The Billionaire's Island: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (International Alphas Book 3)

by Cherry Kay

  She turned to her desk and sat down with a sigh, looking at the stack of mail that had been delivered that day, which she hadn’t touched. She picked it up and began to go through all of it. She paid the bills and with each one done, she felt ironically torn; happy that she was able to pay them but disappointed that in doing so, she drained her account almost entirely.

  She thought about the conversation she’d had at the bank with the loan officer. She had even brought them a box of her chocolates to show them how good her product was, and they were even impressed with her sales, but they weren’t impressed enough to approve a loan for her to get out of the tight spot she was in.

  Sarah’s reaction to her decision to have a child on her own came back to her mind and she laughed a little and then pursed her lips. She didn’t know how long it would really take for her to get to a point where she was financially stable enough to have a baby, and it haunted her that her biological clock was ticking away faster and faster as each day went by.

  Elise leaned back in her chair and covered her face with her hands, and then slid her hands over her curls, trying to somehow pull the tension from her mind and ease her thoughts. There had to be a way. There had to be some kind of option or avenue that she hadn’t yet explored that would enable her to reach all of her dreams that were just out of her reach. They weren’t unrealistic dreams, but they would be unattainable if she didn’t get to them soon.

  She took a deep breath and sat back up, clearing away the last of the mail and turning on her computer. She entered the days sales and updated all of her accounting files, and then she sat there looking at the almost blank page of the search engine, the little cursor flashing expectantly in the box just waiting for her command. Waiting for her to go anywhere and do anything. Her hands hovered over the keyboard, and then she typed in the command for a job search, and a second later she was looking at pages and pages of jobs available in her area. She applied filters and skimmed through the ads, not finding much of anything. She had hoped for work she could do from her computer, so she would still have energy for her shop. She couldn’t really have a job that took any of her time or ability away from her own priorities.

  She had just about reached the end of her patience when one unusual ad caught her eye. It read, ‘Be paid to become a mother’. She blinked and smiled a little, clicking on it to open it up.

  Searching for the right woman to carry and give birth to a child for me. This is a contracted position with a six figure payout. Applicant must be healthy, single, educated, have no prior children and be African-American. Only serious applicants need apply. Please send photograph and bio.

  She laughed out loud. It couldn’t be serious; it had to be some kind of joke. She saw other ads for surrogate mothers around it and wondered if perhaps it wasn’t a joke. She shrugged her shoulders and thought, why not? It wouldn’t hurt to send in an application and see what might come of it. She wrote out her information in an email, attached her best photo and sent it off.

  Chapter3

  Elise worked in her shop the following day, creating beautifully crafted chocolates by putting all of her best effort into them. She had two girls working her counter and she could tell that they were barely able to cope with the business they were getting. The phone kept ringing, customers were almost constant and she was struggling to keep the cabinets full of chocolates.

  The day was full from the moment she opened the doors until she closed them that night; and unsurprisingly, the little café did remarkably well. She wished the bank had trusted her enough to give her the loan she had asked for. It would make all the difference in her world.

  She bid goodbye to her sales girls and went back to her office to do her bookwork for the day. As she looked at her numbers, she saw that they were getting consistently better and trending upward with considerable momentum. She knew she’d have to open another store soon just to keep up with the demand of her customers. She sighed and smiled. It was a problem, but it was a good problem to have. Elise finished up her accounting and then checked her email. She answered all of her business emails and printed out orders for chocolates, then perused her personal email.

  Sitting halfway down in her inbox was an email from the ad that she had answered. She was a little surprised to see a response from it, and her curiosity piqued as she opened it up to see what the sender had to say to her. It read,

  Thank you for the submission of your application for the position of becoming a paid mother. We are interested in interviewing you. Please contact our offices at your earliest convenience to set an appointment.

  She looked at the message, bemused, and then decided to give it shot. It couldn’t hurt to see what they said. It wasn’t worded like the scam ads and emails were normally worded. She half believed that it was a legitimate inquiry.

  Elise picked up the phone and dialed the number in the email. It rang twice and then a young man’s voice came on the line.

  “This is Jason,” he said.

  She wasn’t sure how to approach the conversation, so she explained herself, hoping she wasn’t giving too much away to the wrong person. It annoyed her to no end to give someone a long drawn out explanation only to be transferred to someone else and have to go over it all again.

  “I’m answering an email I got for an ad I found online. It was an ad for a paid position as a mother. I was notified to contact this number about an interview.” She felt like she was stumbling over her words, but it just wasn’t easy for her to talk to strangers, especially about such an unusual and personal subject.

  He spoke right away. “Good! Thank you so much for calling us back. May I have your first name please?”

  She felt slightly relieved he knew what she was talking about and that she didn’t have to explain anything further.

  “Yes, this is Elise.”

  He was quiet for a moment and then responded to her. “Ah, yes. Elise. Your application was just what we are hoping to find. Would you be able to come in tomorrow morning, perhaps at about ten?”

