and I didn’t have a choice, but it still felt wrong to be paid to have a man’s baby. It was worse than just being a prostitute. This was giving up a child. Giving life to a baby and then abandoning him or her to what kind of a life? His or her father was a mobster!

 

If I kept thinking like this, I would never be able to go through with it. I had to stay focused. Mom had a nurse staying with her. She was being taken care of, and by doing this, it ensured she would be able to continue her treatments even though my health insurance would run out soon.

 

The bodyguard carried my suitcase for me and opened one of the two massive front doors. I walked inside to a breathtakingly beautiful house. Exquisite artwork lined the walls. The floor was a beautiful black-and-white geometrical design. Every so many feet were small tables with vases on top. No photographs, I noticed.

 

“Your coat?” the bodyguard asked as he opened a closet.

 

I shrugged out of it and handed it to him.

 

“This way.” The bodyguard walked down the hall, and I followed close behind.

 

To my disappointment, we bypassed several rooms, and I realized he wasn’t going to give me a tour. Of course not. I’m not important. I’m just a walking uterus. Baby maker. Nothing more.

 

Still, I was disappointed. The person who did the interior design of this place did a phenomenal job, and I would’ve loved to see how each and every room was laid out.

 

We climb a massive staircase, and down a low-lit hallway; he opened the last door on the left. “Here you go.”

 

I walked inside a large bedroom. The bed was huge with black stain sheets. There were two windows with similar curtains to the sheets. The curtain reached all the way to the wooden floor. There was a bureau, a dresser, a nightstand, and a desk, all in cherry oak. The walls were a slightly off-white color. Only one piece of art hung on the wall, directly above the bed — a stark red rose, full and beautiful on a black background, a single petal falling down, halfway to joining the sole petal at the bottom.

 

Curious, I opened and closed each bureau and dresser drawer and then opened the closet. All of it was full of clothes, and most if not all appeared to be in my size.

 

“Do you need anything?” the bodyguard asked.

 

I whirled around, feeling guilty. I’d forgotten he was still standing in the doorway.

 

“I’m…I’m good, I think. Thanks.”

 

He nodded. “Andrei will attend to you later.”

 

And he left me all alone.