Contract Pregnancy with the Billionaire

Chapter 7: Beginning

There was a brief period, if I was honest with myself, where I had second guessed everything.

Lying in my bed the morning after my meeting with Jacob, waves of regret washed over me.

I had gotten a call from my editor late last night, telling me that Jacob Greyson himself had called him, and told him about our arrangement, and that I would need a year working from home, if my editor would be so kind as to oblige them.

My editor, Terrence, being not an i***t, had agreed wholeheartedly. It was an unspoken favor, and I fully expected that the paper would get an interview with Jacob Greyson sometime in the coming year.

My interview. It was basically guaranteed to me now.

My editor had also promised me a raise and year-end bonus that looked like pennies now compared to what Jacob was paying me for the surrogacy contract.

I knew in that moment that his threats had never been idle. He had contacted my editor the same night that I had agreed to go through with the contract. He would have contacted Terrence either way. Only this way, because I had agreed to his contract, he was making my life easier for me, not harder.

But could I really be going through with all of this?

I was filled with nothing but doubts.

But I was resilient, if absolutely nothing else, and I had quickly pulled myself together.

There had been no other option, so I would just have to make the best of it. And there were so many good points to this plan, if I was honest with myself.

Except for the part where I would have to carry his baby, obviously.

I was going to stay in his personal house for a year, to prepare my body for the baby for a month and a half, then the pregnancy, and then the after care for a month and a half, too.

I would have unprecedented access to him, the possibilities for what I could uncover was limitless. The amount of truth I could discover had the potential to save so many lives.

All I had to do was carry the monster's baby. Bear the Devil's spawn, as it were.

So, I steeled myself, and I got out my phone and messaged him to say I was ready to begin.

______________________________________

The next morning, everything began.

A car came to pick me up at my apartment. I had stared at it for a full minute, as the driver had gotten out and opened the door closest to me. I wasn't sure how long I had stood there, I just knew the driver had waited, patiently, until I figured it out, I was supposed to get into the car.

And then we drove to his house.

He had already booked New Amsterdam Private Hospital. They would do the implantation and then the delivery there. It was the most expensive and exclusive hospital in the world. I had never even set foot in it before.

And the safest, as Jacob had told me.

The car was taking me to his house, to drop off some of my things and pick him up. Then we would go together to the hospital where preliminary tests would be done on me, and the doctors and nutritionists would give me a new dietary and exercise regime to follow.

And I would follow that for the entirety of the year. They would make the changes as was necessary for each part of the journey that I would be on.

And I would live at Jacob's house during the entire thing, to make sure absolutely everything of my needs were being met and my schedule being followed. That was the wording they used, anyway. I felt like it was more the baby they meant every time they said my name.

For now, though, the car pulled up at the house, and I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the year to come.

The driver parked the car, and came around to my door side to open up for me.

“Welcome to Huntington Grange, Ma'am," the driver greeted me as I stepped out of the car.

His house had a name. I just knew that there was no way that it could get any more pretentious than that.

A woman came out of the huge oak doors and quickly walked towards me.

“Miss Smith," the woman greeted with a slight bow. “I've instructions to show you to your room, how to get there, and to the kitchen and dining room. If you'll please follow me."

The woman then turned around and walked towards the doors again without saying anything else, and I obediently followed.

As soon as I stepped through the doors, I stopped, my heart almost getting stuck in my throat.

I had expected something lavish and opulent. I had expected extravagance displayed all over the place.

But this house was, beautiful.

There was just no other way for me to describe it.

The walls were covered with wood panels and face brick, making it feel old and homey. There were leather armchairs and tasteful paintings dotting the walls interspersed.

There were fresh flowers everywhere, with little trinkets of life openly displayed.

A book on the side table, a bowl with keys right by the door. A coat stand with jackets and umbrellas.

This really looked like a well lived in home, that just happened to be very large and very well decorated with the best of everything. It didn't at all look like someone's trophy that they used to display power and wealth to the world.

And for a split second, I saw a baby being born into this house, I saw a toddler being cared for in it, and I saw a child playing in the halls. And I could see that little child being very, very happy with his life here.

I shook my head to snap myself out of the daydream, and I found the woman that had brought me in staring at me strangely. She didn't say anything to me though, I wondered if she had gotten instructions on how she was supposed to treat me, and I wondered what those instructions looked like.

The young woman took me through the entry way into the living room, and it looked like people really lived here.

One wall was covered with bookshelves, books filling every shelf. They look like modern books, too. Not just old tomes that looked like dictionaries. They were a lively mix of spines pressed neatly into the bookshelves. There was a fireplace with a well-covered mantlepiece, and it had been surrounded by a coffee table and sofas all around it. There was a soft rug around the entire area. And the other walls were all paneled wood.

It looked like it would be the most inviting place to be when the winter storms came.

Everything was clean, but nothing looked clinical. There was a throw over the couch, with a book and mug on the coffee table in front of it, and embers smoldering in the heath.

It looked like someone had been reading, and just gotten up from their place.

As I stood looking at the living room, it happened again.

For a split second, I saw a little boy, with dark dirty blonde hair streaking through the place naked, running amok. And I pictured Jacob Greyson in sweatpants, clothing drenched through from trying to bath a toddler, running behind him trying to catch him.

And I felt my heart skip a beat.

I was jerked out of my thoughts by Jacob coming hurriedly towards me. And for the first time, I was a little grateful to see him come towards me. I don't know what it was, maybe it was this house, or the whole situation that I now found myself in, but there was definitely something crazy happening to me.

And I actually wanted everything to move faster. I found myself actually wanting to get to the doctors as soon as possible.

“I'm so sorry," he apologized in lieu of a greeting, turning both to me and the young woman showing me around. “The tour is going to have to wait. I have an urgent meeting at the office later, but I didn't want to miss or cancel your appointments," Jacob told me as he turned towards me from the woman. “So, I called the hospital and moved your appointment a few hours early. If it's alright with you, Silver will show you around and to your rooms when we get back?"

I looked at him, and after a moment of silence, I realized he was waiting for my agreement on the matter.

“Oh, yeah, sure," I agreed. I mean, it wasn't like I could do anything else.

I wondered why he'd even bothered asking me. He'd bought the year from me, after all. That was basically what the contract boiled down to. He had bought my body and time for himself for a year. My calendar was, from today, at his demand.