4. SIGNED DEAL

Emery was strutting around the hospital's gate, with her tote bag swirling in her hands. She veered around to see a car approaching her, she waited for the car to come to a halt. The driver opened the door and stepped out.

Striding towards her, she recognized him. He was the man from last night, Benhail! Her subconscious screamed as he pulled out his phone to dial her number.

"I am here," she shrieked, wriggling her hand in the air. "You don't have to call me." 

Benhail bounced his head when he sighted her, "Good morning," his voice was deeper and even sexier than last night. It took all the resilience in her to stop her knees from getting too weak and drooping at his feet.

"Morning," she stretched out her hand to shake him as a form of deference but he looked at her small palms and did nothing. "Oh that, my palm just likes to stretch out like this. You know?" She demonstrated, concealing her chagrin.

"Are you ready to go?" Benhail queried.

"Oh sure, yes I am." She nodded her head in avowal.

"Get in," he said, walking into the car.

Emery glared at him when he commanded her, she wanted to stay back but didn't have a choice than to do what he said.

"At least be nice," she rolled her eyes as she walked towards the car. "I know I need your money but try to treat me nicely." She slipped into the passenger's seat and clasped the seatbelt. "So, where are we going?" She inquired.

"My house, I have called my lawyer over too. He will be in my place as soon as I get home. So, what did you decide and why did you change your mind?" He kicked the car, scanning through the rearview mirror for a clear road before zooming off.

"I need the money so badly, I have to take care of some things that are important, and besides, I thought about this—" She drawled, staring back at him.

"What?" His eyebrows quirked.

"That I don't have to sleep with you to bear your child which is a great advantage since what you want is just a surrogate mother." She smiled slyly. "And a year of my life? I'm ready to give that away to save my…" She hesitated, thankful she hadn't leaked too much about her.

"I want to sleep with you," Benhail said bluntly, making a turn to the road that led to his mansion.

"You what?" She rolled her eyes scornfully. "Haven't you heard of sperm insemination methods? You can inject your sperm into my system, you don't have to sleep with me." Emery rolled her fists into a ball, clenching her jaw hard, she glared at him.

"You offered to sleep with me at the clubhouse, remember?" He looked at her, their eyes holding each other's gazes for a split second.

"Did I?" She fluttered her eyes shut. Cradling the back of her head she asked, "So, you mean this surrogacy will be about you sleeping with me?"

"Yes, I want to get you pregnant myself. So, are you still down for it?" He peeked over his shoulder to have a glimpse of her face. She said nothing, just deep in thought, he didn't force the words from her, he let her think about it until they got to his house. "Do you still want to do this?" He looked into her eyes.

Emery was confused, she had gone to the club that night to sleep with a man to raise some money but unfortunately, none of them picked her up. But if someone had she would probably not be a virgin anymore.

Now she was faced with losing her virginity to Benhail for a whopping three hundred thousand dollars, carrying his baby for nine months, and breastfeeding the child for three months later. After which she would go and never see her baby anymore. It wasn't worth it but she had to save her sister from dying and that seemed like the fastest way to go about it; she needed so much money.

She chuckled nervously, "Yes, I will. I want to do this." She said nattily. "Let's go in."

"Sure?" He asked, exchanging a glance with her, she tried to read his emotions but his green eyes were too dark to make out anything.

"Yeah, sure." She unbuckled the seatbelt and got out of the car.

She studied his mansion properly this time; it was massive and decorated with an orchard. There were about seven cars parked in the garage as they got out of the car; all black cars but of different brands. They walked toward the entrance with him taking the lead, they got in and the lawyer was already seated on one of the sofas that were sparsely arranged across the living room.

He rose on his feet to exchange pleasantries with Benhail as soon as he saw him coming into the house. Emery looked at Barrister Liam, he was so tall and handsome, she secretly admired his sexy wiry figure in black trousers and wine-colored tuxedo.

"Hey," Liam waved to acknowledge her presence.

"Hi, I'm Emery." She introduced herself to him, squinting her grey orbs in excitement.

"Barrister Liam," his soft voice soothed her ears; he was her type of man—tall, handsome and gentle.

"Nice," she sat close to Benhail, her eyes ogling the living room.

"I have reached a compromise with her and I called you over to be a witness to this." Benhail started, "Can I see a copy of the drafted contract?" He asked Liam.

"Sure," Liam provided him with it.

 He took the copy from him, smiled while skimming through it, and handed it to Emery. "Read out please,"

Emery grabbed the file from him  and broadened her eyes. "A twelve months deal," she cleared her throat, exchanging a glance with Liam and Benhail.

