AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He held out the annulment papers. I pushed off the dresser. “The personal delivery is a nice touch, though I’d have been fine with you messengering them.” As my fingers grasped the edges of the document he snatched them away.
“I said I’ll sign them. I haven’t yet.”
I dropped my arm to my side and balled my fist. “Can we just get this over with?” I didn’t want to be toyed with. It hurt like hell that he was finally giving me what I’d been asking for, and I’d resorted to my default mechanism of pretending I didn’t care.
He tapped the top of the papers. “It’s only fair if I give you what you want, you give me something I want.”
My nails cut into my palms. “Putting this behind us is mutually beneficial.” It didn’t feel that way anymore, but it was what I’d advocated for.
“That’s whatyouwant.”
What I’d wanted, as in the past. Judging by the impassive expression on his face, there was no way to convince him otherwise. He’d made up his mind. I’ve lost him. I’ve completely lost him. Why now?“What do you want?”
There was a stretch of silence. Easton studied me to the point I wanted to run. I stayed rooted in place, wondering just what exactly he saw.
“Your eggs.”
“Come again?” I blinked at him, yet he remained casually positioned in the chair.
“I want your eggs. It’s all in the paperwork, but the short of it is that you provide enough so I can have children.”
My mouth dropped open. Nothing but air came out. He waited for me to regain my wits, hands folded on his lap on top of those blasted papers.
“Have you lost your mind?” I finally asked. “Let’s just say I agree to this nonsense. What are you going to do with my eggs?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“The hell it’s not.” Anger sprouted from my feet and grew until my face got hot. “If you think I’m giving you my eggs to do what you please with—”
“I’ve selected a surrogate.”
What? A surrogate?
“Why don’t you just use her eggs?”
“I want yours.”
I reached for something to steady me and came up short. “I don’t understand.”
“My sperm will impregnate your eggs and the surrogate will carry my children to term.” He spoke clinically, like I would be doing my part in a science experiment.
“How did you already find a surrogate?” His knuckles turned white as he stared blankly at me. “You’ll answer every damn question I have.”
“I started looking about eight months ago.”
Dots connected. “When Loretta was diagnosed,” I whispered. He nodded, his face shadowed with the pain I felt. And then I went cold. “You”—I pointed at him with a shaky finger—“that’s why you”—I struggled to form a sentence as hurt sliced right through my anger. “You used me. You married me . . . for an offspring.”
He sat there stoically while something in me I hadn’t known was there died. He hadn’t wanted to use protection as a means to an end. It had nothing to do with trust and connection.
“It’s a new year. Let’s put the last one behind us,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion as he stood. Easton reached for my hand and placed the papers in them. “You have seven days to decide. And don’t think there’s another way out of this. If I don’t get what I want, you don’t get what you want.”
As soon as he shut the door behind him, I hurled the papers at it, watching them scatter to the floor.
Give him my eggs? Let someone else carry our child? Easton raising our baby? Without me?
I sank down to the ottoman. What was the big deal? I didn’t want kids. All I’d wanted for months was an annulment. Here it was handed to me on a silver platter, and I . . . I was crushed.Eviscerated.
If he’d have asked me for money, anything but this—Enough with the lies.I deserved this, but nothing had ever hurt as much as the realization that Easton had only taken those vows for his own selfish purposes. And pursued me relentlessly. It had all been lies. This was a man I didn’t know.
