19. Breeding Grounds #3
I can’t help but sneer and roll my eyes. The new contracts prevented us even from seeking medical attention without the agency being informed. Dad had his secretary handle everything, including getting text results. “So Dad knows?” I sneer. “And he’s still letting Kurt beat you?”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Aisha’s laugh is slightly unhinged. “Kurt is under strict orders to avoid my stomach and my face.”
“What the fuck?” My voice is trembling with fury.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. Kurt is Dad’s biggest cash cow right now, and that makes him his priority.
That’s why I left without even trying to go to him about what happened the night before my wedding.
I suspected he would have told me to suck it up and keep Kurt happy.
But you’re going to have a baby, Aisha. That must be more important than keeping Kurt satisfied. ”
She hugs her middle, and her shoulders cave in as if she were protecting herself from something. “I can’t go, Bex. If I did, being canceled would be the least of my worries. Byron and Kurt would hunt me down until they had me and the baby.”
I don’t understand. “What makes you think that? I find it hard to believe that Kurt would care about having a family. He just wants a wife, so he has someone to satisfy his urges and to treat like his own personal punching bag. And my dad? He doesn’t have a paternal bone in his body.
Before I became one of his best clients, he didn’t pay any attention to me.
He was totally focused on Luke’s hockey career until he kicked him out, and only then did he start showing an interest in me.
So unless that baby is the next Gretzky, I doubt they would care. ”
When she meets my gaze, I realize that I must have struck a chord without even knowing it.
“What?” I laugh in complete disbelief. “You just found out you’re pregnant. There’s no way you can know if your child will be good at hockey.”
What she says next is shocking. But then again, knowing my father, maybe it makes more sense than I thought possible.
“After my pregnancy was confirmed, your father made me sign a new contract. It contains a clause about the baby.”
That’s crazy. Even for my father. “What kind of clause? Is he getting you to give up your firstborn child to him or something?”
I’m closer to the truth than I thought.
“The clause states that my child is signed up as his client from conception. Kurt and I are obligated to begin training them to dance and to skate and eventually to play hockey as soon as possible. We’re also obligated to send our child to the new youth talent academy he’s planning to open in Bridgeport. ”
That doesn’t make any sense. “A youth talent academy?”
“Yeah. Like a boarding school where the kids will be taught sports and all kinds of performing arts until they show their main talent. Every child will also have their social media presence established since kindergarten.”
Jesus. “So Dad is trying to exploit your child. Where is he going to find the other students? Is he going to start arranging marriages between his clients to foster talent in utero?”
I said that in a hyperbolic scenario, like something you would read in a dystopian novel. Aisha nods, to my surprise.
“That’s exactly what he’s planning. You were supposed to be the first one.”
Cold dread forms in the pit of my stomach. I must have misheard her.
“Come again?”
What Aisha says next should sound impossible, but with every word a sickening puzzle starts to emerge.
“Did you ever wonder why your father pushed so hard to get you married to Kurt? He has every single one of his elite clients matched. His plan is to get his most talented clients to have children with each other and have them sign the same contract Kurt and I did.”
I can’t believe that. “What the fuck?”
“When you ran away, he had to shuffle things around. Apparently I was destined for Kevin, but I got upgraded to Kurt since you were gone.”
I open and close my mouth like Lady M when I sprinkle food in her fishbowl. “Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand something? Did my father tell you all this? I’m sorry if I doubt your word, but this sounds… totally nuts.”
Aisha explains why she’s sure. “I know. I couldn’t believe what I saw either, but it’s all there in black and white on your father’s computer.”
“How…”
She knows exactly what I’m about to ask.
“After Helga took me to the doctor’s and my pregnancy was confirmed, Byron wanted to see me to give me that new contract.
He had opened my file on his laptop to print out a copy.
While I was sitting in his office reading the new clauses, his phone rang, and he excused himself and walked away.