  She hesitated. She was curious about it, but this interview was not high on her list of priorities. “I have a business to open in the morning, could I come any earlier please?”

  Jason was quiet again for a moment. “Certainly. I understand that you probably have a great deal going on. What time would work best for you?” he asked in a friendly and professional tone.

  “Would eight be alright?” she asked, feeling hope begin to bubble up in her.

  “Very good. Eight tomorrow morning it is.” He gave her the address and told her she didn’t need to bring anything, other than herself.

  By the time she hung up, she felt quite positive about it, wondering how it would go and how she had gotten herself into such an unusual situation. She closed up the shop and headed to her house where she slept soundly until the morning light woke her with new opportunities.

  ***

  She was dressed and ready by seven. She walked into the lobby of the enormous skyscraper by a quarter to eight. The clerk at the lobby desk checked her identification, gave her a pass, and sent her to the steel elevators that were situated behind his desk. A security guard at the elevator, who had watched the entire encounter, checked her pass and then admitted her to the elevator, entering the elevator after her and swiping his badge through the card reader inside the elevator.

  Elise was shocked at the complexity of her admittance but said nothing of it. She looked at the guard and was about to strike up a conversation when the stoic expression on his face stopped her in her tracks. She could see that he was the strong silent type and she didn’t want to distract him from that. It was a shorter ride than she had anticipated, for such a long distance. They went to the top floor and when the doors opened, he walked her out and stood beside her as she showed her pass to the secretary at the desk near the elevator.

  The woman at the desk was polite and professional as well, although considerably more cheerful than the guard. She nodded and smiled at Elise and
the guard, and the guard turned and walked back to the elevator, disappearing inside. Elise was amazed at the levels of security they had and she began to wonder in earnest just who it was that was interviewing her.

  The woman waved her over to the desk. “Before you go in for your interview, I need to ask you to sign these non-disclosure forms.” She pushed a stack of papers toward Elise and pointed to the arrows that marked the pages she needed to sign.

  Elise stared at the pages and the woman smiled at her. “These just state that you will not ever speak about what is discussed in your meeting today without express permission from all parties in the meeting, or you will be held legally liable and will be taken to court for any and all damages ensuing from the information you share.” She winked at Elise. “Just sign it and then don’t ever say anything to anyone unless they tell you that you can.”

  Elise nodded and signed the forms. She couldn’t imagine why she would ever discuss anything from her meeting with anyone, but she signed the forms anyway, completely baffled at all the red tape she was going through.

  She was seated in a lounge with sofas and floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the city. There was a small kitchen counter with coffee, tea, spring water and various pastries and cookies set out. She wanted to try a pastry, but her nerves had sprung to high alert and she knew she shouldn’t put anything into her stomach.

  She had never envisioned anything like this when she answered the ad, and it was beginning to intimidate her to the point that she was wondering if she should stay. She walked over to the window and looked out on the city, and then looked down and had to place her hands on the glass to steady herself from the dizziness. The distance that she could see downward did nothing to help her nerves. She took a deep breath and stepped backward.

  Elise opened one of the bottles of spring water and sat on the sofa, waiting and wondering what would happen. Thoughts ran through her mind about who it was that she would be seeing and who it was that wanted to have a child and would be in this office. This was no small thing. She remembered that the ad had stated that the payment would be six figures, and she began to realize that that might have been truthful and accurate.

  She wasn’t waiting long. It felt like an hour, and it felt like thirty seconds, all at once, but in reality she was in the room about five minutes before a thin young man with dark hair walked in and greeted her.

  “Hello Elise, I’m Jason.” He smiled and extended his hand. He looked like he hadn’t been out of college long.

  “Hi Jason, thank you for making this appointment earlier, I really appreciate that.” She smiled through her electric nerves.

  “If you would like anything in here,” he gestured to the pastries and drinks, “please feel free to help yourself to them. If there is anything else you’d like, I would be more than happy to get it for you. We have a full kitchen with a chef on staff here. Is there anything you’d like?” He looked at her as if it was nothing at all in the world.

  She couldn’t believe it: a kitchen with a chef in this building. “No thank you, I’m fine.” She wasn’t lying, but it wasn’t quite the truth, either.

  He stepped aside and held the door open for her. “Well then, let’s take you into your meeting, shall we?”

  She walked through the door and he closed it behind her and then led her down a long and well-lit hall to a wide set of doors. He opened them and ushered her in, and then closed himself outside of them behind her. She looked around the room and saw that there were two walls of floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a large dark leather sofa off to her right, a mini bar beside that, and on her left was a wall of books from floor-to-ceiling. In the far corner of the room where the glass walls met, was a large desk with two chairs in front of it and one chair behind it.

  An older man sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk and leaning against the desk was a tall, gorgeous man. He had sandy blonde hair that was combed back neatly and trimmed at the neck, no facial hair and dark green eyes, almost like emeralds. He was built of solid muscle and dressed in the finest suit she had ever seen in person.

