The Underdog Billionaire

Chapter 8: Catch Me If You Can

“Why Stephanie of all people?”

“Why not? You two came from the same background, so making her our surrogate is like keeping this within the family.”

“Stephanie is not our family.”

“Come on, Jake. Give that lady a chance. I know you have a good heart and that’s why I chose you. You went from grass to grace in a split second, now look at where you are.”

“How does that concern Stephanie?”

“This is her grass-to-grace opportunity. She’s going to jump at the privilege of carrying a billionaire baby in her womb.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look, to be honest, I’d feel more comfortable dealing with a familiar face than doing this with a total stranger.”

Jake groaned. The thought of going through something as intimate as this with Stephanie left a bad taste in his mouth. However, Morgan’s happiness meant more to him than his pride or concerns.

“What if she says no?”

“Why would she? We’ll pay her generously for her services.”

“But she’s a nurse. Do you expect her to quit her job and take on the role of our surrogate?”

“She can take a one-year break from work and we’ll pay her a monthly stipend equal to her current salary. That’s excluding the surrogacy fee that she’ll get if she agrees.”

He scratched his jaw thoughtfully. He didn’t like this deal at all.

“If you’re worried that she’ll talk, we can make her sign an NDA and our secret would be safe forever.”

“It won’t be a secret for long because everyone will know we had our baby through surrogacy, anyway.”

“No, they won’t. I will be pregnant while Stephanie is.”

“What?”

“I’ll buy prosthetic pregnant bellies for every trimester. We’ll announce to the world that I’m pregnant and Stephanie will stay here with us the whole time.”

“Jesus Christ…”

“Don’t worry, Jake. I’ve thought everything through. Nobody outside this mansion has to know the truth.”

“So, let’s assume Stephanie agrees to go along with this crazy scheme, what happens when it’s time for the baby to be born?”

“She’ll have a home birth. Dr Phillip will get us a discreet midwife to deliver the baby.”

“Come on, Morgan. This is insane!”

“I know, I know. Please, do this for me, Jake. Please.”

The hope in her voice made him mushy inside. Morgan had practically given him the whole world and here she was asking him for a little understanding.

“Fine. I’ll talk to Stephanie.”

She hugged him tightly in that special way that made him feel warm and fuzzy all over. He hugged her too but before he knew it, she was sinking to her knees and unzipping his pants.

“Whatchu doing down there?” He asked huskily.

“You’ll see,” she replied seductively and freed his shaft from his boxers.

Thirty minutes later, he was on his way back to the office with a huge smile on his face. Morgan had treated him to a fire blowjob and he’d returned the favour by carrying her upstairs to their bedroom and sending her to heaven with multiple orgasms.

He called one of his assistants to invite Stephanie to his office for an important meeting. Then he called Rex to get an update on Martin’s whereabouts.

“We can’t find him, boss,” said Rex. “It looks like he’s disappeared into thin air.”

“I don’t like the sound of that, Rex. I don’t like knowing that a man that nearly killed me and my family is on the loose somewhere and we can’t find him.”

“I think he knows that you’re searching for him. That’s the only reasonable explanation for his disappearance.”

“So, what do you suggest we do now? Just wait until he tries to attack us again?”

“Sadly, yes. We’ll triple our security and be on the lookout for any possible attacks.”

“Damn.”

Two hours after he reached the office, he was notified that Stephanie had arrived for their meeting.

“Send her in,” he said into the intercom.

A few minutes later, she walked into his exquisite office, dressed like someone going to a nightclub.

“Why are you dressed like that?” He asked her with a look of disgust.

“Hello to you too, handsome,” she replied with a huge smile. “Gosh, you’ve cleaned up so nicely. I always knew you were a handsome guy under all that grime back then.”

He hated that embarrassing reminder of his past but he let the comment slide. Stephanie always had a sick way of making him feel ashamed for no reason.

“Take a seat. Would you like a drink?”

“After a hot round of sex with you on that huge table, yes.”

“Don’t annoy me, Stephanie. Take a seat and shut up.”

Her grin disappeared. “Did you call me here to insult me?”

“No, I called you here to discuss something very important with you.”

“The answer is yes, Jake. I’ll be your mistress.”

“What?”

“All you have to do is rent me a nice condo in Island Harbour. It’s a stone's throw from Pearly Hills, so you can always stop by on your way home in the evenings.”

“What are you – ?”

“I’ll need a monthly allowance, of course. A gym subscription, weekly shopping at designer boutiques and a sleek car too. I like Porches.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I didn’t invite you here to be my mistress. I mean, why the hell would I do that? Weren’t you the same chick who dumped me and ran off with some loser who claimed to be a businessman? Where is he now?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? I don’t care.”

“Just as you never cared about me back then.”

“Come on, Jake. That’s all in the past. Let’s live in the present. I know you still feel something for me, if not, you wouldn’t invite me here.”

She circled his desk and stood beside him. “I’m sorry I broke your heart, Jake. Let me make it up to you now.”

“No,” he said curtly and stood up. “Please, sit down and listen to what I have to say.”

“Why are you playing hard to get?” She asked while still standing beside him.

Jake took her by the arm and led her to one of the chairs in front of his desk. He perched on the edge of the desk, facing her.

“Listen, I have an important proposition for you. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t involve you in this but my wife insisted.”

“Let me guess. You want me to be your surrogate.”

He was stunned.

Stephanie chuckled and fluffed out her auburn hair. “Don’t look so surprised. I saw your wife’s case file at the hospital. I know her uterus has been removed.”

“Who else knows?”

“Is it supposed to be a classified secret?”

“Who else knows?”

“Chill… I think the doctors and the nurses who were present during the surgery. So?”

“Nobody else must know about this, Stephanie.”

“Why not?”

“Listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you, Stephanie, because I will not repeat myself.”

One month later, Stephanie has her own room in the mansion and preparations were already underway to start the artificial insemination. They’d gotten the perfect egg from a donor and were now waiting for her to ovulate and get the process started.

Morgan was beyond excited and couldn’t wait to be a mother. Linda was pleased to see her daughter so happy again. Jake was constantly anxious, while Stephanie was thrilled about her sudden come-up.

“Don’t look so glum,” she said to him one evening. “You’ll be a daddy soon.”

“Whatever,” he replied indifferently.

“Don’t worry. I know how to cheer you up,” she said and left him in the library where he’d been brooding.

Morgan and her mother had gone out for a charity event which he’d narrowly escaped attending. They’d got tired of waiting for him to come back from work and had gone without him.

“Here it is,” said Stephanie, returning to the library with a bottle of whiskey and a glass.

“You’re not supposed to be drinking, you know.”

“Oh, it’s not for me. It’s for you.”

“I don’t want a drink.”

“Yes, you do,” she said and poured it. “Here, take a sip and relax.”

“Fine,” he said and reluctantly accepted the drink. He finished it in one gulp and returned the glass to her.

“Another round?”

“No.”

“Whatever…”

Jake suddenly started to feel weird. His body was getting warm and he could feel himself getting hard down there. Even his vision was getting blurry too.

“What the hell?” He muttered and realized that his words were slurred.

“You must be feeling toasty already,” Stephanie giggled.

“What did you do?”

“Oh, nothing serious. I just added something to your drink to make you want me. Don’t worry, we’ll be done before Morgan gets back.”

Before he could protest, she was stripping off her clothes and jumping on him like a savage. Jake did everything he could to fight her off but he was unsuccessful.

“Relax, big guy. We’re about to make our baby.”