4. Transitions, rules and confessions

Ayden had spoken to her lawyer about going through the whole surrogacy process. Never in her life had she imagined that she would have to do something like this to get the family business. The only thing she was missing and not proud of was having to explain to her father.

“Good morning, father,” he greeted as he entered his office.

Gerard Emory, was already waiting, sitting in front of his desk with a cigar in his mouth and a cup of coffee in his hand.

“What's good? Can't you see the fucking weather?” He points to the gray sky from his office. I didn't expect it to be sunny, but at least it wasn't cloudy.

“Have you been watching the weather again?” asks Ayden, sitting down across from him.

“What I see or don't see is of no importance to you, you know what does matter?”

Ayden would like to roll his eyes at his father's comment and question, but he holds back. Doing something like that would mean a reprimand. Gerard was very strict with his children and whoever else.

“May the Yankees win?” he inquires sarcastically.

“As I was telling you” his father continues to comment, ignoring his question. “The most important thing is that you decide to give me a grandson, an heir, someone who will take responsibility for the legacy that I have built with so much effort. Otherwise… you know I wouldn't leave the company to you. I'd rather leave it to your brother, even if that means I'd destine it to failure.”

“You'd rather destroy the family legacy than give me what's rightfully mine?”

His father sips his coffee, turns in his chair, and looks up at the gray sky that lies settled over the big apple.

“It's never been about whether I build or destroy, at the end of the day, this is mine and if I want to die taking it all to my grave, I will” suggests the old man making Ayden indignant.

“I know, for you, a grandchild would be just another transaction.”

Gerard laughs at how he can and walks over to the window.

“I'll give you a month, if in a month you don't give me a grandchild, forget about the company. But at the rate you're going, I feel you'll need more time.”

“Oh, father…” scoffs Ayden. “Private things, I like them to be that way, private.”

Ayden stands up and walks to his father standing next to him as they both look out the window.

“I have a girlfriend” Ayden confesses, making Gerard smile sideways. “Only she's not a transaction you can play with, that's why I haven't introduced her to you.”

“Okay, I'll pretend to believe you. Bring her home for dinner tomorrow, you know, it'll be a family thing” Gerard invites sucking on his cigar. “If it's true, I'll see for myself.”

“Okay, is seven o'clock good for you?” inquires Ayden without looking at him.

Together, but without resisting the glances.

“Okay.”

Gerard has no more to say, and his son knows it, so he just tosses out a terse “Goodbye” and leaves.

Ayden hurriedly walks out of the building and once he's outside calls his lawyer to press him on the paperwork. After that call, he dials Arya, but she doesn't answer, so he decides to leave a message.

☆ﾟ･*:.˛˚ღღﾟ~εïз~ ღღﾟ･*:｡.｡.･*.☆

Ayden_3:48 pm.

Family dinner tomorrow at my father's house. Call me. Urgent.

When Arya reads the message from her -partner-, as she has tried to tell him mentally, for they will both procreate a child, her heart stops. So, she leaves her mother's room and calls immediately. It's been two hours since he had sent her that message.

“Hello?” he greets when he hears them pick up the call.

“Are you still at the hospital?” asks Ayden without greeting her.

“Yes, my mother…”

“I'm just at reception” she hangs up.

Is she here? The young woman wonders mentally. Her hands sweat and she feels shaky.

Ayden's presence looms large, and she can't help but notice that he's very attractive, so that complicates everything.

She leaves her mother's room and walks down to reception, as she exits the elevator she sees him standing there leaning against the white wall, wearing his dark gray suit, reading glasses that look very sexy on him and his phone in hand.

“Hello” Arya greets, but he doesn't.

“I've come for you” Ayden warns.

“I thought I'd have more time, my mom is barely recovering…”

“Do you already know who will take care of her, or do you need us to send her somewhere special?”

Arya feels conflicted because at no point did she think about that.

“No… we really only have one aunt, but I don't know if she can take care of her.”

“Then we send her to a nursing home, until she recovers one hundred percent, and then we'll see what we do” she explains without any empathetic tone. “Say goodbye, tell her you're going out of town on your trip, that exchange trip, that she'll be fine and that you left everything ready in a safe place for her to recover. Assure him that a woman will come to explain everything, Daniel will send his right-hand man to do all the paperwork, and you won't have to get involved.”

Arya looks at him in wonder and at the same time aghast, how is he going to leave her mother alone for so long?

“Okay, I'll be right back,” he says and turns, but Ayden stops him by the arm.

Her touch makes him feel a jolt of electricity, he realizes his mistake and that he has touched her without thinking. Immediately, he releases her and looks at her with annoyance.

“Don't be long, we're leaving in ten minutes. I'll see you outside.”

Arya hurriedly walks to her mother while Ayden leaves to wash her hand. The touch wasn't intentional, he just didn't want her to leave without him being able to warn her that they had to leave quickly.

A storm was about to start, and they were to helicopter back to New York.

Arya, with a broken heart, says goodbye to her mother who lies half lucid from the medicines, she does not fully understand what her daughter says, but she manages to understand a few words, travel, study, care, nursing home, lawyer. With a kiss on her mother's forehead, she leaves after hearing her mother murmur “take care”.

