MR. MORENO'S SURROGATE ✔️

4 - Leilah

I wake up and it's almost seven. Fuck. I get up and I hurry to the shower, then I rummage through my closet, finding a black silk dress, and a black robe to go over it, looking it over, deciding whether or not I want to wear it. I put it on and then I find a pair of black heels to go with it. When I open my door, the maid stands next to it and she immediately scurries to my assistance.

"Ms. Winters." she says, bowing her head to me.

"You don't have to do that." I say.

"Mr. Moreno demands the utmost respect to you, Ms. Winters. I'm not allowed to disobey any direct orders."

"Well I'm telling you that you can. I don't know what he does when I'm not around, but when you're around me, it's okay to break a few rules. Why not?" I say, shrugging.

She looks up at me, maybe considering it. Then she shakes the thought away. "I wish it worked that way, but it doesn't. Now, onto dinner. Come, come." she says, walking out in front of me to escort me to dinner.

The dining room is huge. There's a table in the middle of the room and Elijah sits there typing away on his phone. He peels his eyes from his phone and looks at me with an eyebrow raised. When I sit down, his eyes are still glued to me. Immediately, he rips his eyes from me and holds a hand up, making people walk up to the table to sit down plates and serve the food. When they're done, he waves them away and I look down at my plate and I begin to eat.

Suddenly, I feel his deep voice shake the room as he speaks. "I have a few expectations that I'd like you to meet while you're here." he says.

"Hmm," I hum, chewing my food. "And what are they? You gonna make me a 'to-do list' or something?" I say, making his eyes snap to mine.

"No." he says. "But it's something of the sort." he says, continuing to eat. "One, you aren't to bother me during the day. I have work that I need to attend to, and I don't want any distractions." My eyebrows shoot up but he doesn't seem to notice. "Two, you are never to leave this house unless it's with me. I don't care who it is, if it's not me, you're not going." he says.

"What? You've got to be kidding me." I interrupt.

"I'm not." he says plainly.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to let you keep me here like a prisoner." I say, looking at him with a serious look.

"Call it whatever you'd like. I'm protecting my child."

"I'm not doing this." I say, pushing my chair from the table and throwing the towel that was on my lap onto it.

I hear his footsteps coming toward me, and he grabs my wrist, yanking me back to look at him. "Sit down." he demands.

"Fuck you." I say back.

He grips my face in his hands and doesn't let go. "Watch your fucking mouth. I brought you here to protect you. You should be lucky I even looked in your direction." he says in my ear.

"I should have never decided to do this. I don't think you even deserve to be a father."

He puts his hand around my throat and squeezes it, making me gasp for air. "I don't give a shit about what you think. If you ever disrespect me again, I will fucking end you."

"You don't have the balls. What happened to protecting your child?" I say with a smirk.

"You think I'm joking?" I feel something cold against my thigh. It's a gun.

A thrill shoots up my spine and I smile up at him. The anger drawn on his face immediately turns to confusion as I move his hand and the gun he has in it up my body to let it rest against my heart.

"Do it." I urge.

He blinks in confusion. "What?" he says.

"Do it." I repeat. "Pull the trigger." He looks at me like I'm crazy and his breath hitches in his throat as his grip on my throat fluctuates. "What's wrong?" I say. "You need a little motivation?"

Maintaining eye contact, I move the gun up to my lips and I put the barrel in my mouth, making his eyes flick to my lips wrapped around his gun. His eyes widen and he looks me in my eyes with something like lust in them. Then he quickly lets go of my throat and pulls his gun from my mouth, gripping my face in his hand once more.

"Most importantly, never go into my bedroom or my office." he says before removing his hand from my face and walking off.

With a smile, I go upstairs and as I come up, Cayson is coming down. "Dinner's over already?" he asks.

"Guess so." I say. "I'll join you if you're going down there."

"You don't have to. Eli would probably freak."

"I don't understand why. He had no problem threatening to kill me." I say.

"He didn't." Cayson says, furrowing his eyebrows. I shrug my shoulders and he sighs. "Fuck. My fucking brother. He's lost his shit."

"I can see that." I say, turning around to follow Cayson back to the dining room.

"He's always so angry at the world that he takes it out on other people just because. I've never really had a problem with it, but you're carrying his kid. He shouldn't treat you like that." he says, sitting down and calling the servants into the dining room to give him a plate.

"You must be older." I say, cutting into my food, still hot.

"I am. But he's more serious than I am. I've never really cared about this m.... business like he does. He takes it too serious." he says, beginning to eat.

We continue talking as we eat.

"Why is he always so angry and tense?" I ask.

"Only God knows. I think he got it from Dad, may his soul rest in peace."

"I'm sorry." I say apologetically.

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm not the emotional kind of person. Neither of us are."

"That's good to know." I say, giggling softly. We continue to talk even after we're done eating and soon, I'm tired. Laughing, I speak. "I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight Cayson." I say.

"Goodnight, Leilah. Don't let my brother make you feel a way."

I nod my head and I get up, walking upstairs to my room for the night.