Chapter 2 The Morning

Sierra opened her eyes as she felt the sunlight streaming through her bedroom window.

It was morning, and she could feel it even though her eyes weren’t fully open yet.

The second thing she felt was a sharp ache in her lower body, making her wince and furrow her brow. She hadn’t expected it to feel like that.

How would she manage to walk out of her room and face people? More importantly, how could she face Callie, knowing that her husband had spent the night in her room? Or how could she face Axton at work later, knowing they had to work together in the same office.

Actually, she didn’t fucking care. She just needs to get a bath and go to work.

“Are you feeling sick, Sierra?” Callie asked as Sierra stepped out of the bathroom, getting ready in front of her vanity.

Sierra closed her eyes for a moment. She had spent extra time in the bathroom, hoping to be late enough to avoid facing her friend for too long. She wanted to pretend to be in a hurry and head straight to work, burying herself in tasks and distractions. But instead, she found Callie sitting in her room with a tray of milk and bread when she came out.

“I overslept, so I’m in a rush. Thanks for the breakfast,” she said, forcing a smile while eating the bread and continuing to dry her hair.

“That hair dryer doesn’t dry your hair fast enough. Didn’t I tell you to borrow mine? Or would you like me to buy you a new one? It would make things easier for you.”

“You’re so extravagant. Lucky for you, your husband’s rich, so you don’t have to worry about going broke.” Sierra rolled her eyes, listening to Callie laugh casually.

They had been friends since high school. It had been nearly ten years since their first meeting, and ever since, Callie had been the one person Sierra was closest to. But Sierra never imagined she’d find herself in such a difficult position that no friend in the world should have to experience.

“If your bastard father hadn’t left you with that debt, I’m sure you’d be richer than me.” Callie walked over, taking the hair dryer from Sierra’s hands. “Let me do it. You can eat and get ready for work.”

Sierra was stunned for a moment as she watched her friend drying her hair.

“I forgot to tell you, but I’ve made an appointment with the doctor to start your pregnancy program. We’ll begin next week if that’s okay with you.”

Sierra felt a heavy weight on her mind as she heard Callie’s words.

If only she knew...

Sierra nodded. “Whatever you think is best. I just want my money so I can finally be free of my father’s damn debts,” she replied calmly.

“I’m sorry for making you go through this, Sierra.” Callie’s voice was filled with genuine regret, and Sierra knew she meant it.

“No problem. We need each other. I need the money, and you need a baby. What’s wrong with helping each other?” Sierra reached out and squeezed Callie’s hand on her shoulder.

“You right.” She said while smiling, “Hurry up. You said you were running late,” Callie said when helping pack Sierra’s laptop into her bag and filling a water bottle, just as Sierra usually did before leaving for work. “Axton is waiting in his car. You should go with him so you’re not late.”

“What? I can go on my own; there’s no need to bother him,” Sierra replied quickly.

“Of course not,” Callie smiled. “You’re his secretary, and you two always work together. I thought it wouldn’t be a problem if you went together, right?”

It shouldn’t be a problem. In any other circumstance, there would be nothing wrong with sharing a ride with her friend’s husband. But under the current situation, neither Sierra nor Axton would enjoy the awkwardness of sitting together in the same car.

Since they worked at the same company, there was nothing wrong with riding to work with her best friend’s husband. The real issue was the fact that she had slept with her best friend’s husband.

“You two… did it, didn’t you?” Callie asked, her eyes meeting Sierra’s. “You slept with him, right?”

Sierra froze in place, and she swore she saw a flood of emotions in Callie’s gaze—disappointment, pain, anger, and something else she couldn’t quite define.

Her friend was hurting. Her best friend was hurt by what Sierra and Axton had done in this room last night. Yet, Callie had walked into the room with breakfast and a bright smile, even helping her dry her hair as they often did together.

“I don’t know what to say to you,” Sierra whispered, bowing her head. “If this is uncomfortable for you, you can stop coming to my room, or… maybe it’s better if I move back to my own place?”

“No, don’t do that.” Callie shook her head. “Stay here, Sierra. I need you because you’re the only one who understands how I feel. And I need my husband by my side. So, stay here and do everything here. Yes, I’m hurt, but it won’t last long because I’ll have all the happiness in the world once you give birth to our baby.”

***

“She knows,” Sierra said quietly in the silence of the car driven by Axton.

Axton turned his head and frowned, “She knows what?” he asked.

Sierra shrugged briefly. She needed a little more time to find the right words to explain what had happened.

“She knows what happened between us last night.”

Axton took a deep breath. He said nothing and calmly continued driving the car. Of course, there was nothing he could say. What could he say? Should he regret what happened between them? Or should he apologize for putting Sierra in such an uncomfortable position?

Damn. Sierra was sure that she didn’t need an apology.

The problem was that there was no one to blame for what happened. Sierra did all of this according to their mutual agreement. No one forced her, but she didn’t do it willingly either.

The only issue was, why hadn’t everything gone according to their plan? It felt like this chaos wouldn’t have happened if she had only been the surrogate mother who needed to carry Axton and Callie’s child. She only needed to follow the procedure to be a surrogate. She would take a year off from work, disappear from her life for a while, and hide in Axton and Callie’s mansion. Nine months later, she would give birth, return the baby to its biological parents to raise, and she could return to her old life.

According to their agreement, she would receive a large sum of money that she could use to pay off her father’s debt. She would also be welcomed back to work at the company, or if she wanted to work elsewhere, Callie would help her find any job. She could still visit and meet their child occasionally if she wished. Of course, her identity would remain hidden, and no one would know that she was the surrogate mother of their child.

