Chapter 8 THE RESULT

TRAVIS' P O V

‘‘Follow that car!’’ I instructed Kevin, pointing to the car that had just driven away from the garage of Katrina Sinclair's apartment, and my assistant complied immediately, following the car at a slow speed so that they wouldn't notice that another car was following them.

Kevin has finally completed his investigation on Cohen Dawson as I ordered him, and the results left me really surprised---really shocked by what I discovered about him, about them actually, including his wife.

Cohen Dawson was secretly married to Katrina Sinclair, and I still have no clue why he was hiding his wife from everyone, presumably because he didn't want to stop his pattern of sleeping new woman every month, but what made me more perplexed was that why Katrina was tolerating him for doing this to her.

I discovered by chance five years ago that Claire, my late wife, had paid a woman to carry our child through the process of surrogacy. ‘‘Why did you keep this information from me?’’ As I confronted Claire, I was fuming, and my eyes were shooting glares in her direction. ''You should have asked me first, Claire, if I would agree to this!”

Something was wrong with one of Claire's ovaries, which prevented her from becoming pregnant, and because our parents were continually begging for a grandchild, I had no idea that Claire hired for a surrogate until I unintentionally heard her talking to her assistant about this, which was why I confronted her about it.

‘‘That's the reason why I didn't tell you about it because I know that you wouldn't agree!’’ Claire retorted while putting her belongings in the suitcase. She was leaving the country to travel to Switzerland and pay a visit to her sick sister who lived there. ‘‘The surrogate is expected to give birth within this week, but I will have to return here before that takes place, so I’ll be coming back soon. I want to be the first person to hold the baby...''

With that said, she turned around and left me staring at the door, with a number of thoughts racing through my head. What would happen if the surrogate mother decided to keep the baby? What if, after she gave birth, she decided to keep the money for herself and hide, together with the baby?

I brushed my hands on my face in exasperation, and heaved a deep sigh. I have to find the surrogate as soon as possible.

My phone rang as I was driving back to my office, and when I checked who was calling, I saw that it was Claire's assistant. Because it was possible that she knew where I could find the surrogate, I immediately picked up my phone and answered the call.

‘‘Hey, Leila!’’ I put her on speaker, since I couldn’t take my hand away from the steering wheel. It’s hard to drive using one hand only.

‘‘Sir…’’ she answered, and she was undoubtedly crying because of the way her voice tremble.

‘‘What the heck happened?’’ I inquired, my mind racing with the possibilities of what might have transpired.

‘‘It’s Miss Claire…’’ she answered shortly.

‘‘What about her?’’ I yelled, not wanting to deal with her drama right now.

‘‘The news said that the plane crashes its way through Switzerland…’’ and then she started sobbing uncontrollably. ‘‘Miss Claire was there…’’

The abrupt pressure of my foot on the brake caused me to be completely unaware of the shaking that was occurring throughout the rest of my body. I immediately disconnected the connection with Leila and contacted Kevin's number with shaky hands to verify that what I had been told was true.

‘‘Yes, Sir…’’ he replied, confirming it. ‘‘It’s all over the news. I’m so sorry for your loss, Sir…’’

After resting my forehead on the stirring wheel, I felt a tightening in my chest, and tears started to stream down my face. In spite of the fact that I married Claire for business reasons, it didn’t change the fact that she was still my wife and that she had been a part of my life. Her passing had really left me feeling upset. I just couldn't bring myself to accept that she had passed away at such a young age.

I received a phone call from Leila the following morning, and she informed me that the surrogate had already given birth to a baby boy. She said, she had already deposited a significant sum of money into her bank account.

I wasted no time and left my work in the office, driving my way to the hospital in full speed. The baby was the only memory that Claire left me, and besides, he’s my blood. He’s mine. No one could ever take my child away from me.

As soon as I arrived in the hospital, I searched for the room that Leila texted me, and as soon as I found it, I yanked the door open, seeing her standing next to the hospital bed.

‘‘Who are you...?’’ the woman lying on the bed asked, but I didn’t pay her any attention since my eyes were drawn to the little one who was sleeping next to her on the bed.

That's my baby...

I walked over to them with a purposeful stride and slowly carried my little son in my arms. I stared at his sleeping form, and a tear suddenly escaped from my eye. I instantly fell in love with him.

‘‘Who are you?’’ the woman repeated in a raspy voice, and I sighed as I dashed my way towards the door completely ignoring her. ‘‘Wait!’’

According to the investigation that Kevin conducted, Katrina was the surrogate, the woman who was lying on that hospital bed five years ago, and the same woman whom I brought in my room that night, and almost had sex with, if it weren’t for her friend who barged in my room and stopped me.

What a coincidence…

‘Tell me, Kevin, whose eggs were used to get her pregnant?’’ I asked, wondering who was the real mother. ‘‘Was it Katrina’s?’’

‘‘The hospital's record stated that… it was Miss Claire's eggs that were used.’’ he responded, and I didn't know if I should feel disappointed that Katrina wasn't the mother of my child. ‘‘They only used Katrina’s uterus to carry the baby…’’

I fell silent for a moment. I didn’t realize that the car had already stopped, and was parking in front of a two-storey house. ‘‘Where are we now?’’ I asked Kevin as I looked around, and tried to find the car where Katrina was in.

‘‘We are in front of Cohen Dawson’s apartment, Sir…’’ Kevin informed me, his eyes were on the main door of the house. ‘‘And Miss Katrina is inside the house right now…’’

I nodded and drummed my fingers on my lap as I waited for what was going to happen, but my brows furrowed when I saw a woman in a pink seductive dress dash out of the house with tears streaming down her face.

‘‘Hey! Watch out!’’ I jumped on my seat when I noticed that she was in danger of being struck by a car that was coming up on her quickly. ‘‘God, what was she thinking?’’

I sighed in relief when I saw her fall to the ground, and was able to avoid the car, but I frowned when the car stopped in front of her.

‘‘Are you fucking dumb for trying to kill yourself?’’ The driver spat. ’’Watch where you going, woman! Get out of my way!’’

Katrina slowly moved her body to the side of the road to give way to the rude driver, sending him an apologetic look. It was possible that the shock left her too weak to stand up on her own. My hands were aching to open the door of the car and help her out, but I restrained myself from doing so.

I didn’t want her to suspect that I was following her.

I growled silently when I noticed the blood on her knees, indicating that she got it when from falling down. I watched her as she slowly got up, while she looked around from one side of the road to the other, and it seemed as though she had no idea where to go.

I was confused as to why she was crying. Maybe she caught Cohen again with another woman in his house. My thoughts led me to believe that they were both unhappy in their marriage.