04

~Elara's Pov~

I wake slowly, the bright white lights above me forcing my eyes shut again before I manage to open them properly, and for a few seconds I lie there staring at the ceiling while everything that happened before I fell asleep begins rushing back into my mind, making my fingers curl against the hospital blanket.

The child is mine.

The thought comes back so clearly that my chest tightens, and I turn my head toward the other side of the room where a nurse sits quietly in a chair, watching over me as if she has been waiting for me to wake up, her presence reminding me that apparently, when you are connected to people like the Veynes, even a simple hospital room comes with someone standing by just in case you need anything.

“Can I have my bag?” I ask, my voice still weak.

The nurse gets up immediately and reaches for the bag sitting nearby before bringing it over to me, and I pull it closer, digging through it until my fingers find my phone, which I switch on and stare at as the screen fills with notifications.

Several missed calls.

All from Samantha.

I let out a quiet breath when I see her name because of course she has been calling nonstop, and after everything that has happened, I know she is probably somewhere worrying herself sick because she knows about my surrogate job and knows I am supposed to be recovering after giving birth.

I press her name and call.

She picks up almost immediately.

“Elara, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Sam.”

“Why didn’t you pick up earlier? At least let me know you’re fine, I was worried sick. How’s the baby?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, rubbing my forehead as the weight of everything presses down on me again. “And my baby is fine. A boy.”

“Really? That’s good, and stop calling him yours. He isn’t.”

“No, Sam. He is literally mine.”

There is a brief silence on the other end, and I can almost picture her staring at her phone with that look she always gives me whenever I say something she thinks makes no sense.

“Elara, what do you mean he is yours?”

“Sam, the baby is mine and Mr. Veyne’s.”

“What’s going on? How can that even be possible? What is Mrs. Veyne saying about this?”

“That’s the problem. Nobody has heard from her, including her husband. She just vanished.”

“Wait, what? What is Mr. Veyne saying about this?”

“Nothing, actually.”

I hear the worry in Sam’s voice before she asks, “I can’t believe what’s happening. Where are you? Should I come over?”

“No, I’ll be back today.”

“What about your baby?”

I glance down at my hands, unsure what else I can say when everything has become so complicated that even I can barely keep up with it.

“I can’t take him even if I wanted to. He’s better with them. I’ll call you later. I need to start packing my stuff.”

“Okay.”

The conversation ends there, and I drop the phone onto the bed just as the door opens, my gaze lifting to find Mr. Veyne walking in, looking as dashing as always, and damn, this man is fine, but the look on his face quickly pulls my attention away from anything else.

“Elara, I need something from you.”

I look at him, wondering what could possibly be next.

“What is it, sir?”

“I can’t look after this baby myself, and I can’t let my family find out, so I need you to move into my house and care for the child. Can you do that? He is your child, after all. I’m just giving you time with him until my wife, his mother, comes back.”

“Sir, I don’t think I can.”

“I will pay triple whatever I just paid you.”

Triple.

My head starts spinning at the thought, because with that kind of money, I could graduate without worrying about school, accommodation, or everything else that keeps sitting at the back of my mind.

“Sir, I’m a student.”

“Yes. You can go to school from the house. The driver will drop you off and pick you up. What do you say?”

“Just until I find his mother?”

“Just until I find his mother.”

I look at him, trying desperately to hide the excitement rising inside me before I finally nod.

“Yes.”

He looks at me for a moment before saying, “Pack up. We’re going to the house now.”

Quickly, Nurse Sheila does a check-up on me, checking my vitals and making sure everything is fine before she finally tells me that I am stable and can be discharged, and somehow, I feel almost too normal for someone who has just given birth, especially after everything that has happened in the last few hours.

“I want to use the bathroom,” I tell her, reaching for my phone.

She nods and lets me go, and the moment I step inside, I quickly open my messages and text Sam about what just happened, telling her that I will call her later and explain everything properly because there is no way I can fit all of this into a few texts.

When I come back out, I change into my blue gown, glancing down at myself and almost doing a double take because damn, it doesn’t even look like I just had a baby, my stomach is already flat except for my boobs being so big, and I shake my head before looking toward the nurse.

The baby is in Nurse Sheila’s arms, and when she tells me I need to feed him before we leave, I stare at her for a second because I still don’t know what to do with the fact that this tiny human is actually mine.

Sheila gently places him in my arms, and the moment I look down at him properly, everything around me seems to fade.

He is so cute, the cutest baby I have ever seen, and he is mine.

He yawns, waving his tiny hands around as I stare at his face, and I almost laugh under my breath because damn, my baby is handsome. Then his eyelids slowly lift, revealing the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen, and when his tiny lips curve into a smile, something inside me shifts so suddenly that for a moment, I feel like I want nothing else in this life except to protect him and stay with him.

I bring him closer and feed him, and he starts sucking so quickly that I almost stare in disbelief, as if he hasn’t eaten in years, and I let out a small laugh while watching him until he finally settles, his little body becoming heavier in my arms as he slowly drifts to sleep.

When he is finally asleep, Nurse Sheila reaches for him so I can clean myself up, but I hesitate before letting her take him, and even when she offers to carry him all the way to the car, I refuse, because somehow I don’t feel like I have just given birth at all, and instead of feeling exhausted, I feel more energetic than I expected.

I take my baby from her and walk behind her as we make our way toward the private elevator, his tiny body resting safely against me while I keep one hand supporting him, and when the doors open, we step inside together before descending into the underground parking lot.

Sheila leads us toward the waiting car and opens the back door for me, and I carefully climb inside with my baby in my arms, only to find Mr. Veyne already sitting in the back seat.

He looks at me, gives a small nod, and turns toward the driver.

“To the mansion.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver replies.