However, everything changed, and now she wasn’t just a surrogate mother but was asked actually to be the mother and then sell her child.

“I’ll get off here,” Sierra’s voice broke the silence between them as they neared the company. Not too close, though. If she walked, it would take her more than five minutes. But she didn’t mind because she didn’t want any of the office employees to see her arriving with their boss.

“This is still too far.”

“I’m getting off here, Axton,” Sierra turned her head and glared when she noticed Axton speeding up, making the distance to the office shorter. “Axton, what are you doing?”

“Get out here,” he stopped the car right in front of the lobby, where employees were bustling about, not wanting to be late for work.

No. Of course, he couldn’t do this.

“Could you turn the car around and drop me off where I asked? Don’t you see there are a lot of people here? And I swear they know this is your car,” she said, her voice panicked.

“Get out here, Sierra.”

“Are you crazy? This isn’t what we usually do whenever Callie forces me to go to work with you.”

“Yes, but things are different now.”

Sierra frowned. “What’s different? I know you’re pretending not to know, but you’ve heard all the rumors about me, right? They are calling me slut because they think I try to seduce you!”

Axton took a deep breath and now fully faced Sierra, who was still panicked in the passenger seat.

Damn. The look in his eyes made Sierra lower her gaze because she... couldn’t meet his eyes.

No, she couldn’t face him after what they did last night in her bed.

“Are you sure you can walk from there to here?”

“I do it every time I have to go with you. Have you forgotten?”

“Yes, but this morning is different.” Axton turned his face away so they were no longer facing each other. “You won’t be able to walk in this condition. I’m sure you’re in pain and uncomfortable, aren’t you?”

Sierra didn’t expect Axton to ask that question.

Now she was sure her face must be flushed with embarrassment.

“That’s none of your business. Just do what I told you. Before I enter the office, you’re not my boss, and I have the right to make decisions,” she said quietly.

“I’m not your boss,” Axton nodded. “But don’t you know that Callie found out because she saw how you were walking?”

“I’m leaving,” Sierra said without turning her head. She opened the car door and quickly walked out, trying to ignore the curious looks of a few people who saw her get out of Axton’s car.

Damn. It really hurt trying to walk normally in heels and her work skirt. Plus, she was trying her best so that no one would notice how she was walking.

Did she... really look different?

***

She thought nothing could be worse than facing her best friend, knowing that her husband had slept with her and that her best friend still insisted they come to work together.

Well, Sierra couldn’t count how many pairs of eyes were watching her when she entered the office after getting out of Axton’s car. Meanwhile, Axton had disappeared somewhere, probably parking his car himself instead of asking the valet, even though he usually didn’t bother going to the basement.

But compared to what she had faced earlier, this moment was the worst of her life, and she hated to admit that she didn’t know how long she would have to endure all of this.

“Stop yelling at me and leave. This is so embarrassing,” Sierra said softly, trying hard not to pay attention to the people openly watching her.

The three men standing in front of her didn’t care at all that what they were doing had drawn the attention of the other employees.

Of course, they didn’t care. The only thing they cared about was getting money from Sierra to pay off her father’s damn debt.

“If you don’t want this to happen, then pay your debt already, damn it! You’re making my job harder by coming all the way here to find you. Why don’t you just stay home?”

Sierra closed her eyes. She swore that many people saw her in trouble, but none of them took the initiative to help. Even the security guards were there, but they did nothing.

“Because you’ll always come and bother me like this.” Sierra looked up and continued to show her courage in front of the three men standing before her. “Don’t try to do something bad with my house. I’ll pay off the debt, but leave this place and stop harassing me here.”

“If you don’t pay your debt, we’ll seize and burn the house! Isn’t working at a big company enough to pay it off? You should sell yourself and make more money!”

God, Sierra didn’t know what to do.

This was all beyond her control. It was humiliating and painful.

She hated her life right now. But she couldn’t ignore the debt because she didn’t want them to do anything to her late mother’s house. Her mother had passed away long ago, but Sierra wanted to keep their memories alive in the house where she grew up.

“It’s not me who owes you, but I’ve already promised to pay everything. Isn’t that enough for you? So, leave now, and we’ll talk another time.”

“As a woman, I have to say you’re incredibly arrogant!” The man in front of her shot her a condescending look, but God, Sierra didn’t care. She had already received too many of those looks from people, and it made her sick. “Maybe you could make an offer with your body, and I’ll speak to my boss to give you more time—”

Sierra screamed when someone suddenly grabbed the man by the collar and began punching him wildly.

The two other men, seeing their friend being beaten up, quickly jumped in to help and threw punches back.

Sierra covered her mouth in shock, especially when she realized that Axton was the one being ganged up on by the thugs who had come to collect the debt.

“Help! Please help!” she screamed loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. A few employees tried to intervene and pull Axton away, but he was uncontrollable. He continued punching the man who had spoken so crudely to Sierra, even as the other two men punched him back.

Fortunately, the situation was broken up after security staff came to help.

Sierra covered her mouth again when she saw blood trickling from the corner of Axton’s lips. His face was a mess, and so were his tie and shirt.

The man looked... completely disheveled.

“Give me the bill for the debt she owes. I’ll pay it now. And if I hear you say anything disrespectful about her again, I’ll make sure you end up in jail or dead by my hands.”

Sierra was stunned by what Axton had just said.

“Deal with them and make sure they can’t enter this office again,” Axton ordered as he walked past the security guards.

Then, before anyone could react to what had just happened, Axton grabbed her hand and led her away from the crowd that had drawn the entire office's attention that morning.

Wait, he grabbed her hand?

Oh God, what was happening to her?