I ended the call.
The silence in the car was deafening.
I sat there at the green light, cars honking behind me, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white.
“Go the fuck around!” I yelled out the window.
Kaisen didn’t understand.
He couldn’t.
Because he still had the option.
He could still have kids the normal way—fall in love, get married, fuck his wife, and nine months later hold his kid.
But me?
I had to hire a surrogate.
I had to sign contracts and pay money and hope that a woman I barely knew would carry my child without breaking under the weight of who I was.
I had to do all of that because one night, years ago, my brother was too high to think straight.
And I’d never forgive him for it.
I pulled forward, ignoring the honking, and merged back into traffic.
Truth Renois was waiting.
And I had a future to secure.
Even if it cost me everything.
Magnolia Gardens Nursing Home sat on the edge of the Seventh Ward like a tired afterthought—beige brick, cracked parking lot, a sign missing two letters, so it read “Magnolia Ga dens.”
I pulled into the lot and parked in a visitor’s spot near the entrance.
The contract sat in a manila envelope on the passenger seat. Fifty thousand dollars in cash sat in a leather duffel in the trunk.
I grabbed the envelope, locked the car, and walked toward the entrance.
The automatic doors slid open with a mechanical wheeze. The smell hit me immediately—antiseptic, overcooked vegetables, and something underneath that smelled like decay masked by air freshener.
The lobby was small. Worn linoleum floors. A fake plant in the corner that had seen better days. A television mounted on the wall playing a game show nobody was watching.
And behind the front desk sat a woman who looked like she’d been waiting her entire life for a man like me to walk through those doors.
She was late twenties, maybe thirty. Light-skinned, hair in a high ponytail with edges laid sharp enough to cut. Nails long, acrylic, painted red. She wore scrubs that were two sizes too small, her cleavage on full display.
The moment I walked in, her entire body language shifted.
She sat up straighter. Smiled wide. Leaned forward so I could see exactly what she was offering.
“Good afternoon,” she said, her voice dripping with something that made my skin crawl. “Welcome to Magnolia Gardens. How can I help you today?”
I kept my face blank. Professional.
“I’m here to see Truth Renois.”
