Chapter 4:

The woman walked up to Sonya, stopped, and looked her up and down, evaluating her, then glanced at her with disdain, her eyes lingering on the kisses marks on Sonya's body, a cold, scornful smile forming on her lips.

Sonya quickly wrapped the blanket tighter around her body, but couldn't conceal all the kiss marks on her neck.

The woman's expression changed constantly, from pain to resentment, then to anger. She said angrily: "You are... the woman in that contract?"

Sonya swallowed: "... Yes, I am..."

"Disgusting..."

Her response to Sonya's question was a cruel slap in the face!

"You shameless woman! How... how dare you... rely on... on what... to dare..." The woman ranted, grabbing Sonya's hair, her face twisted with rage: "Don't think that giving birth to his child gives you any rights over him! I warn you, he is my fiancé. You are just a hired womb! Don't harbor any delusions, do you understand?!"

Sonya was surprised, confused: "I only signed the contract, I only followed the terms on it, I know my place, so..."

"Understood is good!" The woman's chest heaved with anger, her breaths rapid. She understood herself, that she couldn't conceive. That's why Evan had to hire someone else to bear the future heir. But the thought of the man she loved going out that night and doing that with someone else made her insanely jealous!

"It's best you don't aim too high. Don't expect him to pay attention to you, not even your fingernail!" the woman spat out, then arrogantly walked away.

Sonya sat down on the floor, her face numb. The secretary quickly helped her up: "Get up quickly, the floor is cold, your health is important!"

***

Two months later

At the Anderson family's private hospital, the secretary got the health examination report.

Seven weeks pregnant, the twins were stable.

Sonya looked at the report sent by Evan's secretary on her phone. Leaving the health examination room, she cared little about the result. Right now she was just a puppet letting others decide for her.

However, she would still fulfill her duty, follow their arrangements. She didn't want to care about anything else.

When the secretary arrived, she just smiled at Sonya, reassuring her: "Miss Richart, your health condition is very good now, don't worry too much, ha ha, for these few months, you just need to stay in the maternity villa, if you have any needs, just tell me."

Sonya raised her head, then bowed again: "I want to see my father."

For the past two months, she had left without saying goodbye. She guessed her father must be anxious about her.

The secretary hesitated: "This... the CEO has ordered that you may not go out."

"I just want to see my father for a moment. I need nothing else. Is that too difficult?"

Seeing Sonya's pleading eyes, the secretary finally nodded: "Okay!"

This also made her feel awkward, because according to the terms of the contract, she couldn't go out, but the secretary respected her as a pitiable person, still young and doing the job of a surrogate mother.

From the secretary's perspective, there might also be some difficulty. The secretary, being the secretary, defied the CEO for her, helping her arrange time to sneak out and meet her father.

The meeting place was a café in the city center.

Sonya's father received the message and quickly asked for leave from work, rushing to the appointment, sitting in the café restlessly. Since his daughter left without a word, he had been worried every day, unable to sleep, while his wife kept scolding his daughter incessantly, calling her heartless, wicked, irrational, ungrateful, lacking conscience, running after some man without knowing who he was.

The family was already in dire straits, but just when things were at their worst, Mr. Richart didn't know where his daughter was, then the next day he received a deposit of 100,000 USD from his daughter Sonya into his account. Subconsciously, he felt something was wrong with this situation.

In fact, Sonya wasn't Mr. Richart's biological daughter. Ten years ago, he adopted her from an orphanage, even though he already had a daughter. The Richart family was still very wealthy, when they met Sonya, she was a docile child; he took a liking to her, so he adopted her, but he didn't expect his wife and daughter to despise her. He thought that she was still young, eventually his wife and daughter would accept her.

But he had made a mistake.

Normally, he didn't have time at home, almost spending the entire day at the company, even so, he was her father. When he wasn't at home, how could he know how his wife and daughter treated Sonya? But Sonya had been suffering injustices since she was young, so she never dared to speak up about anything, which left him feeling guilty.

In fact, his family was quite wealthy, on the surface considered a respectable family, with a good income, so their lives were prosperous with no worries. However, earlier this year, after a major storm swept through the market, disaster struck their entire family.

The company was heavily in debt, many shareholders withdrew their investments. Seeing the company on the verge of bankruptcy, his wife pointed the finger directly at Sonya. Last year, he had spent money to send her to study at an elite school to rescue her from the abuse at home, so he wouldn't hesitate to spend money for her sake. His wife, however, believed that if not for that incident, the company wouldn't be facing bankruptcy, and their family wouldn't be in this situation now. Because of this, their family constantly argued, and even when Sonya returned home from school, taking advantage of his absence, his wife and biological daughter would lock her up and beat her endlessly, causing Mr. Richart to have a slight heart attack.

As Mr. Richart sank into contemplation, the door opened, and the secretary entered, followed by Sonya, who walked slowly behind. Seeing Mr. Richart, tears seemed ready to burst from her eyes, but she immediately composed herself. Mr. Richart stood up, glanced at the secretary, then his eyes filled with suspicion as he looked at his daughter.

The secretary seemed to understand the meaning behind that gaze, so she directly bowed her head and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Sonya!" Mr. Richart worriedly approached his daughter, grasping her shoulders, checking if she was alright, then said, "Where have you been for the past two months? Do you know how worried I've been?"

Sonya hesitantly raised her head to look at Mr. Richart. Two months apart, and Mr. Richart's head had more silver strands now, with an indescribable weariness on his face. During this time, Mr. Richart must have been worried about many things. The company was on the brink of bankruptcy, and whenever he had free time, he would go out to look for her. He had to work hard and worry too much, so he had been ill frequently lately.

"Father, don't worry about me. I've been fine," Sonya said, helping Mr. Richart sit down. "How is the company doing lately?"

"Has anyone has mistreated or abused you over there?" Mr. Richart didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

Sonya was stunned, not knowing how to answer. A few traces of confusion appeared in her eyes. Then she turned away, avoiding Mr. Richart's questioning, but he said nothing, only embracing her tightly. "My child, tell me the truth. Don't deceive me. Don't make me worry anymore, okay?" Mr. Richart imagined some frightening scenarios, making him even more uneasy. He hurriedly asked, "You did nothing foolish, did you?"

Seeing her remain silent with her head bowed, a worried expression appeared on Mr. Richart's face, but he couldn't do anything. Remembering the person from earlier, he pointed to the door and asked, "Who was that just now?"

Sonya remained silent for a long time before her hoarse voice rang out, slowly explaining, "I... I... I signed a contract to become a surrogate mother."