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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.
6.
***Memphis***
“Ms.King?We’repulling up to the gate now.” Jake, just Jake according to his basic introduction, didn’t look back at me from the driver seat of the expensive SUV he drove. He hadn’t glanced at me the entire time I’d been in the backseat. “The property is surrounded by a twelve-foot fence on all sides, with two main access gates. Both stay closed and locked at all times. You’ll always have access to me or another driver while here, so you don’t have to worry about the codes.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and scooted forward on the bench seat to look out of the front windshield. “A twelve-foot fence? Wow.”
Jake finally cut his eyes at me. “Ms. King, your seatbelt?”
I caught sight of the gate to the fence and my jaw dropped. It was a combination of brick and iron that probably cost more than my entire trailer park back home. I’d never seen a gate so huge. “Wow. This is dramatic!”
“Seatbelt?”
I smiled at Jake and patted his shoulder. “If you wreck and kill me while you’re going less than ten miles an hour, Jake, it was just my time. I can’t see everything when I’m buckled in and I want to seeeverything.”
He grunted even as he rolled down his window and tapped in what I was guessing was the code to open the gate because a second later, it swung open. “I bet you get away with a lot of shit because of the accent. Am I right?”
“I refuse to answer self-incriminating questions.” I gasped as the driveway opened up in front of us and I could see rolling hills just past the trees that lined the road. “Holy crap. This is beautiful!”
“Wait until you see the house.” He drove slowly down the winding driveway until it straightened out and the hills flattened into the most manicured lawn I’d ever seen. There were even lines mowed into the grass that intersected and created a pretty criss-cross pattern.
The trees thinned out and finally the house opened up in front of us with a circle drive that made a border around a large fountain with a statue of a bird sitting on top of a branch in the middle. It was dramatic. The house itself was the largest I’d ever seen. Calling it a house was probably wrong. Mansion made more sense. Three stories of dark brick with more dormers and gables than any normal house would ever possess. I could count at least four chimneys. A wide staircase led up to the front doors, which were at least ten feet tall and another display of craftsmanship with iron and glass. Topiaries stretched up on either side of the entrance and ivy grew up the brick like it was trying to drag the home back to nature. Overall, it was a little dark and imposing. It loomed.
“Batman would live inside this house.” Jake parked and looked back at me. “If Batman was wealthier.”
