One night, while Alex was still struggling with the decision, Beatrice pushed him over the edge: “You weren’t going to ruin your life for her, Alex. A man needs an heir.”
On the night their marriage finally broke apart, Alex left a folder on the kitchen island containing brochures for international surrogacy clinics, pricing details, and strict timelines.
“Do you want a child, or do you want to stay married to me?” Elena had asked, her voice trembling.
“I want both,” he had replied.
“And what if I can’t give you children?”
He had said nothing.
Three days later, Elena took a home pregnancy test and discovered she was pregnant. That evening, she intended to reveal the positive test over dinner. But Alex walked through the door with a suitcase. He told her he needed space, that he couldn’t spend his life wondering whether he had abandoned his dream of becoming a father because of sentimentality.
