The Married Billionaire’s Surrogate

She had left the window open and just when sleep cloaked her, a shiver lifted all the hairs on her body. Yawning irritatingly, she shut it, but after a while of turning in the bed and crumpling her sheets, she gave up and accepted that the dream wouldn’t come so fast. With the shawl draped over her shoulders, she silently left the house and headed down the road.

She doubted that it was from the pregnancy, but suddenly Alicia felt that she became more and more aware of the things around her. Her ears picked up a lonely mystical song of owls. Her eyes almost momentarily adjusted to the darkness. Her feet took her lightly across the crooked path. Her fingertips detected a wetness in the plants she caressed while walking. The night was beautiful. Oh, my, it was.

Thousands and millions of stars were glowing above her, reminding her of how small she was and how far away in space and time there was life and light. Enough light to warm all the coldness in the world. Unbelievably she got emotional as a tear spilled from her eyes involuntarily. She let it flow down her face, appreciating the ability to sense the depth in the things surrounding her and giving way before her strong feelings. If the baby was doing all of that, then she was blessed more than she expected.

The path turned into a faint line with shrubbery on both sides and she at once realized that her night trip had got her further than she usually went. This was a part, the owners of the mansions assigned as the small forest and park for protecting their privacy and anonymity, in the same time serving as their picnic and past time place. Hugging herself she stepped between the trees, letting the moon light her way and the grass needles massage her soles. She even took off her shoes and carried them in her hands.

A hard wind started blowing. “Oh, it’s much colder than I thought it would be,” she said aloud, wrapping the shawl around her tightly and slipping her feet back inside the shoes. And then she saw a silhouette with eyes as black as the darkest night, gluttony and aggressiveness embedded in the irises. Alicia blinked not fathoming what was happening to her. Before she could move, he came closer.

“What’s such a pretty girl doing around here in the dead of night?”

“I-I-I,” she couldn’t find her words. They seemed stuck in her throat. “I am going home. I live here.”

“Oh, love,” he said revealing huge yellow teeth; his breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. His face was dark and repulsive with dark bags under the eyes and the flesh su*ked deep into his skull. “The likes of you, girl, don’t live here and they certainly don’t go home by this path.” He placed his hands on her shoulders as his look fell on her body.

“What are you doing?” Alicia snapped and took a few steps back.

“A stubborn one, aye! It makes no difference to me,” he said scratching his unshaved cheeks.

She turned back and ran as fast as her feet could carry her before the creepy drunk man could put his hands on her. From behind, she heard his fast footsteps. He was chasing her, she realized, and he wasn’t going to give up easily. She turned left a few times, then right in hopes that she would find the street again but in vain. She had gone too far inside that she couldn’t find the way out of the forest.

“Help!” She screamed. “Help me! Someone please help me!”

Her heart was pounding in her chest as if it would go out and she was running out of breath, her lungs failing her. She had to stop. She had to stop soon or she would faint. Either way she was doomed because stopping meant giving herself on a silver platter.

Desperately trying to inhale as much breath as possible, she managed to crouch behind a bush and hide for a mere moment. It was enough for gaining a small amount of force though and she once again sprinted in an unknown direction away from the wino, away from the predator. Running, running, running, she felt her feet not touching the ground, yet the mixed sounds behind her increased making her head buzz and threatening to explode. “Help!” She shouted desperately again as her head tilted a bit to the back only to see him now joined by fellow other men following her every move, her every change in direction, every twitch of her muscles.

Suddenly her knees gave way. She was forced to cease running and rest her back against a tree. It did not matter if they would stop right there and have their way with her. It did not matter what would happen to her. It wasn’t as if she could do anything about it. However, the child… How could she surrender with a baby inside her stomach that would, in a few months, kick and listen and then live?

“I can’t,” she weakly spoke through pursed lips and pressed her hands tightly to her still flat stomach. She closed her eyes, the adrenaline pulsing in her blood. It made her oblivious of all the scratches on her arms and a pretty bad one on the leg.

The men were above her. She counted five of them and now they surrounded her in a circle, making it impossible for her to escape.

“Where’re you going to run now, bi*ch?” The first man said and came closer. She could smell death on their lips, the thirst for a woman’s touch evaporating from their nostrils.

And then a man appeared from nowhere. He moved like a shadow in the forest kicking and beating the men who wanted her. He hit a man in the chin, who fell and pulled another with him onto the ground. After several blows in the stomach and in their crotches and faces, he finally came to the one who started it all.

“What do you want from my woman, you scum?” His voice was deep and gladly so familiar to Alicia.

Steven punched the wino square in the face. He did it again and again until she saw his knuckles were all red and blood was dripping from the wino’s lip.

“Run, Alicia,” he said and once she saw him, Alicia found strength in herself she didn’t think possessed. She sprinted for the house when the scene before her eyes was slowly blurring and mixing and she sensed the feet beneath her turn into water. They finally surrendered and Alicia collapsed on the muddy ground.

Who knew how much time had elapsed when the utter blackness turned into the familiar surroundings of the living room in the mansion and Alicia was roused back into consciousness. Only this time the worried face of the one she loved most appeared before her and she sighed in relief. When Steven was there, she could endure absolutely everything.

“How are you, Alicia?” Someone spoke from behind him and her weak smile shattered in pieces. It was Elizabeth in her night gown, holding a glass of water.

“F-fine, madam.” She mustered some strength to say.

“Here, take this.” Steven helped her lift her head a bit and gulp from the water. There was a deep crease on Steven’s face, right between the two eyebrows, which she had never seen before. Was the situation serious? What was happening, people?

“Thank you.” Alicia felt her lips dry and unable to separate. She was exhausted beyond imagination, her muscles still trembling from fear and nervousness. Noticing that, Steven pulled the blanket up to her neck and reassuringly fondled her shoulder. His eyes spoke more than his mouth could, having in mind Elizabeth’s presence, telling her that it would all be all right. And she believed him. She always did.

“Alicia, why?” Elizabeth began, but Steven interrupted her, standing up from the couch.

“Elizabeth, now it is definitely not the time for that. Leave the girl to rest,” he confronted Elizabeth.

“No, don’t get me wrong, Steven. I was just going to ask, because we have to know,” Elizabeth told Steven and turned to Alicia, “Alicia, why didn’t you tell us that you were pregnant?”