Eleanor never thought she was selling her body — not until the first payment hit their account. Even then, she told herself it was love. That’s how deep the lie ran.
Her husband, Ethan, never yelled or threatened. He just smiled, held her hand, and said they were doing it “for us.” For their family. For their future. She believed him — until she learned that “us” really meant his mother.
By then, Eleanor had carried two babies that weren’t hers — and lost everything that was.
Love, Debt, and a Dangerous Idea
When they met in college, Eleanor and Ethan were the kind of couple everyone envied — ambitious, in love, and full of plans. But after his father passed away, Ethan’s mother, Marlene, fell into debt. One favor turned into another, and soon every dollar, every dream, was going toward saving her.
Then one night, Ethan came home with a new idea. “A coworker’s cousin became a surrogate,” he said. “She made sixty thousand dollars. If you did that just once, we could pay off Mom’s mortgage.”
Eleanor thought it was a bad joke. But Ethan was serious.
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