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I swallowed around a sudden lump in my throat and sat up straight. “Let’s just get this over with. We pick a surrogate, she has the kid, nannies raise the kid. It’s fine.”
“Except we can’t all pick Memphis.” Looking at Remy, and then me, Wells furrowed his brow. “Right?”
Remy frowned. “If we all picked her, she’d be under contract with us for the duration of three pregnancies. That’s not realistic.”
“Isn’t that a question we should pose to Ms. King? Maybe she’s looking for a long-term escape from her family home.” I felt a sliver of excitement growing. “She can pick one of us, or all of us. So, either me or all of us.”
Remy rolled his eyes at me and stayed silent for a few moments, thinking it over. He finally looked up at us and shrugged. “We offer her more, since the time period would be drastically different than what we originally wanted. Roll out the red carpet, too. She’ll have the house, the amenities. We’ll pay for everything she could ever want, for the entire length of time she’s with us. On top of the money she’ll agree to be paid for giving us the children.”
“And after she has the first kid? Does she stick around, caring for it? Won’t that make it kind of hard for her to leave it after she pops out the next two?” Wells folded his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at Remy, expecting our oldest brother to have all the answers.
“We’ll have nannies. She won’t need to care for the kids. Nothing will be different, except that she’ll stay on for all three contracts, instead of us bringing in two other women.” Remy was talking himself into the idea, making it work in his head. “We’ll offer her an amount she can’t refuse.”
I thought of those big eyes and full lips once more and grinned. “Sounds good to me. I’m ready to hear that sweet southern accent telling me yes.”
“Keep it in your pants.” Remy tapped away at his phone and looked up at me. “We should all remember that this is for a surrogacy and nothing more. It shouldn’t matter that she’s fucking gorgeous.”
Wells snorted. “Tell that to my dick.”
“I’m not telling a goddamn thing to your dick, asshole.” Remy shot us both dirty looks as the door to the conference room opened and Mrs. Hathe walked in. Immediately, he was back in business mode. “Mrs. Hathe. We’ve made a decision.”
4.
***Memphis***
Iwasgoingtothrow up. I bounced my foot faster and chewed on the edge of my thumb until it was raw. The Hawke brothers had been in the conference room by themselves for several minutes after I’d been dismissed. That had been scary enough, trying to imagine what they were talking about. When Mrs. Hathe had been summoned in and her raised voice had breached the walls of the conference room minutes later, I’d nearly run out of the building. I couldn’t make out her words, but the tone wasn’t great.
It didn’t help that the remaining women kept staring at me. Somehow, I’d broken the process and everyone knew. I had been found out and the brothers were probably firing Mrs. Hathe for bringing in a fraud. She was probably going to walk out any moment and attack me for costing her a client. I knew she was already close, just judging by the looks she’d been giving me.
I hadn’t been able to keep it together in front of the three brothers. All the years of conning men had vanished in the blink of an eye when they’d looked at me. I blacked out. I didn’t even know what I’d said. Words came out of my mouth and I knew it, because I’d felt my mouth moving, but I had no recollection of what I’d said. I’d never botched a con before. I’d always had my ex with me, though. Charlie had been the one in charge of everything and I was a failure on my own. Clearly.
The conference room door opened after what felt like forever and Mrs. Hathe came out, red-faced and scowling. “Everyone is dismissed. Please stop by Lucy’s desk on the way out and collect a token of our appreciation for your time. I’m very sorry about having to cut this short today, but something’s come up.”
I stood up with the rest of the women and felt a surge of emotions. Relief, because I wasn’t in trouble for lying. Disappointment, because I’d never see the Hawke brothers again. Mostly, though, I felt dread. What waited for me back in Georgia was a whole lot of nothing. I had more problems than money and that didn’t seem like it was going to change anytime soon.
“Not you, Ms. King. You stay.” Mrs. Hathe spit out my name before striding out of the waiting area with the rest of the women, leaving me standing in front of my chair, more than a little confused.
I hesitated, unsure of what to do. She was so angry that I knew she had to know that I was a fraud. Were the cops on their way? Was it even illegal to do what I did? I’d lied on the application, but I hadn’t clicked anything that swore me to tell the truth or be penalized under the law. I would’ve remembered something like that!
As I stood there, waiting on the cops to burst in and arrest me, I fidgeted and cursed every moment of my relationship with Charlie. If I hadn’t met him, I never would’ve learned to con people. I wouldn’t have lost my savings to that asshole, either. Even thinking about it made my blood boil and my eyes water. He was the first step in the journey that led to me making the terrible mistake of lying on that surrogacy application. If I went to jail, it would be his fault.
“Ms. King?”
I screamed and jumped about a foot in the air when my name was called and someone touched my arm. Clutching my chest, I spun to face a man just a few years older than the Hawke brothers. He was handsome, but not nearly as handsome as the men in that conference room.
He flashed me a big smile and wrapped his hand around my upper arm. “I’m so sorry, Ms. King. I didn’t mean to scare you. My name is Fletcher Morgan and I’m an attorney. I work closely with several of Remington’s lawyers, so he reached out to me.”
My stomach dropped and I just stared up at the man blankly, unsure of how to save myself. They’d called in their lawyer. I was dead meat.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything? You look a little pale.” Easing me into the chair closest to me, he disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a bottle of water. “This is very unusual. If you have your own lawyer you’d like to call, I’d be more than happy to step aside for them. The Hawkes just knew that they wanted this handled immediately and that you probably didn’t have a lawyer licensed in Illinois. For this matter, I’m yours.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” I looked back at the conference room just as the door opened and Remington walked out. My chest thumped harder because of it.
“The Hawke brothers are offering you the surrogacy contract. No one told you, yet?” Fletcher glanced over his shoulder and spotted Remington. Standing, he walked over and shook the larger man’s hand. “I sprung the news on Ms. King, it seems.”
“Wait inside, Fletcher. I’m sure Boone has something to say.” Without waiting to see if the lawyer would listen to him, Remington walked over to where I sat and stood over me for a beat longer than was comfortable. Taking the chair Fletcher had just left, he moved it so it was facing me and sat down. “Memphis.”
I swallowed as his long legs stretched out on either side of mine. “Remington.”
