Royce's Fate Read online

  Annelise Reynolds

  Copyright

  © 2020 Annelise Reynolds

  Royce’s Fate

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduction, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) utilization of this work without written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been uses without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  For questions or comments about this book, please contact the author at:

  [email protected]

  Editor: Darlene Tallman

  Cover Designer: C.M. Steele

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Coming Soon

  Wedding Bell Rock

  Love & Fireworks

  Nikolai: Volkov Bratva Trilogy Book 1

  Other Works by Annelise Reynolds

  Blind Spot

  Phoenix Bar

  Ember’s Burn

  Afraid of Love

  Ridin’ Nerdy

  Bidding on Santa

  Stupid Cupid

  Christmas Calamity

  Sweet Treats

  Domesticated by Daddy

  Saddle Stalker

  Heatwave

  Kink 101

  Cassia

  Author Bio

  Author Links

  Dedication

  This one’s for my PFG.

  Thank you for all your love and support and for having confidence in me when I didn’t have it in myself.

  Love you much, my friend.

  Prologue

  Royce

  “Here you go, Mr. Cavanaugh,” the receptionist giggled after casting an inviting look my way. I took the offered paperwork from her without acknowledging the open invitation in her eyes.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled and went to the sofa in the sitting area to fill out the documents. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and read over the piece of information before signing my name to it. Business never stressed me out. I built my company from the ground up and never broke a sweat, but this was a whole other ball game.

  The paperwork she handed me would change my life forever, and I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten to this point in my life. For years, I built my company, spent countless hours designing systems for corporations and countries, but being a workaholic had its drawbacks—I neglected my personal life. Now, I have a huge booming business and nobody to share it with and no kids to take it over one day. Nothing.

  Holidays are spent the same as any other day—I work. My life is spent in silence. I turned on the tv just for background noise and to not feel so alone. Yeah, I’ve got my friends, but with our schedules the only time we get together is Friday nights, and that shit is scheduled in. I’m tired of it. Tired of working my ass off and the only thing to show for it is a life filled with empty walls.

  I sighed heavily as I started filling out the paperwork and thinking about last Friday when Gerald presented this insane plan to us, and surprisingly it made sense. Or, I wanted it to make sense. I don’t even know at this point. It was crazy to think about. Hiring a woman to have my kid, using an anonymous egg donor in the process. That could be a nightmare in and of itself because you wouldn’t know jack shit about the genetics of the child. What if there were any medical conditions that ran in the family?

  Plus, what the hell did I know about raising a kid? My dad was never in the picture, and my mom wasn’t the best role model with her revolving door of boyfriends.

  They came in, promised her the moon and stars, she fell in love, and they dumped her, leaving her heartbroken. It was the same story every damn time. I didn’t know the first thing about relationships or how to actually have one. How was I going to teach a kid how to interact with people when I did my best to stay the hell away from people?

  I work too much for a normal woman to put up with my hours. The ones willing to put up with my hours are good until they hear about my lifestyle, and if they are okay with the first two, it’s been my experience that they are only around for my money.

  So, this is my best option—filling out paperwork for a surrogate to carry my child. It’s unusual and insane, but you know what they say… genius and insanity go hand in hand.

  I filled out all the paperwork, but I had some stipulations that my surrogate would have to agree to, and qualifications I wanted for the egg donor of my baby. I was willing to pay to have everything done my way. It’s why my business was successful. If I wanted it done my way, I did it myself. I wasn’t going to leave any of this to chance.

  “Who does the screenings for the women who volunteer to be surrogates?” I asked when I took the packet I filled out up to the receptionist.

  “The surrogates are vetted, and they have to undergo a psych evaluation to make sure they are stable and emotionally equipped to handle pregnancy. We want to make sure they have a ready support system.”

  “How about the egg donors?”

  “The women that donate their eggs go through the same process as well, along with a lot of health screenings after filling out extensive medical history paperwork. We want to know as much as possible about any potential health conditions.”

  “Good.” I slid the paperwork she’d given me to fill out as well as the contract I had drawn up across the top of the desk and handed it to her. “I have a contract I want the surrogate to sign. If it’s not signed, she doesn’t carry my kid.”

  The receptionist looked over the contract and then back up at me. Her eyes were wide with surprise and renewed interest when she saw the figure I was willing to pay to get what I wanted.

  “Mr. Cavanaugh, I know it’s none of my business, but why are you doing this? You’re a successful businessman and attractive. Why do you need a surrogate or an egg donor?”

  “You’re right, it’s none of your business,” I rebuffed her. She looked taken aback by my gruffness, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t interested in anything with her, and what she was heading toward was written clearly on her face.

