Da-Ha 1

“Say my name,” Damian hissed, his face inches from Hazel’s.

“Damian…” Hazel breathed.

Her face was flushed, her eyes hazy with desire. Damian swallowed hard, his fingers gently caressing her stomach before moving lower, slipping beneath the fabric covering her.

“What do you want, Hazel? Tell me!” Damian demanded, his fingers moving with greater insistence.

Hazel shuddered, her breathing growing more ragged.

“You! I want you!” Hazel answered quickly.

Damian let out a low growl.

Her desire was exactly what he had been waiting for over the past three years.

Damian swore he would never stop touching this woman—not even if Hazel begged him to.

A few weeks earlier…

“Have you heard?”

Hazel, who had just returned a cart loaded with cleaning supplies, glanced at her coworker, Rachel.

“Heard what?” Hazel asked indifferently.

She walked away from the storage room and headed toward the employees’ locker room. She intended to take a quick shower before heading to her next shift so she wouldn't be late.

“I heard there’s a wealthy woman in the hospital director’s office looking for a surrogate mother.”

Hazel stopped for a moment, her brow furrowing.

The hospital where she worked had facilities for sperm and egg freezing, as well as an IVF program. But this was the first time Hazel had heard anything about a surrogate recruitment program.

“Are you sure you heard that right?”

Hazel opened her locker and took out her toiletries.

“Of course I’m sure! Do you know how much they’re offering? Ten million dollars, Hazel! Ten million dollars. Can you imagine?”

Ten million dollars?

That amount would be more than enough to pay off all of her uncle’s gambling debts, cover her son’s medical expenses, and perhaps even allow her to find a comfortable home for herself, her son, and her aunt, Cassandra.

“That’s an incredible amount of money, Rachel. But the requirements must be just as demanding. If the man providing the sperm is extremely wealthy, do you really think he’d choose an ordinary woman to be his surrogate?”

“Exactly because they’re rich, they’ll be looking for a surrogate from people like us. Do you really think a wealthy woman would want to become a surrogate? Why would she? If anything, they’re probably looking for a surrogate because they don’t want their bodies to be affected by pregnancy and childbirth.”

Hazel fell silent again.

What Rachel said made sense. Why would a wealthy woman rent out her womb when she already had more than enough money to afford the lifestyle she wanted?

A program like this was clearly designed for poor women like her.

But if the people behind it were truly wealthy, they certainly wouldn’t be looking for just any poor woman desperate for money. Rich people tended to demand perfection. There had to be strict requirements attached to the offer.

Hazel's lips curved into a faint smile.

She could never understand the way rich people thought.

She stepped into a shower stall and let the cold water cascade over her body.

“Are you thinking about applying?” Rachel was apparently still waiting for her answer.

“I’m not interested, Rachel.”

“But don’t you need money right now? Maybe this is the only way you can finally escape your uncle’s debts.”

Hazel stood motionless beneath the stream of water.

Yes, she desperately needed money. She was exhausted from constantly being chased by debt collectors.

But becoming a surrogate was never an option she could bring herself to consider.

Rachel had never been pregnant or given birth. She had no idea what it meant to form a bond between a mother and her child.

Perhaps there were women out there who could carry a baby for nine months and then hand that child over to someone else without looking back.

But Hazel could never do that.

“I’m leaving. I can’t be late.”

With that, Hazel ended the conversation.

Meanwhile, elsewhere…

“What have you done, Grandma?”

Damian stared at his grandmother, his expression a mixture of disbelief and irritation.

“A surrogate recruitment program? Have you lost your mind?”

Damian knew his words were disrespectful, but his grandmother’s latest stunt had truly gone too far.

“I’ve told you countless times that I want a great-grandchild! And I’ll do whatever it takes to get one. It’s your own fault for not giving me a grandchild-in-law all these years.”

Damian sank back into his chair, rubbing his face in frustration. He felt utterly humiliated.

“Don’t worry. I’m keeping the entire selection process anonymous. All I have to do is find a surrogate who meets my criteria, have her sign a confidentiality agreement, and that’s it. We’ll pay her and take custody of the child once it’s born. She won’t even have to know who the baby’s father is.”

“You think it’s that simple? What if she finds out about you and our family and tries to blackmail us?” Damian challenged his grandmother.

“That would be her problem, because I won’t hesitate to punish her.” Luciana answered arrogantly. “Besides, this is all your fault. Three years have passed since you told me you were going to introduce me to your girlfriend, yet to this day, I haven’t even seen her. I’m beginning to think she never existed. Maybe you were just saying it to make me happy.”

Damn it! Why does she have to bring her up today?

Damian was already dealing with more than enough problems at the office. The last thing he needed was another headache caused by his grandmother’s ridiculous obsession.

“She’s dead,” Damian muttered bitterly.

Luciana’s brow furrowed.

“If she’s dead, then that means you must still love her deeply. Deeply enough that you haven’t been able to forget her.” Her words were sharp. “I’m not getting any younger, Damian. I don’t know when I’ll have to follow your grandfather and father into the afterlife. Don’t let me die before I see you have a child. Otherwise, I’ll be too ashamed to face your grandfather and father when I get there.”

“Mom, don’t talk like that.”

Natalia, Damian’s mother, appeared with a servant pushing a food cart behind her. Apparently, Luciana’s drama was only getting worse.

“I really am a useless woman. If only I had been able to have more children back then, I wouldn’t have had to burden my grandson with the responsibility of producing an heir.”

Luciana pounded a hand against her chest as she began to cry.

Damian immediately straightened and caught the old woman by the arm, stopping her from hurting herself. Natalia hurried over and sat down on Luciana’s other side.

“Mom, don’t talk like that. If you’re a useless woman, then what does that make me? I had to wait years before I could give my husband a child, and when that child was finally born, my husband went ahead and died before me. Should I follow him now?”

Natalia joined in with her own fake sobbing, making Damian roll his eyes in exasperation.

“How about we go together?” Luciana suggested. “At least we can face our husbands together in the afterlife instead of having to watch the Montoya bloodline die out.”

Natalia nodded in agreement.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Damian snapped.

He stood up and glared at the two women who meant the most to him.

“How exactly do you plan on following Grandpa and Dad? Are you two talking about killing yourselves?”

“If that’s the only way, then we’ll do it,” Luciana replied dramatically.

“Sweetheart…”

Natalia rose and approached her only son.

“You haven’t dated anyone all this time. You’ve rejected every woman we’ve tried to introduce you to, and you still refuse to get married. The woman you promised you would introduce to us never showed up either. It’s making us worry that maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Damian asked sharply.

“We’re worried you might have a different sexual orientation.”

Damian’s mouth fell open.

For several seconds, not a single word came out.

“Damn it! I’m not like that,” Damian protested irritably.

“Then what?” Natalia asked innocently. “Are you impotent?”