Page 24 of Royal Surrogate 2

She blinks at me a few times before her smile falls the smallest bit, and it’s only then that I realize what I’ve said.

“What?” Renae cocks her head. “What did you just say?”

I kiss her hand again. Telling her now is as good a time as any, I suppose, especially since I’ve already let the secret slip.

“Our contract. The one we signed? It says we’re married for the next twenty years.”

CHAPTER 19

Renae

I sit, clutching the sheet to my chest. “What do you mean twenty years?” My mind is scrambling. “I read that contract. We’re getting divorced after the baby is born, and I’m legally required to give up all claim to you and to him.”

“That’s just it.” Caspar sits as well, grasping my hand. “You don’t have to. Not with the new contract.” He says it like it’s a good thing, like he’s answering all my prayers with this affirmation.

And in a way, he is—I don’t want to give up this baby, and I’m not ready to give Caspar up, either. But that’s not why I suddenly feel cold and clammy beneath the sweat on my skin.

“I read the contract,” I repeat. “And you and your parents all made it very clear that it was binding and couldn’t be changed.”

“You read the original contract,” he says, worry creeping into his eyes—and a little shame, too. “You didn’t read the revised one.”

“The revised…?” I remember suddenly—Caspar coming into the bedroom with his parents’ revised contract and giving me a brief overview of their changes. I’d been so desperate to sign it—to just make the decision and move forward—that I hadn’t even glanced at their additions.

I’d just taken Caspar at his word.

“You never told me they changed the term to twenty years.” My voice is a whisper.

Caspar leans back, rubbing the back of his head. “I may have forgotten to mention?—”

“No. That’s not something you forget.” I’ve started shaking from the cold. “You deliberately decided not to tell me.”

“I’d planned to tell you. But I knew…” He grasps my hand again. “Renae. Look at me. I fucked up. I know I fucked up. But I knew, even then, that I wanted more of you. That I wanted a real marriage, a real family, and?—”

“And you should have told me.” I yank my hand out of his and scramble out of the bed, grasping for my robe. “You don’t trap me in a stupid contract!” I pull my robe over my shoulders, so confused and so furious I can’t even think straight.

Caspar is watching me from the bed.

“I know,” he says quietly. “I know I was wrong. And I apologize for misleading you.”

“This isn’t one of those times an apology makes everything better.” I can’t even look at him. “You claim you want a real marriage, a real family, but you don’t get that by betraying my trust. You lied to me. You deliberately misled me.”

“And I will do whatever it takes to atone for that betrayal.” He rises from the bed but doesn’t come toward me. “I mean it, Renae. Whatever it takes. But in the meantime, at least we have the comfort of knowing we won’t be legally bound to separate?—”

“There’s no in the meantime.” I can’t process any of this right now. I need…need… To go. Far away from here.

I turn and run into the closet.

Caspar appears at the door a moment later, when I’ve already pulled on a dress and shoes. His eyes go immediately to the suitcase I’ve started packing.

“What are you doing?” he demands.

“I need to go,” I tell him. “I need space.”

He crosses the distance to me in two strides. “Renae, you can’t?—”

“NO.” I glare up at him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. I don’t care about your stupid contract. Sue me for all I care. I’m going.”

The concern in his eyes turns to panic. “Renae?—”

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