It was hard not to have any feelings for the life inside her, and those emotions were becoming stronger. Hormones were already shifting. She could only imagine how ambivalent she’d feel in another three and a half months.

But motherhood wasn’t her future. Her future was medicine, and her course was set.

For a long moment there was just silence in the office.

Mr. Laurent pressed his fingers together, creating a tense steeple. “What will it take to get you on that plane this Friday?”

Ridiculous. There was no way she could go so soon. “I have school. I have studies.”

“You have just finished the preclinical block. You are studying for the medical licensing exam, and you can study just as well in Greece as in Georgia.”

“I’m not going to leave my sister for three and a half months.”

“She’s twenty-one and lives in North Carolina.”

“Yes, she’s a senior at Duke University, but she’s financially and emotionally dependent on me. I am her only living relative.” Georgia met his gaze and held it. “I am all she has left.”

“And the child you carry?”

“Isn’t mine.” Her lips firmed. “Your client paid for the egg and the surrogacy, so if Mr. Panos wants to be present for the birth of his son, he can come to Atlanta. Otherwise, the baby’s nurse will take the infant to him. As agreed.”

“Mr. Panos is not able to fly.”

Georgia lifted her chin, air bottled inside her lungs. She was not going to engage. She refused to be drawn into this. A contract was a contract. “That is not my concern. Your client is not my concern. Once I give birth, the infant is not my concern. I have been paid not to care, and, Mr. Laurent, I intend to keep my end of the bargain.”

The attorney closed his eyes and rubbed at an invisible spot between his bushy gray eyebrows, bumping his glasses from his nose. For a moment the only sound in the room was the antique grandfather clock tick-ticking against the wall.

Mr. Laurent opened his eyes, fixed his gaze on her. “How much will it cost to get you on the plane on Friday? And before you say I’m not listening, I know everyone has a price. You do, too. It’s why you agreed to donate the egg and carry the fertilized embryo. You were satisfied with the compensation.