I don’t know what came over me, but I wanted to see my file. ”
I listen to her with bated breath. “And?”
“It was all there in black and white. There was a page with all my stats: height, current and ideal weight, social media follower numbers, main talents. I had been matched with Kevin because your father wanted to have future clients with dance talent. But after you left, he switched me to Kurt. There was a list of matches attached to my file. Kev got matched with Daisy. They just announced their engagement, and they got moved to a second apartment within the compound three days ago.”
I shake my head in complete disbelief. “That’s so fucked up. So what is he trying to do, breed his clients so he can have new ones by default?”
“That’s exactly what he’s doing.” She says, but I still find it hard to believe.
“Aisha, I’m not trying to doubt your words, but are you sure this isn’t just some coincidence?
I mean, you know my father had problems with people having relationships in the house.
He was worried that breakups would make the living situation in the house potentially toxic.
And that in turn would affect our bottom line if people refused to do collabs and stuff like that.
Remember, that’s why he introduced the no touch rule, to avoid romantic relationships between clients.
But when you put dozens of young, attractive people in close quarters, it’s almost impossible to control that aspect.
Maybe matching people is an attempt to solve that problem? ”
Her gaze darkens. “Yeah, I didn’t want to believe it either.
So I took a risk and went digging a little deeper into my file first, and then I opened a couple more.
I was terrified he would walk in on me, but thank fuck that call took a while.
It was my only chance to look into his computer without him knowing while the files were open, and I didn’t have to worry about guessing a password or something like that. ”
I’m almost scared to hear what else she found out, but I have to know. “What did you find?”
The saying not to ask questions if you aren’t prepared for the answer has never felt more true.
“Your father mentioned some upcoming changes to my diet, so I wanted to see if he would increase my calorie intake because of the pregnancy or if he would just up my vitamins. I was so hungry despite the constant sickness.”
Aisha’s concern was legit. When he introduced our tailored diets and our calorie intake was decreased drastically, we were all put on vitamin supplements to make sure we would reap the maximum benefits from the new regimen.
“Was it just vitamins? What kind of monster doesn’t let a pregnant woman eat what she wants? ”
The look in my former bestie’s eyes becomes more haunted with every detail she reveals.
“It was a combination of slightly more calories and a revised list of supplements. But that isn’t the worst part.
I saw a list of the supplements and medication I was on before, and the name of a few pills raised a red flag.
It was a cocktail of hormones and other medications that enhance ovulation.
I know because my last foster mom was desperate to get pregnant, and she was taking the same stuff.
I had been on that stuff since we got put on the new diets last year.
It didn’t make sense until I remembered that around the time we got put on those personalized plans, you had that weird reaction.
Remember you swelled up, and we thought it was an allergic reaction?
I remembered that my foster mom had similar issues with the meds she was on, so I opened your file. ”
Fuck. I don’t even need to hear her say it. “So I didn’t have an allergic reaction to traces of seafood in my dinner?”
“Think about it, Bex.” She says. “How could there be traces of seafood if all our meals were made from scratch by the chef Byron hired?”
I repeat the explanation Dad gave me at the time. “Maybe a contaminated knife or cutting board?”
Aisha’s next question gives me pause. “Right. But remember, you were shocked because you didn’t know you had a food allergy?”
That was easily explained. “But allergies can manifest or disappear at any time in life.”
“Or,” Aisha bites out. “You were on the same cocktail of hormones I was on. I looked at your file and, sure enough, you were on those meds, too.”
Horror makes me shudder. “Wait a second. He—my father—wanted me to get pregnant with Kurt’s baby?”
I don’t even need an answer to know that it’s probably true. The only reason why I’m not in Aisha’s same predicament is probably that it was the wrong time of my cycle. I just got my period the night before my wedding. I saw it was the case after Kurt left me unconscious and bruised.
“He wants every single one of his elite clients to have children that will be signed by Pure Shine and educated in his new academy. I looked through a few medical files. All the women in the house are on the same medication.”
