A Womb with a Name

OLIVIA’S POV

Jessica paced the space before me as we sat outside the conference room we had just vacated. 

I watched from the glass walls as father and son raised their voices at each other, unable to make sense of anything they were saying. 

Several thoughts swelled in my head at the same time. 

So this was why there hadn’t been any news about him since that accident. 

There were so many questions to be asked and answers to be sought. 

“What do you think they are arguing about in there?” I asked Jessica in a low tone, ignoring the mood that my decision to annul the contract I had just signed had brought on us. 

Her eyes darted to me, an incredulous look on her face. “What do you think they are arguing about?” she asked, throwing my question back to me rhetorically. 

I fixed my gaze on the shiny tiles beneath my feet. “I never wanted any of this,” I said softly. 

She sighed, then approached me, crouching to take my hand in hers. “You can still stop all of this, Olivia. You can’t go to jail because of that good-for-nothing. For a crime you didn’t even commit. This deal is the only thing that could save you from all of that.”

“I can’t get married to him,” I retorted, my lips curling as I gestured toward Mr. Monroe’s son. The one I was supposed to get married to. “And I am supposed to get pregnant for him. How are we supposed…” I swallowed the words before they slipped from my lips. “None of this makes sense.”

“It’s just for one year. Olivia!” Jessica bellowed, ignoring the stares of people walking past us. “365 days and it will be over,” she continued. “And at the end of it, you will have more than enough money to take care of your family, and your child would be the heir to the almighty Monroe family. Do you have any idea what this means for you?”

My expression remained impassive.

She threw her hands in the air, springing to her feet. She gripped her waist with one hand, her chin resting on the other. “I just wish I were the one this offer was made to,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “I wouldn’t even think twice before accepting it.”

“I…” I was about to respond when the conference door opened, with Ethan’s head popping from it. 

“Mr. Monroe will see you two now,” he informed us before returning to the room. 

I rose to my feet, my chest pounding harder than ever. 

Jessica let out a loud sigh, noticing my unease. “You know that I love you, Olivia,” she said softly.

I could sense an emotional blackmail brewing as she placed her hands on my shoulders and stared straight into my eyes. 

“Which is why I am going to tell you that if you let a deal like this pass you by, you would spend your entire life regretting it. That’s if you don’t spend a good part of that life rotting in prison.”

We walked into the conference room, my head barely held high as we sat back on the chairs we had vacated earlier. I glanced to where his son sat at the other side of the table, my gaze dropping as soon as our eyes met. 

Jason Monroe. My mind echoed softly, recalling the name I had seen throughout the pages of the contract. 

Mr. Monroe cleared his throat. “I believe you have had enough time to think this through,” he began. “Although we can’t retract the contract you have signed, we are willing to be lenient in our execution of the consequences.”

“Does this mean that you are dropping the charges against me?” I asked, speaking out of turn. 

Mr. Monroe’s dark eyes fell on me briefly before he continued speaking. “I have no intention to pursue that matter any longer.”

A sharp scoff escaped me. “So, if I get up and leave here, I will not be hunted by the police, even if I don’t agree to go on with this deal.” I needed more assurances. 

He waited a few seconds before he replied. “You have my word,” he replied weakly, looking exhausted by the argument with his son. “But you would have to pay the fine, as is stated in the contract you just signed,” he added, pressing his lips into a thin line.

My eyes shot wide. I turned to Jessica, and she looked as lost as I did. 

“What are you talking about?” I asked, still clearly confused. 

“Clause five of section four,” he said, gesturing to the file before me with a tilt of his neck. 

Jessica and I exchanged pensive glances, our hands reaching for the files before us at the same time. I flipped through the pages faster than I would. 

My heartbeat seized for more than a second as I reread the words on the page, sweat beads forming on my forehead despite the air conditioning in the room. 

How the hell did I miss this?

“The first party to terminate the contract before the due date would have to pay the sum of a million dollars to the other party before the contents of this contract would be annulled.”

I heard sparks go off in my head as I reread the sentence for what felt like the tenth time. 

Deadly sparks. 

My eyes fell to the end of the page, and there, in shining black ink, sat my very adorable signature.  

I could swear that I didn’t see this part of the contract the first time I read through this, but nothing I would say would make them believe that. 

There was no getting out of this for me, unless I had a stack of a million dollars saved somewhere.

My eyes found Jessica again, and once again, her face mirrored the same horrified look I had on my face. 

We should have come here with a lawyer, I quipped internally, filled with regret. 

“I… I…” I stuttered, the words clogging in my throat as I tried to get them out. “I didn’t see this part of the contract when I signed this,” I told them, hoping this truth would set me free. 

Jason snorted. He must now think that I am stupid… and probably miserable. 

Mr. Monroe rolled his shoulders, casually resting his back on his chair as he held my gaze. “There is nothing I can do about it, Miss Carter,” he told me, even though I knew that was bullshit. “You signed the contract, or isn’t that your signature at the end of the paper?”

I couldn’t argue that this signature was forged because I did sign it, and with my eyes fixed on them the entire time Jessica and I were outside, there was no way they would have slipped a document into our files. 

How did I miss a vital detail like this? I asked myself, berating myself for being that careless. 

I turned to Jessica for help, but she was as confused as I was.

“You can’t make me do this!” I cried, a few drops of tears falling to my cheeks. “Where do you expect me to get a million dollars from?” I asked, my voice cracking badly and betraying the stance I was trying to keep. 

He shrugged, pouting, his palms pressed against each other. “There is always another way around this,” he told me. 

I noticed the death glare his son gave him when he said those words. I doubt that he wanted anything to do with this as well. 

“If you go ahead with the contract, you don’t have to pay the fine. And you still get to enjoy the benefits mentioned in the contract.”

Jason’s jaw clenched as more words rolled out his father’s mouth. 

“And what about the part of getting pregnant?” I pointed out. 

Confusion flashed through his face briefly. “I am not sure I understand you,” Mr. Monroe stated, brows furrowing.  

“How is this even supposed to work?” I began. “If his legs don’t work, how do I know that the rest of him does?” 

The room grew cold with crippling silence, and the next thing I heard was a jabbing laughter from Jason before his father’s stern eyes cut him off from his amusement. 

Jessica shifted uncomfortably beside me, and all I wanted at that moment was for the ground to open up and swallow me up. 

The awkward silence returned before Mr. Morgan broke it by clearing his throat. 

“There was never a plan for that route to be taken for the desired outcome to be achieved,” he said, my brows creasing as my confusion deepened. 

Mr. Morgan leaned forward, his arms resting on the table as his palms rubbed against each other. 

“We live in a world with enough technology, and I am certain you are aware that there are more ways than one to achieve childbirth now.” He glanced at his lawyer before returning to face me. “We already have everything planned out. More information about this would be revealed as time progresses.”

I scoffed at the sound of that. 

This is what happens when you negotiate with powerful men without a lawyer. 

And to think that I thought that this child would be mine.

“But as I had earlier promised,” he continued, as if reading my thoughts. “Irrespective of the means used to achieve this outcome. We don’t plan to sideline you from the child’s upbringing.” He paused, probably to consider his next words. “I understand the role of a parent in a child's growth, and for that, we have agreed to actively involve you in the child’s life.”

I exhaled, the weight of everything he had said settling heavily on me. 

“So, you don’t just want a wife,” I said, staring straight at Mr. Monroe. “You want a vessel for your child. A womb with a name.” The muscle in his jaw tightened. “And you think I would agree to that?”