One of the criteria Adrian had was that I should quit my job. He claimed that the job would put unnecessary pressure on me and the baby. In exchange he offered to set up an art gallery for me so she can pain whenever she wanted.
Since we had agreed to be consider each other's requests carefully, I accepted after thinking about it for a few days. It was a hard choice for considering how close I was to my students and how much they loved me.
Saying goodbye to them made me very emotional. Adrian opened an art gallery for me and called it 'Lana's Spot' LS for short. In this place, I painted whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It gave me some level of freedom.
A strange information suddenly leaks to the media. The rumour was that Adrian is trying to have a baby and I was involved. This rumour was sponsored by Camille. She would stop at nothing to ruin Adrian.
Adrian gets super upset, he thought I was involved since the only parties who knew were him and I and of course Dr Harper. She wouldn't complicate matters for herself by leaking an information when she was the one who made an error in the first place.
The lawyers are bound by oath to be confidential so he thought I had nothing to loose so it had to be me who leaked the secrete. He called for yet another meeting and this time I wondered what he wanted to talk about since our last meeting was not too long ago.
I got there and quickly took a seat in front of Adrian.
"What's this about, we spoke just a few days ago," I said in confusion.
He opens a leather folder containing a check for 5.2 million dollars.
"Am told this would be way more than enough to secure a new home, healthcare, and educational trust for the child. In exchange, you will sign a non disclosure agreement and hand over the child permanently after 5 years," he said with a frown, unable to look at me.
I leaned back. "You and your lawyers think I'm for sale?" I said.
"No," He hesitated. "I think you deserve stability, and my resources can provide it."
"Stability isn't a payoff, Mr Cole. Stability is a life where strangers don't own my child, " I responded.
He didn't want anymore media attention for his unborn child so he wanted to en things as quickly s possible.
A muscle jumps in his cheek. "I only want to protect him or her from tabloid frenzy," he stated.
"Protect?" I laughed, bitterly. "I am the child's mother and I will protect it from everyone including you if I have to," I said, trying hard not to cry.
"I thought we were supposed to be a team. You should have asked me if you suspected me and not conclude altogether," I added.
"So it wasn't you?" he said with a calm voice.
"No it wasn't,"
From the shadows near the espresso machine, a red haired woman spoke softly, sir you have a meeting in 10mins."
"Cancel it," he said almost instantly.
"Yes sir," she responded.
By morning, #BillionaireBabyMixUp trends globally. My face was plastered on every gossip carousel. Some headlines called me courageous and others call her a schemer. A drone camera hovers outside her window to get a glimpse of her.
At this point, I didn't know how to react, I was just really upset. They invaded my privacy. As the drone kept coming closer, I drafted a short note;
"My name is Luna Mendez. I did not consent to carry anyone's legacy but my own, yet I will protect my child with every breath I have. No sum can buy motherhood.
To those calling me opportunist, I declined hush money last night. To those calling me hero, keep in mind that I am human, terrified but determined.
Within a few hours, the video got millions of views which doubled in a few days. Adrian was upset that I had officially given a statement without his knowledge.
He sent Adam, his most trusted bodyguard over to tell my mom and I that we have to move to a safer place where we will be protected.
It turns out, the person Camille was seeing in ClinoWest Fertility Center was Mark Harper, Dr Evelyn's husband who cheated on her.
Camille was also the woman, Evelyn caught with Mark but she doesn't know because she didn't see her face. She only ran out of the room.