Page 42 of Ransom for His Secret Son

“She found me online,” Allie admitted. “I had joined a couple of surrogacy forums, thinking about it as an option, but I hadn’t actually applied to any official agencies yet. Then Shelby reached out. She said she’d pay me fifty thousand dollars to carry a baby for her.”

Brody exhaled through his nose, but he didn’t say anything.

Allie let out a bitter laugh. “I was broke. About to drop out of school because I couldn’t afford tuition. Fifty grand sounded like a miracle.”

Remi kept her expression neutral. She understood desperation. “Did you look into her background?”

Allie nodded quickly. “I did. I wasn’t completely clueless. I checked her out. At least, I thought I did. There was an online footprint, records that showed she owned a successful real estate business. Nothing shady.” She paused. “But I know now that was all fake. There was no Shelby Connelly.”

That didn’t surprise Remi one bit. “Did you ever meet Shelby in person?” Remi asked.

“Yeah. Twice. First time was at a coffee shop in San Antonio. She wanted to meet face-to-face before we moved forward.” Her fingers flexed around the dog’s collar as she exhaled. “The second time was a couple of weeks later when I signed the contract.”

Brody frowned. “She had a contract?”

Allie nodded. “It looked real. Everything was professional. Medical coverage, legal jargon. I didn’t know enough to question it.”

Remi exchanged a glance with Brody. Someone had gone through the trouble of setting up fake documents, a background and a whole identity. This wasn’t something put together on a whim.

“What did she look like?” Remi pressed.

Allie hesitated, then rubbed a hand over her arm. “Late thirties or early forties. Blond hair, shoulder-length. Really polished, like the kind of woman who always has her nails done, always wears heels. Not flashy, but put-together.”

Remi’s mind immediately went to Christina Turner and Eloise Davenport. Both women could have fit that description if they’d altered their appearances.

Remi pulled up photos of them on her phone and turned the screen toward Allie. “Either of these women?”

Allie studied the images for a long moment before shaking her head. “No. Similar look, but not them.”

Remi felt the first stirrings of frustration. That would’ve been too easy.

“Did Shelby ever mention if she was trying to have a child for herself, or did she say she was arranging this for someone else?” Remi pressed.

Allie’s face tightened. “She said it was her baby. That she’d gone through the IVF process and just couldn’t carry a pregnancy herself.”

Brody’s jaw clenched. “And you had no reason to doubt her.”

“Not at the time.” Allie sighed. “But I do now.”

Yes, hindsight probably felt like it was mocking Allie right now, but from the sound of it, this Shelby had put up a convincing act.

Remi kept her gaze locked on Allie. “Did Shelby have any other unusual requests for the surrogacy?”

Allie let out a short, humorless laugh. “Yeah. A lot. A biggie was that she wanted me to keep the pregnancy completely secret. She said she didn’t want her ex-husband finding out.”

Remi jumped right on that. “She mentioned an ex-husband?”

Allie nodded. “She said that he was violent and that he was a cop. That if he found out about the baby, he’d try to take it and cover it up. That’s why she wanted everything done quietly.”

Brody shifted beside her. “Did you ever ask for details? A name of the ex?”

“I didn’t push,” Allie admitted. “She made it clear she didn’t want to talk about him. And, at the time, it made sense. People go to extreme lengths to protect their kids.”

Remi bit back a curse. If Shelby Connelly was a fake identity, then everything she’d told Allie was likely a lie, including the story about the ex-husband. She was probably just who the real culprit had hired to do this initial phase of what had turned into the nightmare going on now.

“What other demands did Shelby have?” Remi prompted.

Allie gathered her breath. “She insisted I stay in a vacation cabin for the entire pregnancy. She didn’t want me around other people. Said it was for my safety.”