  He watched her as she took in her surroundings. His first impression of her was that she was the picture of elegance without really even trying. Some women he knew wore elegance like cheap perfume, trying to saturate everyone around them with it as though it was a part of them, but a few women, including the one he was looking at, didn’t have to wear it, it was an inherent part of their character, as natural to them as breathing. She was lovely, he thought, almost arresting in a way, like someone who you could gaze at for a long time and not want to look away from. He realized he was staring at her and smiled, extending his hand to her.

  “Hello, you must be Elise. I’m David. Please, come in and have a seat with us.” He motioned to the chair beside Carlson, and she walked over to him, shook his hand for a moment and then sat down, smoothing her dress beneath her.

  His hand felt as warm and welcoming as his demeanor, and she decided almost right away that she liked him. He seemed a good man. In some men, their goodness is obvious, right from the start, and they don’t have to take time to show it to you or to try to convince you of it, it’s just there, and you know it. She knew it, and it settled her nerves a bit and let her relax enough to breathe.

  He indicated the older man sitting next to her. “This is Carlson. Carlson is my attorney.”

  The older man turned to her and smiled politely, shaking her hand and then looking from her to David. David walked around to the back of his desk and took his seat.

  “Thank you for coming in today, we’re glad to have you here,” he said politely.

  She nodded. “Thank you for letting me come in early. I have a business to open in a while and it would be difficult for me to be away from it in the early morning.”

  David nodded and looked down at an open file on his desk. “It’s a café and chocolate shop, right?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Bella Mocha,” she said feeling her nerves begin to tingle again.

  He looked up at her and folded his hands over her file. “Before we really begin, I am curious to know what it was that made you answer our ad.” He watched her carefully, taking in everything about her as she listened to him and answered him. One of the things that made him such an excellent businessman was his uncanny ability to read people and understand them.

  She felt as though she had nothing to lose, really, so she told him the truth. “Well, I want to have a baby but I’m not really interested in having the relationship that usually goes along with a baby. In addition to that, I could use the money from this to expand my business. Those two things are the most important things in the world to me right now.”

  David was impressed. She had told him the truth, all of the truth. He smiled at her and relaxed slightly.

  “That’s a good answer, Elise. I’ll tell you, it fits right in with what we are trying to do. Our mission is an unconventional one, so I’ll ask you to keep an open mind while we explain it to you, alright?” He raised an eyebrow at her in hope.

  She looked at him with a smile. “I think it takes a woman with a very open mind to answer an ad like the one I saw and actually come for the appointment.”

  A soft chuckle escaped him and he nodded. “Well said, Elise, well said. You’re a clever woman. Good.” He looked from her to Carlson and Carlson nodded subtly, then David looked back at Elise.

  “What we would like to do is to hire a woman to marry me, conceive and carry my child, give birth to it and then end the marriage after a three year contract. For this service, the successful candidate would be paid one million dollars.” He paused to gauge her reactions and he saw the surprise flicker across her face.

  She couldn’t believe what she had heard: a million dollars. That would be enough to open several stores and pay off all of her debts, as well as raise a baby. She could hardly believe it, but then her mind snapped to the one part of his description, which hadn’t been mentioned in the ad.

 
“There was no mention of marriage in the ad.” She was brief, but polite.

  He nodded. “No, there wasn’t. That’s something that we thought we would save for discussion with the right candidates. We wanted to be selective about the process.” He leaned back in his chair and regarded her with interest.

  “What would you do with the money, Elise?” he asked curiously.

  She didn’t have to think about it. Her answer was immediate. “I’d invest it into my business and open more locations.”

  “That may be a wise move. Investing often is, if it’s done correctly. Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you sell your business and retire?” he asked in a gentle tone.

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to retire. I’ve worked really hard to build that business up from nothing and I want to see it flourish. I want it to grow and I want to be at the head of that.”

  “Dedication and hard work. That’s very good,” David said, turning his pen back and forth in his hand as he watched her.

  “It’s unusual for a woman to not want a traditional family. Why do you have no interest in having a husband to help raise your child?” He tilted his head and kept his eyes on her face.

  She looked away from him for a moment and then looked back toward him. “I haven’t met anyone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and at this point, all I really want is the child. I tried the dating scene and it didn’t work for me. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to have a family just because my Mr. Right hasn’t shown up.”

  “So you’re done waiting for him?” David asked lightly.

  “I am. I still want the baby, though.” She answered.

  He nodded. “Alright. Well, here’s what I’m looking for. I want a woman who is willing to marry me soon, conceive a child naturally with me as soon as possible, and live with me as a spouse would, to help me raise it. At the end of three years, the woman and I would have an amicable divorce and share custody of the child. The woman would be paid the sum that I mentioned. All of the expenses incurred for the duration of the marriage to me and all expenses incurred for having and raising the child would be covered by me, apart from the payment for the position.”