Chapter 3 - My Surrogate Was His Stepmother

Colton disappeared into the house. For a moment, I thought maybe he'd run. Just gotten in his car and left.

But he came back two minutes later with a folder. Thick, professional-looking. The kind of folder that said "legitimate business."

He held it up like a shield. "Here. Everything's documented."

He opened it and pulled out papers. Letterhead. Forms. Medical jargon. He showed them to the crowd like a lawyer presenting evidence.

"Westwood Fertility Center," he read. "Patient intake forms. Treatment schedules. Signed consent documents." He looked at me. "All of it real. All of it legal."

I watched some of the faces around us soften. People wanted to believe him. It was easier than accepting that someone could lie this completely.

"See?" a woman said to her husband. "There must be an explanation."

"Medical records don't lie," someone else agreed.

Colton's shoulders relaxed slightly. He thought he was winning.

I let him have that moment. Then I pulled out my phone.

"Westwood Fertility Center," I said, reading from my screen. "2247 Westwood Boulevard, Suite 302, Los Angeles."

"That's right," Colton said quickly.

"Great." I tapped my phone. "Let's call them right now."

His face froze.

I put the phone on speaker and dialed. The crowd went quiet. We all listened to it ring.

And ring.

Then: "The number you have reached is not in service."

I hung up. "Weird. A fertility clinic with no working phone number."

"They probably changed it—" Colton started.

"Really?" I opened Google Maps. "Because according to this, 2247 Westwood Boulevard, Suite 302 is a UPS Store. You know, where people rent mailboxes."

I held up my phone so everyone could see the street view. A strip mall. A UPS logo clearly visible.

"Maybe they moved," Lexi said weakly.

"In less than two years? Without updating their paperwork?" I looked at Colton. "Or maybe they never existed."

Sloane stepped forward. "Let me see those forms."

Colton hesitated, then handed them over. She flipped through them, her expression getting darker with each page.

"These are fake," she said flatly. "The letterhead is wrong. The medical license numbers don't follow California's format. And look—" She held up a form. "This signature? It's identical on every page. Exactly identical. Down to the pixel."

"So it's scanned," Colton said. "That's normal—"

"No doctor signs dozens of forms and then scans the same signature onto all of them." Sloane looked at him like he was a stranger. "Colton, what the hell is this?"

"It's all a misunderstanding—"

"Stop." I cut him off. "Let's talk about Dr. Marcus Reynolds. The 'fertility specialist' who supposedly handled everything."

I pulled up a photo on my phone. A headshot. Professional. White coat. Stethoscope.

"This is Dr. Reynolds, right?"

Colton nodded slowly.

"Funny thing." I swiped to the next photo. Same man, different outfit. Jeans and a t-shirt, holding a headshot. "This is from his actor profile. On Casting Networks. See his credits? He's done commercials. Background work. And yes—medical shows where he plays doctors."

The crowd pressed closer to see. Someone gasped.

"That's not possible," Lexi whispered.

"Isn't it?" I swiped again. "Here's his rate card. Two thousand dollars for a commercial. Five thousand for a speaking role. And for 'specialized private bookings'—fifty thousand."

I looked at Colton. "That's exactly what you paid him. In March of last year. The exact month Lexi supposedly started IVF treatments."

Priya shook her head in disbelief. "You hired an actor to pretend to be a doctor?"

"I didn't—" Colton's voice cracked. "That's not what happened—"

"Then what happened?" I demanded. "Explain to me how a fertility clinic that doesn't exist, staffed by an actor you paid fifty grand, somehow performed a successful embryo transfer."

He opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

"And let's talk about that embryo transfer." I pulled up another photo. "March fifteenth. The day Lexi supposedly went to the clinic for the procedure. You remember, Colton. You told me she needed complete bed rest afterward. Doctor's orders. No visitors. She stayed home for three days."

"She did," Colton said.

"Did she?" I held up my phone. "This is a hotel receipt. The Peninsula. Beverly Hills. Checked in March fifteenth at two PM. Checked out March seventeenth at two PM. Exactly seventy-two hours."

I zoomed in on the guest names. "Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell. Room 412."

Colton's face went white. Actually white.

"The Peninsula?" Sloane's voice was ice. "You took her to The Peninsula?"

"We needed privacy—" Lexi started.

"For what?" I looked at her. "For an embryo transfer? Or for something else?"

A man in the crowd—someone I didn't know—spoke up. "Wait, you're saying they were at a hotel together while she was supposed to be recovering from a medical procedure?"

"Not just together." I pulled up more photos. Credit card receipts. "Room service for two. Champagne. Strawberries. Couple's massage at the hotel spa."

I looked around at the crowd. "Does that sound like medical recovery to you?"

The whispers started again. Louder this time. Angry.

"They were screwing," someone said bluntly.

"While pretending to do IVF," another voice added.

"This whole thing was a scam."

Colton held up his hands. "Everyone just stop. You're jumping to conclusions—"

"Am I?" I stepped closer to him. "Three hotel stays. March, April, and May. All at The Peninsula. All when Lexi was supposedly at 'medical appointments.'"

I turned to the crowd. "He told me those were monitoring appointments. To make sure the pregnancy was progressing. He said I couldn't come because it would 'stress Lexi out.'"

"Oh my God," someone whispered.

Harper was screaming now. Full-on wailing. Lexi tried to soothe her, but her hands were shaking too badly.

I looked at them. At Colton with his fake papers. At Lexi with their baby. At the pile of lies that had been my marriage.

"You made me believe I was broken," I said quietly. "That I couldn't have children. That I needed help. That I should be grateful."

My voice got louder. "You made me watch Lexi's stomach grow and think it was my baby inside. You made me go to ultrasounds and cry tears of joy at those images. You made me fall in love with a child that was never mine."

"Madi—" Colton reached for me.

"Don't." I stepped back. "You made me thank her. Thank her. For 'giving me' a baby. For 'sacrificing her body.' For being so generous."

I laughed. It came out broken. "The whole time, you were just—what? Having your affair? Playing house?"

"It wasn't like that," Lexi said. Her voice trembled.

"Then what was it like?"

She looked at Colton. He looked at her. Something passed between them. Something that made my stomach turn.

Someone in the crowd whispered, "Oh my God, they've been together this whole time."

Lexi's face crumbled. She looked at me, tears streaming down her face.

"We..." Her voice broke. "We love each other."