"I hereby agree to be Benhail Gunther's surrogate mother for a year, I will carry his child for nine months and breastfeed the baby three months after. I will be paid half of the money agreed on as soon as I sign the contract with him and the payment will be completed as soon as I get pregnant." She heaved a sigh, turning her head to look at Benhail.

"Continue," he encouraged her with his fingers.

"I have no right to come back for the baby after the contract is over. I will live in Benhail's house for a year and he will make sure I am properly taken care of to make the baby healthy." She stopped, gently ruffling the sheet of paper in her hand. "Stay in your house for a year?" She glared at Benhail.

"Yes, you have to be under my watch since you will be carrying my child." He said with a shrug. "Do you have problems with that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes on her.

Of course, there is a big problem with that. She wanted to yell out but quickly concealed it with a smile. "No, there is no problem." She fibbed. "It's totally fine with me." 

"Read on," he waved his hand at her.

"Is there still something else to read?" She turned the sheet over. "What?" She widened her eyes when she saw the other terms she had to read. "Could you please summarize this?" She gave the file back to Liam.

"It's fine," Liam took the file and read out the rules. "You have to stay faithful while carrying his child, do not cheat, take good care of yourself, eat healthily, and comply with everything the doctors will tell you to do while you are pregnant with the baby. You are not allowed to breach the contract by running away or doing anything that will make you disappear and more importantly, you are not allowed to harbor feelings for each other. This is strictly business." Emery grimaced when he mentioned that. She was never going to like Benhail, not with his cold attitude.

 She admired Liam as he continued to read out the terms to her, she barely heard what he was reading now, her eyes were on his lips and she wondered how soft they were. With a smile on her face, she imagined how lovely it would be to crash her lips on his.

"I hope you're listening to him," Benhail scoffed when he noticed how flirtatiously she was staring at Liam.

"Of course, I understand what you want. So, is that all?" She asked, sad that she won't hear that sweet voice of Liam anymore.

"Yeah," he answered her.

"Is there something you don't understand or agree with?" Benhail asked her.

She didn't get some of the terms right but she didn't want to waste more time. "There is nothing." She lied again. "Where am I signing?" She looked at him.

Liam stopped when the list was over, he brought out a new file from the portfolio. Walking closer to Benhail, he let him sign and when he got to Emery, she smiled, took the pen from him, and winked at him.

"Sign here please," Liam pointed to the file. She did and gave the pen back to him. "That will be all for now." He walked back to where Benhail was seated and shook his hands. "I will send copies of your documents to you two." He shoved the file back into the portfolio and grabbed his suitcase.

"Thank you, Liam. I will give you a call." Benhail said. Liam nodded his head, waved at Emery, and dashed out of the living room.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Benhail asked when Liam was out.

"No, I don't. Why did you ask?" She avoided his gaze. She didn't want to think about the bastard who broke her heart, he was dead to her for all she cared.

"I feel it's best if I know some things about you before we start. Come over here," he gestured to her, tapping the sofa next to him.

"What?" Did she blink her eyes, was he about to have sex with her in the living room? She straightened out of the sofa and walked toward him.

"Here, could you enter your account details?" He gave his phone to her when she was settled on the couch. She smiled as she input her details.

He clicked on some things and locked the phone after that. "Confirm the payment please."

She rummaged through her bag for her phone, it was beaming with lights when she got a hold of it.

She checked the screen to confirm the alert. "Two hundred thousand dollars?" She yelled, she had never owned money that big.

"Yes, I added fifty thousand dollars to get you a few things you might need. Don't worry about our agreement, it still stands." He assured her.

"Yes, thank you so much." She didn't thank him because she was happy with what she was about to do. But she was just so happy her sister would have a chance to live again. She sighed and thought of Amery. She wasn't sure how she would tell her about her deal with Benhail but she hoped she would understand when she broke the news to her. And Lola, her best friend, would chop off her head if she found out what she just signed to, but she had to do it.

"When are you moving in?" He suddenly asked, jolting her out of her trance.

She fiddled with her fingers, reality dawning on her, "When do you want me to move in?" She asked, staring into his green eyes, the brightest green eyes she had seen all her life.

"Soon, as soon as possible. I have everything already prepared for you in the house." Benhail told her, his eyes not leaving her.

Emery shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, she bobbed her head and looked at him. "I will move in soon. Ermm, about the sex, you didn't include it in the contract."

"Yeah, it's going to be our personal affair. It should be kept between us and everything is just going to be fine since you've agreed to what I want from you." Benhail moved his eyes away from her. 

"Yes, it will be fine," Emery muttered with uncertainty laced in her voice and countenance. She wasn't sure if it was going to be fine, she didn't know how it would turn out to be, but saying those words made her feel better and she wanted to feel that way before the nightmare of living with Benhail started.