  “Of course.” She gave me a big, fake smile. “I’ll get this in your file right away, Mr. Cavanagh. I can’t guarantee that we will find you a surrogate that would be willing to put their life on hold for nine months or a donor that will meet all your criteria, but we will see what we can do.”

  I watched as she marked the folder with a green tag and filed it away. “We’ll let you know when we find someone that fits your qualifications for a donor, and if we find someone willing to meet your demands for surrogate. It will be a hard task though.”

  “As you saw, I’m willing to pay well for it.”

  When she nodded, I turned and left the New Hope Fertility Clinic. I pushed it out of my mind and went back to the office. Until I got the confirmation calls, I was going to bury myself in work.

  Chapter One

 
Narina

  My stomach was in knots as I walked into the New Hope Fertility Clinic again. They did my evaluations last time I was here, this time, they were supposed to do the deed and put someone else’s kid in me. I wished I had one of my friends with me, but they were all busy with the men they’d fallen in love with or with school. I was on my own, and two seconds away from chickening out of this.

  If I had any other options besides going home and being stuck in Almont, Oregon for the rest of my life, I’d be doing that instead of walking into this clinic and selling my uterus for the next nine months. I was desperate.

  “Hi, Welcome to New Hope Fertility Clinic.” The receptionist that I’d seen last time I was here was sitting behind the sleek white desk. “Do you have an appointment?”

  “Y—yes,” I stuttered slightly from the butterflies dancing through my stomach and approached the receptionist. “Narina Boggs.”

  “Ah, yes, Miss Boggs. Nice to see you again.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Have a seat and we’ll get you back in a few minutes.” She gave me a warm smile and gestured to the waiting area where a couple sat comfortably, holding each other’s hands and waiting to go back themselves.

  I took the seat opposite from them and picked up a magazine from the table. I started flipping through the pages, not really reading the articles. It was more just to have something to do with my hands, so I didn’t get up and walk out the door.

  This was the most nerve wrecking thing I’d ever done. “Are you trying to have a baby, too?” I looked up at the girl across from me. She was looking at me curiously since I was alone. Her husband was a slim guy with glasses on, and he was looking at his phone while waiting for their appointment.

  “Umm, no.” I shook my head. “I’m going to be a surrogate for someone.”

  “That’s awesome of you. You seem so young to take on something like that though.”

  “I’m in college,” I said shrugging, not really giving away my age. I was eighteen, still my birthday wasn’t for another five months. “I need help paying for school, so this is how I’m choosing to do it. Nine months of my life in exchange for financial freedom for the rest of my life. It makes sense.”

  The woman across from me flinched and her smile dimmed quite a bit. “We are trying not to have to go the surrogate route because of the cost, but if this doesn’t work, we may have to.”

  “How long have you been trying?”

  “Two years. We’ve been married for five.” She looked over at her husband, who wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, giving her a kiss on her temple. “We tried for over a year before we came here the first time, but I’ve got endometriosis, which makes getting pregnant hard. We are going to try this one more time. If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to either give up or find a surrogate.”

  “I hope it works for you.” I gave her a hopeful smile. My heart hurt for the couple; they seemed so cute together, and they wanted to have a little one to share in the love they built as a family.

  The woman’s situation helped ease my nerves because I realized I’d be helping a couple like this one. A couple who couldn’t conceive for whatever reason would have a baby because I was going through with this. That thought alone made me feel better.

  When the couple got called back, I wished them luck and picked up another magazine. This time, I actually tried to read some of the articles about pregnancy. It took me a while to get through even one article because of my dyslexia.

  I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was in elementary school. As hard as I tried growing up, reading didn’t come easy for me. I would have to repeat passages over and over again because I couldn’t comprehend what the material said. Last time I was here, the receptionist had to read the forms to me because the words kept floating off the page. It was embarrassing to say the least.

  With a sigh of frustration, I closed the magazine and put it back on the table. There was no use trying to read it. I’d have to get audiobooks on pregnancy to listen to. My textbooks were all digital format so I could do text to speech and listen to it rather than read the information.

  I learned to adapt to my disability in most instances. I went to the same restaurants all the time unless one of my close friends was with me to help me order. Audiobooks were my favorite present people got me. I would put on a story and forget myself in someone else’s world. I envied how authors could string words together and invest their readers in the world they created. I couldn’t do it. In fact, I almost didn’t make it into the university because my test scores were that low in reading and writing. My math scores were what saved me. I could work with numbers and equations no problem. That was my wheelhouse, which is why I was double majoring in Business Administration and Economics.

