Chapter 5
***Memphis***
The original contract had been for two hundred thousand dollars.
The surrogate would be housed and provided full care by the client.
It was a year long contract, with an additional stipend provided if the surrogate didn’t get pregnant right away and the year didn’t allow enough time for the pregnancy to be carried to full term.
A percentage of the money went to Mrs. Hathe’s company, but most of it went straight to the surrogate.
When I’d read the sample contract on the website and signed the paperwork agreeing to be available if I was chosen, I’d hoped I would be picked.
No part of me truly believed it would happen, though.
If I had a chance to be lucky five times, I’d be unlucky five times.
That was how my life went. So, to say I was a little shocked to be looking up at Remington Hawke while he promised he and his brothers would take care of me would be like saying the sun is a little warm up close. Understatement of the century.
I rolled my lower lip between my teeth and bit down on it.
I was close enough to Remington to see that his eyes were solid blue, without a touch of another color.
They looked like a clear morning sky and his thick eyelashes curled naturally to highlight them even more.
It wasn’t fair. He was stunning and so tall that I knew I would fit against his chest so comfortably.
I hadn’t been that close to another man—who wasn’t family—since Charlie, and I was painfully aware of the way my body was responding.
Remington opened the door and eased me into the room. “Hear us out, Memphis.”
I wanted to laugh. He thought I was silent because I wanted to run away? If he only knew I was silent because my brain was slowly catching up with the fantasy my body had started without it.
Boone and Wells stood next to the conference table, their eyes on me. It was a lot of attention for me to take on at once. I bit my lip harder and then let out a gasp of surprise when Remington gripped my chin and tugged my lip free.
“You’re going to make yourself bleed.” His touch was gone as quick as it’d appeared, but the burn of his skin on mine lingered. He met my gaze with a stern expression on his face and shook his head. “You left marks.”
I resisted the urge to reach up and touch my mouth, but just barely. “This is all a little more nerve-wracking than I expected it to be, I guess.”
Boone walked over and gripped his brother’s shoulder. “You can probably tell that some of us are a little stressed, too. Remy wouldn’t just manhandle you like that, otherwise.”
I designated Fletcher as a safe space in the room and hurried to sit next to him at the table. He didn’t make me feel nervous or fidgety. I crossed my legs under the table and bounced my foot. “Thank you for being available on such short notice. I don’t think I said that outside.”
He patted my hand. “I’d just sprung some big news on you. If you hadn’t been off your game a little, I would hire you for my office immediately. I need someone with nerves of steel to run my life for me.”
“Are you looking for an employee or a wife?” I smiled when he laughed. “Not that it’s any of my business.”
“It could be, Ms. King, if you’re volunteering.” He winked, his expression light and happy. “It would bring me eternal joy to steal you away from these three.”
Remington’s voice was bored as he sat across from us. “Are you going to tell your client what our offer is?”
“Don’t get frustrated with me yet, Remington.
I still haven’t raked you over the coals.
” Fletcher leaned in close to me and lowered his voice.
“I wrote the number they’re offering you down in the folder in front of you.
I just wanted to annoy Remy more by whispering.
Look at him and tell me if his eyes are shooting fire yet. ”
I covered my smile with my hand as I glanced up and found all three Hawke brothers glaring at my new lawyer. “Yep, yep, and yep.”
He pulled back and cleared his throat. “Okay, back to business.”
“Fletcher.” Remington scowled darkly. “Stop fucking around.”
With a smile still etched into his face, Fletcher opened the folder and slid it closer to me. He tapped a number with so many zeros behind it that my heart felt like it skipped a few beats.
“The offer is five million. One million per year that you’d be under contract with us.
We will give you lodging and every amenity you could request during that time period.
There are no limits. You will also have access to a credit card, so you will complete the contract with the full five million.
” Remington stopped and folded his hands together on top of the table.
“You will give us each a child in that five year period.”
My stomach flipped and I suddenly felt like I was making a huge mistake.
There was no way I would ever get that amount of money without breaking every law known to man.
How? That kind of thing didn’t happen to me.
Five million dollars was four point eight million more than I ever thought I would have in my entire life, and that was only if I got the original contract.
I had to do it. I had to pull myself together and take the new contract.
With that money, I could provide for my brothers for the rest of our lives.
I could go to school. I could live my life without the constant stress of where rent would be coming from.
I had nothing to lose. Five years was a long time, but it was five years of a really pathetic life. I wasn’t going to miss anything.
I’d forgotten everything else that Charlie had ever taught me, but I knew that you never took the first offer. It was greedy, but if I could get as much money as possible, every worry I’d ever had would be easier to face. Most would be gone completely.
Putting my hand over Fletcher’s to get his attention, I shook my head and looked at the Hawke brothers. It was hard when they looked back at me with such intensity. “I don’t think I can do it. I imagined myself carrying a child for a family who desperately wanted a kid. This doesn’t feel the same.”
Boone looked at his brothers and then back at me. “We do want kids, Memphis. Our family has been through some big changes and we just realized that we don’t want to wait for love to start our families. Our father died a month ago. Life is too short to wait when we can have the family we want now.”
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry.” I pressed my hand to my chest. “Bless your hearts. That’s terrible.”
“It was definitely something.” Wells sighed and cut his eyes at his brother.
“We need this, Memphis. We would be missing out on so much if we didn’t give ourselves this chance.
We’d never considered using the same surrogate before, but the idea of our children being brothers and sisters is pretty special. ”
Remington tapped his fingers on the table as he leaned forward. “Six million. Six million for five years of your life, Memphis. You’ll live like a queen and have everything you could ever want.”
Fletcher gripped my knee under the table and I knew that he was freaking out almost as much as I was. “Let me talk it over with my client, guys.”
I gripped his hand and felt like we were celebrating together for a moment. “I’m really going to miss my family home in Georgia.”
“Seven million and I’ll personally fly you home when you want to go.” Boone held my gaze and grinned. “I’m no pilot, but it can’t be that hard.”
Fletcher’s grip was painful as he squeezed. “Georgia isn’t that far, Memphis.”
I would’ve laughed if I didn’t feel like throwing up.
“I feel for y’all. What you’re going through has to be tough.
I just never thought I’d be committing to so many years.
On the other hand, this would give me a chance to find my own path, without the pressure of joining the family business.
I don’t think I’ll get another chance like this. ..”
Fletcher had stopped breathing. “Memphis?”
I took a deep breath and finally nodded. “Okay. I want to help. I’d like it added in the contract that I may need to go home on occasion.”
Remy nodded back at me. “Done.”
And just like that, I’d signed five years of my life away.