Chapter 6 Which Offer You Prefer?

I waved my phone. “I still don’t have a signal. But I can guess. He’s young, so he probably made his money in a Ponzi scheme like crypto, or NFTs. Or maybe he’s the son of an oil baron inherited all his money. Either way, he’s not someone I want to be involved with. And definitely not someone whose child I want to carry—no matter how I’m impregnated.”

For a while the only sound was the dim hum of the engine. Andre stared at me calmly.

“Do you want to know the answer,” he asked, “or are you happy with your assumptions?”

I shrugged. “You can say whatever you want. It won’t change my mind.”

“Mr. Soriano didn’t come from wealth. He got a full ride school scholarship to play basketball. He triple-majored in Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, and European History. While at school, he founded his first tech company something to do with efficient data encryption. He sold the company to G****e before his senior year. Then he took that money and spent two years developing a more efficient way to capture carbon emissions from coal and natural gas power plants.”

I barked a laugh. “So he’s helping keep the fossil fuel industry afloat by capturing a tiny fraction of their emissions to make it look like they care about the environment? That’s not exactly something to brag about.”

“Mr. Soriano thought so, too,” Andre replied smoothly. “After selling out to Big Oil, he spent the next four years developing a lithium-alloy battery for electric vehicles, more dense than anything else on the market. He sold his battery tech to the big three auto manufacturers, then developed another battery that was cheaper and even more efficient. But instead of selling this new tech, he promptly made the patent public for anyone to develop. That battery is now used in every electric vehicle in the world. Well, except in India. They have their own proprietary tech they’re using for some reason.”

“I…” I made myself shrug. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure he has skeletons in his closet. Everyone with this much wealth does.”

Andre shrugged again. “If you say so there are a lot of closets on this boat.”

He chuckled at the joke. I didn’t acknowledge it.

My phone abruptly chirped with a flurry of messages. I had signal again.

Mom: I’m worried about you, Mel. I don’t like you jumping into things like this. You’re too impulsive.

Mom: And now you’re not responding.

Mom: I’m going to call the police.

Mom: Seriously, I’ll call them. I don’t want to be that woman on the evening news who says she could have done more.

Me: I’m fine! It’s only been thirty minutes.

Mom: Thirty VERY LONG minutes. You know how I worry.

Me: Yes, I do. You can stop worrying now. Everything is good. I’m on my way home. I’ll check-in when I land.

The idea of going home filled me with disappointment, but I ignored it and checked the next text.

Sarah: Hi Melissa, this is Sarah Palencia from the agency. I just wanted to reach out to you about your meeting today! I’m thrilled Mr. Soriano selected you from the database. He’s been with us for over a year, and you’re the first candidate he was satisfied with. Rumor has it he is willing to offer more than the standard contract, too. You’re so lucky! Let me know if you have any questions about anything, or if I can help you along with the process. We have a lawyer on retainer who would be more than happy to go over the paperwork with you. We want to make sure both our surrogates and our clients are 100% satisfied with their partnership!

Me: Thanks Sarah, I’ll let you know if I need anything.

I frowned at the text. I wondered if Sarah knew about Mr. Soriano’s special offer. Probably not. It was tempting to notify her about it, despite the NDA I had signed. The surrogate agency was probably exempt from that.

When I glanced up, I saw Andre giving me a boyish smile. Like he knew what the text message from Sarah said.

I frowned harder and Googled Joemar Soriano. I quickly realized that everything Andre said was true. Joemar grew up in a small nipa hut, and learned to play basketball from his neighbors. He was a basketball maniac, graduating in only three years despite the workload from his triple major and athletic requirements. He set the school single-season scoring record, and would have broken the all-time school record if he had remained at school for the fourth year.

I skipped all the info about his first company and the sale to G****e and went straight to the carbon capturing technology. Sure enough, he pissed off several coal companies when he used the money from the sale to develop electric vehicle batteries, so much so that the Governor of Quezon City, Metro Manila issued a statement saying that Mr. Soriano was not welcome in the place.

Beyond that, he was involved in dozens of charities. The G****e Image tab was full of photos of Soriano holding giant checks for Doctors Without Borders, Project Smile, The Free Water Project, The San Miguel Corporation and countless more. On the G****e News tab, there were hundreds of articles written about him. Many journalists called him a real-life Tony Stark. Dolly Parton, who worked with him on a number of charities, was quoted as saying, “Oh I just love Soriano to death, even though he keeps declining my marriage proposals.” A quote from a New politician stuck out to me: “Joemar Soriano is the only moral billionaire on earth.”

Realizing that my jaw was hanging open, I closed it and kept reading.

Andre answered a phone call. “Yeah, we’re still in the air. Yes. That’s correct. Okay.” He chuckled. “She’s fine. I think she’s Googling you right now.”

 “No I’m not,” I lied.

Andre listened to the call for a few more seconds, then covered the phone with his palm. “Mr. Soriano would like you to know he’s doubling the offer.”

I gave a start. “Which offer?”

“Both.”

I started to laugh, but Andre’s dark eyes were boring into me. He was serious.

Glancing out the window at the blue water, I allowed myself to think about the offers again. That much money—even from the first contract—would be life-changing. That capital would allow me to start my own company, hiring additional help right out of the gate. I would be able to put the Ross Company out of business in months, not years.

Now that the helicopter was flying north toward Palawan Island, it felt like a massive opportunity was slipping through my fingers; the kind of opportunity that only came once, if it ever came at all.

“He’s waiting for your answer,” Andre said. “I don’t want to rush you, but Mr. Soriano’s time is extremely valuable.”

“I’m sure it is,” I muttered, staring out the window again. The Palawan Island shore appeared in the distance, leading into the mouth of the River. In a few minutes, I would be back in my car and driving home.

But driving home to what?

“Ms. Villar?” Andre said politely. “Melissa?”

“Okay,” I said, leaning into the fear I felt. “I’ll accept his offer.”

Andre looked relieved. “Which offer?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

And that was the honest truth: I had no idea what I was going to do.

XXX