Chapter 2: The Perfect Betrayal

A surrogate?

“What… what are you talking about?” The words barely escaped Arabella’s lips as confusion clouded her features.

This could not be happening. Three years of marriage to Everett. Three years of what she believed was love, devotion, and a shared future. Never once had he mentioned surrogacy. Not even a hint. She lifted her eyes to meet his, desperately searching for proof that this was all a terrible misunderstanding.

But Everett would not even look at her.

His attention was fully absorbed by Lillian. The two of them stood together, acting as though Arabella had simply ceased to exist.

The realization struck her.

She had just given birth for a monster.

How had she been so blind? How had he worn his mask so flawlessly?

The door opened again, and Arabella’s breath caught in her throat. Faces she had sworn she would never see again, not after burying her mother, walked into the room.

Her father, Richard, entered first, his expression smug. Behind him came Patricia, her stepmother, and Vanessa, her stepsister.

Patricia had never smiled warmly at her. Not once in all the years she had been part of their family. But now all three of them wore wide grins, as if they had just hit the jackpot.

“Good, you’re awake,” Richard said, casually straightening his already perfect suit. “We’ve come to tie up loose ends.”

Arabella frowned. “Tie up… what loose ends?”

Everett stepped closer, and Arabella instinctively shifted back.

“Lillian and I have been together for five years,” he said calmly. “She’s an actress. Her career and image depend on maintaining her figure. Pregnancy would have ruined that. So we needed someone else to carry our child. That’s where you came in. You were ideal.”

He spoke as if he were discussing a simple business arrangement.

“You should feel honored,” he added. “I compensated you far more generously than most surrogate agreements.”

A bitter laugh rose from Arabella’s chest. She had cried so much in the past hour that her tears had run dry.

Her gaze snapped to her father. “Did you know? Did you know what my husband was doing? That he was using me as some kind of incubator, and you said nothing?”

Even calling Everett her husband made her skin crawl.

Her mother had been her only true anchor in this world. After her death, Arabella knew life would be harder. But never, not even in her darkest moments, had she imagined Everett capable of such cruelty.

Vanessa laughed, sharp and cruel. “Know? Oh, you naive little fool. Whose idea do you think this was? We needed someone who could get close to you. Someone you would fall hopelessly in love with. Someone you would trust enough to sign anything without question.”

She gestured toward Everett. “Entered Everett.”

Everett’s lips curled into a smirk. “Since you still look confused, let me spell it out for you. You were not just a surrogate, though that was a convenient bonus. What we really wanted was your mother’s inheritance. The money. The properties. Every asset she left to you.”

His voice dripped with mockery. “You signed it all over to me. Remember? Because you loved me so much. You were so eager to build our future together that you signed every document I put in front of you without reading a single line. You gave me complete access to everything. And then, as a final bonus, you carried and delivered our baby.”

The memories crashed over her.

Those documents. Everett had presented them with such tenderness, explaining they were for wedding logistics, joint accounts, and their future as husband and wife. She had signed every page with a smile and hope in her heart.

Because she trusted him.

Because she loved him.

“No…” The word barely left her lips as Arabella stumbled backward.

Her eyes locked onto her father’s face. “Tell me they’re lying. Please. Tell me this isn’t real.”

Richard’s expression remained cold.

“Your mother never trusted me,” he said bitterly. “Twenty five years of marriage, and she never trusted me. She locked everything away in a trust under your name. The estate. The investments. The properties. All of it. To be released when you turned twenty five or got married.”

He stepped toward her. Arabella retreated until her back hit the wall.

“Do you know how that felt?” he continued through clenched teeth. “To know your wife thought so little of you that she would rather leave everything to a child than to her own husband?”

“Maybe she had good reason not to trust you!” Arabella shouted. “You cheated on her constantly! You wasted money like it meant nothing! You never worked, never contributed anything! You made her miserable until the cancer finally took her!”

The slap came without warning.

Her head snapped to the side, pain exploding across her cheek.

“Oh, that was delicious to watch,” Vanessa said mockingly.

“How dare you!” Richard roared, his face purple with rage. “I am your father!”

“No,” Arabella said, her voice steady despite the tears streaming down her face. “You stopped being my father a long time ago. A real father protects his daughter. He does not conspire to rob her blind.”

She lifted her head slowly, fighting through pain and tears. Her vision swam, but her voice did not waver.

“You planned all of this,” she said. “You stole my inheritance. You stole my baby. You stole everything.”

Everett crossed his arms, looking bored. “To us, you were never anything more than a womb with legs.”

Something inside Arabella shattered completely.

Her legs trembled, but she forced herself to stand. “Where is my baby?” she whispered, then screamed, her voice echoing through the hospital room. “WHERE IS MY BABY?!”

Lillian smiled coldly. “Safe and sound. With us. Where that child belongs. And you will never see that baby again.”

Arabella collapsed onto the bed as they walked out.

How had her life come to this?

First Everett. Then her own family.

She had never even held her baby. Never seen his or her face. Never counted tiny fingers and toes. Knowing now who Everett truly was, she could not bear the thought of being bound to him forever.

She wiped her face as a broken laugh escaped her throat.

The clock read 7:00 p.m.

She needed to leave.

She had no money. No family. Nowhere to go. But staying here would destroy what little sanity she had left.

Arabella forced her trembling legs to move and stumbled into the corridor, her bare feet slapping against the cold floor. Her hospital gown hung loosely around her fragile frame.

Everett’s words echoed endlessly in her mind.

You were never anything more than a womb with legs.

Her throat tightened.

She stepped outside into the cool evening air. The sound of a car horn barely registered before it was too late.

Arabella fell hard onto the pavement, closing her eyes, too exhausted to move, waiting for the impact that would end everything.

But it never came.

Tires screeched. The car stopped inches from her body.

A door slammed. Footsteps rushed toward her.

“What the hell?”

A man in his late thirties dropped to his knees near the front bumper. A woman lay sprawled on the asphalt, her white hospital gown stained with dirt. Her long dark hair covered her face.

He reached out carefully and brushed the hair aside.

His breath caught.

The face beneath was young, beautiful, and streaked with tears.

But it was her eyes that stopped him cold.