“I know we’re strangers to each other,” he said finally. “I know that I’m nobody to you… but the reason I’m here is that I need to ask you for your help.”
Amazed, Elena looked into his pleading, desperate eyes and she felt her heart quiver a little.
“I don’t know how I can do that, Neal,” she said honestly.
Neal took a deep breath and jumped in.
“There is a way I can keep the company under my control,” Neal started, his heart beating faster as he came to the root cause of his visit. “You see, if my brother had left behind an heir, a child of his own, that child would inherit his controlling stock.”
“I don’t understand.”
“And until that child turns twenty one, I would retain control of the company.”
Elena shook her head, “I still don’t –"
“My brother dedicated himself to this business completely, Elena. He wasn’t involved with anyone; he left behind no children.”
“Then how –"
“I would like you to claim to be his girlfriend. I would like you to claim to be carrying his child.”
The silence that filled the little studio apartment was palpable. Neal looked straight at Elena, waiting for her reaction. Elena stood frozen, blinking hard and trying to make sense of what he had just said. After a few moments had passed and Neal hadn’t taken anything back, Elena backed away from him slowly.
“You’re joking, right?”
Neal’s face remained impassive. “I’m afraid I’m not.”
Elena looked imploringly at him, trying to make him see some sense, see logically.
“Neal,” she said gently, “even if I agreed to make that claim – wouldn’t they check it out? Wouldn’t they check to see if I am actually pregnant?”
“They would,” Neal said calmly.
Elena raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain to her how this plan could possibly work.
“I’m not pregnant, Neal.” Elena said slowly, so that it would sink in.
“I know that,” Neal replied. “I am asking you to become pregnant.”
Elena stood in shock, frozen in place. When she had finally recovered from the audacity of his words, she looked at him with wariness.
“I think you should leave now, Neal,” she said as gently as she could manage.
“Elena, please…"
She had reached the edge of her patience. “You want me to get pregnant,” she said skeptically, “so that you can keep your company?”
Neal tried to keep his voice calm and reasonable, hoping that would induce Elena to think the same way. He was aware that what he wanted from her was a huge favor, but he was willing to make it worth her while.
“Elena, just listen.”
“No, you listen!” Elena said insistently, “I don’t want a baby. I don’t want to be a mother--”
“I’m not asking you to be a mother,” Neal interrupted urgently, “I’m only asking you to be the egg donor and the surrogate. Once the baby is born, I will be the child’s legal guardian. You can relinquish all parental rights to me.”
Elena fixed him with an intense stare.
“Who’s going to be the sperm donor, Neal?” she asked pointedly