Chapter 3

Early the next morning, before the sun rose. Melinda had made her way to the bank and withdrew all she had and proceeded to the hospital. She made her way quickly to the reception. As she walked, she didn't notice the man who sat in the farthest corner watching her closely.

Melinda's hair was in a mess, and her clothes were beyond rumpled, in fact, she was in complete disarray and the receptionist couldn't take her eyes off her.

"I need to make a deposit." Melinda said impatiently, dropping the cheque carefully on the table.

"I know I was supposed to make a deposit of $50,000 but I could only gather $30,000. I'm going to bring in the rest of the money before the week runs out." As she said the last sentence, she wasn't sure of where she was going to get the rest of the money from.

The receptionist eyed her closely looked at the cheque and turned to her computer.

"Name?" She asked without looking up from the computer.

"Melinda... Melinda Mcfeligher."

"Madam, your husband came in here this morning and cleared the whole bill."

Melinda wasn't sure of what she had heard. "What?" Melinda furrowed her brow.

"You do not owe a dime, madam." Melinda stared at the receptionist dumbfoundedly.

"You mean I don't have to pay anything?" Melinda asked in a raised tone.

"Yeah exactly, aren't you aware of that?" The receptionist looked at her strangely.

Melinda shook her head absentmindedly and made her way to the doctor's office.

"You can have a seat." The doctor said to Melinda when she walked into his office.

"Doctor, is it true that someone has cleared my bill?"

"Yes. Your husband did." The doctor was shocked as to why Melinda would ask that.

"He just left a while ago. He said he was going to come back and check up on the child." He added.

Melinda tried to wrap her head around what was happening. "Doctor, I have no husband. I don't even know who the father of my child is."

The doctor's eyes widened in shock but he quickly comported himself. Melinda wondered who could have single-handedly cleared a bill of $159,000.

"Oh, here he is." The doctor said as a man walked into the office. Melinda's stomach twisted as she turned around slowly to see who it was.

"Hope I didn't take too long doctor?" The man said as he advanced further into the office.

"No sir you didn't." The doctor responded with a smile on his face.

​Melinda couldn't tear her gaze away from the man as he settled into his seat. When he finally turned to meet her eyes, a strange sensation welled up inside her as their gazes locked.

The man didn't look familiar or sound familiar to her at all. He had dark blue eyes and wasn't too muscular compared to the man she had had that one-night stand with. She had expected the man from the other night to show up and not this man who sat in front of her with a look of seriousness on his face.

"Isn't this your husband?" the doctor said to Melinda motioning toward the man, but Melinda didn't respond instead, her gaze was still nestled on the strange man.

"Who are you and why did you clear my child's medical bills?" Melinda finally asked.

"You mean my child." The man corrected. "My name is Sylvester Montez."

Melinda's eyes widened in disbelief. "Excuse me?!" Melinda said, "What do you mean by your child." Melinda was beginning to think this was a prank.

Without trading words with Melinda, Sylvester placed his briefcase on the table. He unlocked it and took out a chequebook and a file. He closed the briefcase and placed it by his side.

"Do you have a pen?" Sylvester asked the doctor.

"Uhm yeah," the doctor replied as he searched himself. "here," he stretched the pen to Sylvester who took it and scribbled something onto a page in the chequebook. He moistened his hand before tearing off the page.

"Here's $200,000..." Sylvester handed the cheque. Melinda stared at it dumbfoundedly.

"Go on, take it." He urged. She collected it from him with trembling fingers.

She gasped in shock when saw the amount written on it. "what's this for?" She asked surprisingly.

"You can do whatever you want with it. Just hand over the child to me." Sylvester said, not testing his gaze from Melinda.

"What child?" Melinda raised her brow.

"How many have you birthed in the last twelve hours?" Sylvester asked sarcastically.

"Oh, no way. I'm not doing that!" Melinda exclaimed when she finally got the message.

"Well then..." Sylvester started, taking the cheque from her hold.

"...I can as well decide to take the money I paid to the hospital and make them stop treatment immediately."

"Please I beg of you sir, don't," Melinda pleaded, falling to her knees.

Sylvester stared down at her, his face devoid of emotion and Melinda knew he meant every word he said.

"The only reason that'll make me not ask for a refund from the hospital is if you give up the child and have this instead." Sylvester used his finger to slide the cheque down to Melinda's side of the table.

Melinda got up and sat back in the chair. She was deep in thought, she looked from the doctor to Sylvester. She had never been at a crossroads as this.

If she rejected this man's offer she knew she was going to lose her child forever. But if she accepted, at least there was a chance of her getting her son back later on in the future.

"Who will breastfeed him then?" She asked.

"Leave that to me," Sylvester responded.

​She gave him a long and hard stare. "Fine. You can keep him, but make sure nothing happens to my son." Melinda struggled to get all the words out as she took the cheque and dipped it into her handbag.

"Here you have to sign this," Sylvester said, showing her the file he had also taken out from his briefcase.

"What's that for?" She asked.

"To assure me that you'll never come after the child even when he's older."

"What?!" She exclaimed. "so I can't visit him if I want to?" She asked.

He responded with a slight nod. "Go ahead and sign it, I don't have much time left. Here's a pen."

Melinda opened the file, she read through the contents and the consequences that lay await if she breached the contract. She thought of reconsidering what she was about to do. She was about to give up her child just to keep him alive. She tried to convince herself that this was the only way to keep her son alive. With pain growing inside her chest and tears rolling down her eyes. She signed the contract.