Author's Notes:
Welcome back readers to the eighth installment of my story!
There's a lot happening in this chapter, and if you haven't read the previous chapters, you're going to get lost. I don't make much of an effort to explain references to earlier events and characters (of which, there are a lot). You'll see that this chapter picks up directly after chapter 7.
Standard disclaimer: Please, if you like the story, or if you don't like the story, take a moment to comment. It's especially helpful if you have something constructive to add. It helps me quite a bit to see the story through others' eyes.
Finally, as always, all sexual activity takes place between adults.
—MB
*****
From Chapter 7:
Indicating that she should sit, Carson replied, "Please, call me Carson. What brings you here today, Miss..."
"van Heuval," she said. "My name is Mrs. Aria van Heuval, and I'm here because I want you to knock me up."
Oooo boy, he thought.
*****
Clearing his throat, Carson said, "You want to run that by me again?"
"I know how crazy this sounds, but I want to have a baby, and I want it to be yours."
"Uh huh," he answered skeptically. "And why, pray tell, would you want my baby? We don't even know each other."
Aria smiled sheepishly. "At the risk of sounding like a rebellious teenage girl, to piss off a whole bunch of people."
Carson sat back and looked at her thoughtfully. "You're married to Jordan?"
She nodded.
"What's your maiden name?" he asked.
"Clemonte."
Searching his mind to figure out why that sounded so familiar, he realized with a start that she was the daughter of one of the 'Big 3' in Eisenfaust. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Is she some sort of mole? An assassin? Double-agent?
Warning sirens were going off in his mind, with a flashing message that said, 'Proceed with caution.'
As evenly as he could, hoping to avoid tipping her to his suspicion, Carson asked, "Let's assume for a second that that's not one of the worst reasons to have a baby with someone in the history of ever. It still doesn't answer my question. More importantly, why would you want to piss off a bunch of people by having a baby with me?"
"Because I won't be a pawn in anyone's game," she said vehemently. "I didn't marry Jordan because I had a choice. Hell, I don't even
like
the guy, much less love him. But in my family, it's pretty much Dad's way or the highway. He made an agreement with my father-in-law for me to marry into the van Heuval family, got it approved by the council, and pretty much delivered me like a sacrificial lamb."
"Out of curiosity, why don't you just divorce Jordan and leave?"
Aria sighed before responding. "I could do that. And I've thought about it. But then I get angry. Why should I have to give up anything? My dad said he'll disown me if I don't follow through on this." She looked Carson in the eye. "My family is
very
wealthy, and I would be giving up a lot of resources down the road if I left. And for what? Love? From where I'm sitting, that's just a romantic notion in the Project. Besides, there's nothing that says that just because I'm married to Jordan that I have to have babies with him. That's sort of assumed, but marriage is a political tool in
Orriri
, not a commitment."
"I can see why you'd think that," said Carson. "I've got to tell you; it
is
possible to find love with other breeders in
Orriri
. It's not easy, and it's not really part of the plan, when you think about it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen."
She looked at him sadly. "I know you're right; I saw the looks on your wives' faces at the club. It's even rarer than you think, though. All of the women in my family are in arranged marriages, whether they were born into our family or married in. A lot of my friends are like that, too. Love doesn't really factor into the equation. It's always bothered me, but I figured that once I started filling that void with babies, it would work itself out. That's all I've ever wanted to do, Carson, have babies. I don't want a career, I don't want to go to school, I just want to be a mother. For that, I think I could endure a lot of things."
This was one of the drawbacks to the project as far as Carson was concerned. It sounded egalitarian during the recruitment pitch, but his experience had been that men had a lot more power, with fathers exerting an exorbitant amount of pressure on daughters to make the 'right' match. To Carson's way of thinking, young women should have a lot more control over their own lives.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied. And he was. He struggled with himself often over his participation in the project, but he was one of the 'winners.' Carson had several women that he loved in his life. From what Aria had said, she had none of that.
She still hadn't explained why she wanted
his
baby, though. "It pains me to hear about the kind of life you're describing," he said. "I wish I could change that for you at the snap of my fingers, but I don't have that kind of power. Still, I'm curious about why you approached me with this."
Aria got kind of a cheesy grin on her face. "You
are
kind of hot, you know. That would have been enough for me to want to have fun with you anyway. But when I overheard my dad and my father-in-law complaining about you and how quickly you've been making connections in the project, I knew what I had to do."
"And what about Jordan?" he asked.
"What about him? He's a spoiled brat who's used to getting his way on everything, and I never would have married him if I'd had the option. He's pretty enough, and he's actually not bad in bed, but I have zero intention of having his baby. From the moment I agreed to go through with this plan, it's always been my intention to have someone else father my children. The idea of making him raise another man's baby warms my heart, and it serves him right for all the times he's done it to other guys."
Carson stared at her in shock for a moment. "You hate him that much?"
"It's not really that I
hate
him; I just don't have any respect for him. Some women are okay doing what they're told to support the project's goals; I have a sister like that. I'm just not one of them. I want strong, healthy babies from a man that stands out from the rest. And you sir,
stand out
."
"Wow. You're serious about cuckolding Jordan, huh? I, uh, knew that he didn't have the greatest reputation among the project women, but that's...unexpected."
He considered their conversation to this point. He really did hate when the strong preyed on the weak, and despite his recent apparent change-of-heart, Jordan van Heuval was a past master at it. He'd heard rumblings of Jordan's activities off and on over the past year but hadn't considered just how widely they were known. As Carson thought it over, he remembered sitting in this office with Xavier Sloane and discussing this very topic. Leaving the office that day, he was resolute that if the opportunity presented itself, he'd do to the bullies what the bullies did to 'normal' guys. That thought tipped things in Aria's favor. Still, he felt the need to proceed with caution.