  “Narina?” A nurse appeared to lead me back to an examination room. She smiled when she saw my head shoot up. “You ready, honey?”

  “As I’ll ever be,” I said with a small smile, getting nervously to my feet and moving toward the door that led me to my fate.

  Chapter Two

  Royce

  Three Weeks Later

  Work.

  Work was the distraction that I needed after my visit to the fertility clinic where I jerked off into a cup. I still couldn’t believe that I went through with this plan. Stefano and Grant got lucky. Falling in love with the woman carrying my kid, that was an anomaly left for my friends. I didn’t expect to get that lucky, especially since the odds of the woman being a “Little” were slim to none.

  I was looking over a contract for a security job overhaul when my secretary buzzed through on the phone. “Mr. Cavanaugh, you have a call on line two.”

  “Thanks, Betty,” I said, picking up the phone. “Cavanaugh.”

  “Mr. Cavanaugh, this is Angela from the New Hope Fertility Clinic. Is this a good time?”

  I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath, hoping that they found a surrogate and a donor. “Yes.”

  “I just wanted to let you know that we have pregnancy confirmation for your partner.”

  “Partner?” Warning bells started going off in my head. “I don’t have a partner. I was looking for an egg donor and a surrogate.”

  “We have you marked with a green label and your file was in with another.” She sounded hesitant and the implications of what she was saying started to sink in.

  “Did she sign the contract?”

  I heard the rustling of papers as she looked through my file. My jaw was clenched as I waited for the shoe to drop. At this point, I was certain there was a major fuck-up on the clinic’s part.

  “Mr. Cavanaugh.” Her voice sounded scared. “The contract is unsigned. I can set up a meeting between you and the mother of your child.”

  “How is this possibly happening?” I ran my hand through my hair.

  “I’m sorry, Sir. I don’t know what happened. Your code matched hers, and she was inseminated. Somewhere there was a glitch.”

  “You think? This isn’t something that should be open to glitches. This is people’s lives we’re talking about.”

  “I assure you, Sir, this has never happened before.”

  “Set up the meeting with the woman, today.” I slammed the phone down on the hook without saying goodbye.

  “Fuck,” I said into the open room before getting out of my chair to look out the large glass window in my office. This was such a mess and something I hadn’t planned for. Who the hell was carrying my baby?

  There was a soft knock on the door before Betty poked her head in. “Mr. Cavanaugh?”

  “Yes?” I said without turning around.

  “Your ten o’clock is here.”

  I took a deep breath and turned away from the window. “Thanks, Betty,” I said calmly, trying not to take my anger and frustration out on my employee. “Cancel all my other appointments for the day and schedule an emergency meeting with my lawyer as soon as possible.”

  These people fucked up, and I was going to make
them pay for it. I was going to make sure they never screwed up anyone else’s life again.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  I was distracted during my whole meeting, but I managed to get the gist of what the new client was looking for. I scheduled another meeting with them for next week and got them out of my office as soon as possible and went to talk to Betty.

  “Did you get a meeting set up with my lawyer?”

  “Yes. He can meet you at one o’clock. All your meetings for the afternoon have been cancelled. Is there something going on, Sir?”

  “No, Betty. It’s a personal matter.” I didn’t want to tell anyone anything until after I spoke with my lawyer.

  I went back into my office and stared out the window again, not really seeing anything. This plan to find a surrogate to have a child was crazy. I should have known better. Now, it was backfiring on me, and I had no idea what kind of mess I’d have to clean up after the fallout of all this.

  “Phone call on line one,” Betty said, coming through the speaker again, and I moved to take the call.

  “Cavanaugh,” I gritted out.

  “Mr. Cavanaugh? This is Dr. Coulter from the New Hope Fertility Clinic. Let me start out by saying we are so sorry for the mix-up that happened. This has never happened before and I assure you, it won’t happen again. The receptionist that made the mistake has been dealt with, and we will be refunding all the fees you paid in using our clinic. We will also be helping you and the mother figure out what to do next.”

  “When is my meeting with her?”

  “We have yet to get in contact with her, Mr. Cavanaugh. She’s not answering her phone at this time, but we will keep reaching out to her.”

  “Save your apologies, Dr. Coulter. They are wasted in this situation. Set up the meeting, anything other than that is unacceptable. Your office made a mess of this, and I’ve got to try to figure out how to clean it up.”

  I hung up again, even more furious than I was before. How the fuck do you fix this kind of problem? The pregnancy was confirmed, I had a kid on the way and because the clinic dropped the ball, I had no idea what the hell to do next.