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“You’re paid to say that.”
He chuckled again. “Yeah, I guess I am. But in this case, it’s the truth. Mr. Benning pays me a lot of money to be his valet. I’ve done it for years. I could quit my job right now and never have to work another day in my life.”
I blinked. “Then why don’t you?”
“Because working for Mr. Benning is fulfilling. He’s a great man, as I said. I’m never bored, and I get to travel the world. I don’t know what I would do with myself if I retired, but I know it wouldn’t be as exciting as working for him. Honestly, no matter how much money I earn, I’ll probably keep working for him until the day I die.”
“Okay, so he’s nice to his servants,” I said. “He’s still insanely wealthy. Probably a billionaire. Nobody gets to the level of yacht-rich without exploiting people.”
Andrew smiled. “You really don’t know who he is.”
I waved my phone. “I still don’t have a signal. But I can guess. He’s young, so he probably made his money in a Ponzi scheme like crypto, or NFTs. Or maybe he’s the son of an oil baron. Inherited all his money. Either way, he’s not someone I want to be involved with. And definitely not someone whose child I want to carry—no matter how I’m impregnated.”
For a while the only sound was the dim hum of the engine. Andrew stared at me calmly.
“Do you want to know the answer,” he asked, “or are you happy with your assumptions?”
I shrugged. “You can say whatever you want. It won’t change my mind.”
“Mr. Benning didn’t come from wealth. He got a full ride at Dartmouth to play soccer. He triple-majored in Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, and European History. While at school, he founded his first tech company. Something to do with efficient data encryption. He sold the company to Google before his senior year. Then he took that money and spent two years developing a more efficient way to capture carbon emissions from coal and natural gas power plants.”
I barked a laugh. “So he’s helping keep the fossil fuel industry afloat by capturing a tiny fraction of their emissions to make it look like they care about the environment? That’s not exactly something to brag about.”
“Mr. Benning thought so, too,” Andrew replied smoothly. “After selling out to Big Oil, he spent the next four years developing a lithium-alloy battery for electric vehicles, more dense than anything else on the market. He sold his battery tech to the big three auto manufacturers, then developed another battery that was cheaper and even more efficient. But instead of selling this new tech, he promptly made the patent public for anyone to develop. That battery is now used in every electric vehicle in the world. Well, except in India. They have their own proprietary tech they’re using for some reason.”
“I…” I made myself shrug. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure he has skeletons in his closet. Everyone with this much wealth does.”
Andrew shrugged again. “If you say so. There are a lot of closets on this boat.”
He chuckled at the joke. I didn’t acknowledge it.
My phone abruptly chirped with a flurry of messages. I had signal again.
Mom: I’m worried about you, Mel. I don’t like you jumping into things like this. You’re too impulsive.
Mom: And now you’re not responding.
Mom: I’m going to call the police.
Mom: Seriously, I’ll call them. I don’t want to be that woman on the evening news who says she could have done more.
Me: I’m fine! It’s only been thirty minutes.
Mom: Thirty VERY LONG minutes. You know how I worry.
Me: Yes, I do. You can stop worrying now. Everything is good. I’m on my way home. I’ll check-in when I land.
The idea of going home filled me with disappointment, but I ignored it and checked the next text.
Sarah: Hi Melinda, this is Sarah Pallas from the agency. I just wanted to reach out to you about your meeting today! I’m thrilled Mr. Benning selected you from the database. He’s been with us for over a year, and you’re the first candidate he was satisfied with. Rumor has it he is willing to offer more than the standard contract, too. You’re so lucky! Let me know if you have any questions about anything, or if I can help you along with the process. We have a lawyer on retainer who would be more than happy to go over the paperwork with you. We want to make sure both our surrogates and our clients are 100% satisfied with their partnership!
Me: Thanks Sarah, I’ll let you know if I need anything.
I frowned at the text. I wondered if Sarah knew about Mr. Benning’s special offer. Probably not. It was tempting to notify her about it, despite the NDA I had signed. The surrogate agency was probably exempt from that.
When I glanced up, I saw Andrew giving me a boyish smile. Like he knew what the text message from Sarah said.
I frowned harder and Googled Pierce Benning. I quickly realized that everything Andrew said was true. Pierce grew up in a trailer park, and learned to play soccer from his Latino neighbors. He was a wunderkind at Dartmouth, graduating in only three years despite the workload from his triple major and athletic requirements. He set the Dartmouth single-season scoring record, and would have broken the all-time school record if he had remained at school for the fourth year.