I cover my face with my hands, struggling to come to terms with what I’m hearing. “So is this why we started getting our meds and supplements in little cups like at the hospital? So we wouldn’t figure out his plan?”
It’s Aisha’s turn to comfort me. “Yeah, that’s my guess.
He had a whole file called Breeding Program .
I only got to take a really quick glance at it, because shortly after I opened it, I heard Byron talking to Helga right outside the door.
All the women in the house were listed under ‘Host.’ I wish I could have taken some screenshots, but I had no time.
I had to close every file I had opened and make sure everything looked the way he had left it.
And I had to sign the new contract or he would know something was wrong. ”
My head is spinning at the enormity of what I just learned.
I had been feeling increasingly claustrophobic in the Pure Shine house.
I’ve thought about my father’s talent agency as a cult more and more in the few months prior to leaving.
But I could have never imagined that he was planning something as sinister as breeding his clients to generate new talent.
“Aisha,” I pleaded. “Please come home with me. Together we can stop him. What he’s doing must be illegal; if anything, pumping us with hormones to get us pregnant without our knowledge can’t be above board. We need to call the cops and tell them everything.”
When she refuses, I’m not surprised. She’s too scared.
I was too scared too, every time I thought about leaving.
When he made me cut contact with my brother, when he started counting every calorie I ingested; when I realized that he was taking all my money and controlling every aspect of my life, from my messages and phone calls to who I was going to marry.
I wanted to leave, but I was too scared until the night with Kurt left me even more scared about what my life would be like if I stayed.
“The cops won’t do anything. I have no proof. It’s going to be my word against his.”
I make one last-ditch attempt to convince her.
“I understand how you feel. I was scared too. But if you can’t find the courage to leave for yourself, do it for your baby. What if Kurt hits you again and hurts your baby?”
She shakes her head, shutting down, and I know she isn’t going to budge. “He won’t. He knows Byron cares about this baby. Your father told him clearly when I went to him after Kurt hit me the first time. As long as I’m carrying this baby, he’ll have to keep his temper under control.”
“What about after the baby is born?” I’m truly terrified for her.
“Your father has a breeding program, Bex. He wants as many children as he can get. As much talent as he can nurture and exploit. I’ll find a way to use his own plans to my advantage, to keep myself safe.”
I don’t believe she’s going to be safe for one second. “So that’s it? There’s nothing I can say or do to make you come with me?”
The sadness in Aisha’s eyes is all the answer I need.
“What you can do is to keep what I just told you to yourself. If he knew I told you, I don’t know if even being pregnant could keep me safe.
I have to go now.” She says after looking at her smartwatch.
“We’ve been here way too long, and I don’t want to keep Kurt waiting. ”
Just the thought of seeing my ex fills me with dread, but maybe if the guys are going to be there too, I can confront him. Maybe I can get him to admit what he did to me and to Aisha. “Ok. Let’s go.”
“No, he can’t see us coming out of the bathroom together. He’ll know I said something. Please, Bex, you have to let me handle this the way I want. I need to fly under the radar and keep Kurt happy. Let me go first. Wait ten minutes; by then, Kurt and I should be gone.”
I relent. Different emotions are warring in my heart once I’m left alone in the arena’s restroom.
There must be a way to get Kurt’s DNA and see if he was the person who broke into our condo. I feel it in my bones that it was him that night at our house and at the art center. Maybe I can speak to the guys and we can find a way to get his DNA next time we play Bridgeport.
I whip out my phone to text them and let them know I won’t be long, but we’re deep into the arena and over here there’s barely any reception. The text message takes ages to send, and in the end I get the telltale red exclamation mark that means the message wasn’t sent.
One thing my phone is still good for at least is telling time. It has been five minutes since Aisha left, so I decided to start walking out of the bathroom, and I’ll be able to send the text as soon as I get better reception.