She climbs into Ayden's car, which lies parked outside as promised.

“I have to go home for a couple of things,” she informs him, trying to tell him which way to drive.

“It is something I could buy you new,” he asks, taking the main avenue.

Arya feels a punch in the gut because yes, it is something he could buy new. So with a single grimace, she nods.

“You'll get everything you need, but we must return today,” he says urgently.

As planned, they both board his company's helicopter and fly to his building in New York. For Arya, the experience was totally new and exciting, but Ayden's coolness left her little to admire.

She was engulfed in sadness once they landed at the building.

“Well, here I am,” Arya commented as they entered the millionaire's apartment. “You ran me out of town as a thief, and now you're locking me up in your mansion.”

Her tone is not pleasant at all, and Ayden notices.

“I didn't take you out of your city as a thief, you came voluntarily and if you don't like it, you still have time to leave.” He points to the door, but he knows she won't leave, just as he knows he won't get someone so easily to be his son's surrogate mother.

Arya lowers her head in resignation.

“Here, read this” he hands her an envelope with a contract inside. “And come, I'll take you to your room. There you will have everything you need, and you will be comfortable, the kitchen is there,” he points to the other side of the room. “You can take whatever you like, there's a directory, money on the table if you want to eat something. I have a meeting, when I get back, we'll talk.”

“Wait,” she asks when she sees him retrace his steps towards the exit, “you told me we had dinner with your father.”

“Tomorrow at seven o'clock at his house, you'll be my girlfriend” he declares.

“What do you mean I'll be your girlfriend,” she looks at Ayden confused.

“You will pretend to be my girlfriend, and I hope everything goes well, that's what this whole… theater depends on.”

Ayden leaves, leaving Arya standing alone in that big apartment.

An hour ago she was next to her mother, today, she lies sitting on the floor of a place that isn't hers, hungry, thinking about how she's going to pretend she will be a millionaire's girlfriend when she's never had a boyfriend and to top it off reading all the rules Ayden has imposed on her.

“Fuck him!” Arya throws the contract away along with all the pages of absurd rules written by god knows who.

She grabs the money from the kitchen counter and goes outside to get some fresh air. She feels suffocated, worried and distressed because she doesn't know if she can fake it well. Being a surrogate mother is one thing, being a surrogate mother and lying girlfriend of the father of your future child, but who will not be yours, is another.

The doorbell in her back pocket keeps ringing.

Arya purposely ignores it the first five times, but when she realizes it won't stop, she responds.

“Where the fuck are you, Arya Harley!” yells Ayden through the cell phone.

“Ah yes, hello future mother of my unborn child, how was your day, did you have a hard time giving up your whole life, did you eat anything,” she comments sarcastically.

Ayden takes a deep breath, he knows he's been a bastard, but he also knows she has something that throws him off.

“Where are you,” he asks again, but more calmly.

“Up your fucking building and knocking on your door,” she hangs up.

The doorbell rings and he immediately opens it. He's about to launch into a scream, but she stops him with a disapproving gesture.

“I just wanted some air, this isn't easy, and I hope you understand” she explains, dropping the sarcastic tone.

“Okay, but you could have warned” he suggests with annoyance, but trying to moderate it.

“I know, but this is beyond me.” Arya walks to the living room and takes the contract in her hands. “I'll sign, but there are things we need to change. How come I can't eat anything after eight o'clock at night? Don't you think that's absurd? Or how come I can't walk barefoot? Do you think I'm a girl? And about pretending to be your girlfriend, don't you think it's premature? You barely even know my name.”

Ayden looks at her pityingly, she really does look distressed.

“Okay, point out what you think, we should change, but the pretending, being my girlfriend thing is not optional” he adds firmly.

“Ok… I'm going to bed,” she says, still holding the contract in her hands. “At least I know your name is Ayden Emory and that you live down Fifth Avenue.”

Arya walks sadly towards the stairs to go to her room, but Ayden's voice stops her.

“Your name is Arya Harley, your parents are Jeffrey and Mirella Harley, you were born in Omaha twenty-two years ago on August 12, 1999. You have a brother who goes by Jeff. You study medicine, and you are one of the best in your class, you have always excelled in your academic grades and that is why you got a scholarship, but your brother stole it because he is a mobster. Your mother has cancer and is sick at heart, your father is a gambler, and you have taken care of your mother for these past four years.”

The young woman gasps as she hears this. He feels proud, for he has done his homework well.

“You don't need to know more about me, my knowing about you is enough for my father to believe it,” Ayden says in a haughty tone.

“You failed to add something,” suggests Arya.

“What?” he asks curiously.

“That I'm a virgin, I'm a Leo, I broke my arm when I was eight, and I've never had a boyfriend.”

Such a revelation now leaves Ayden unsettled, not because he is a Leo sign or because he broke his arm, but because he is a virgin… meaning he has never had a partner.

“How is she supposed to pretend to be my girlfriend if she's never had a boyfriend?” Ayden wonders, watching her walk away with fear in her eyes.

She is scared about the dinner with her father, sad about leaving her mother and embarrassed as she has had to say something that maybe she would rather not say and felt compelled to.

“Ayden thinks, "Damn Gerard and his family dinner." He is sitting on the floor of her giant apartment.