Isabella: Our Adopted Baby

Chapter 14

Quinn and I kept to ourselves for the rest of the day. After being in my room for a while, I got bored. There wasn't a TV in my room so there wasn't a lot I could do. I wasn't going to play with toys or baby dolls, that was for sure. So I went down to the living room and got comfortable on the couch.

Quinn must have texted or called Giovanni. I couldn't hear either of them where they were but I was in the living room for only a few minutes when Giovanni walked back into the kitchen.

He walked into the room and stopped at the bottom of the steps. He turned and made eye contact with me.

Neither of us said anything.

Our eye contact only lasted a few seconds before he turned around and went up the steps.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and turned my focus back on the TV. I felt bad for what happened between Quinn and I. I didn't mean to upset her by finding the box filled with her baby's things. I didn't expect her to have a box filled with such valuable things just lying on the floor in her closet but maybe I shouldn't have gone looking for things to use against her.

Both of us did and said things we shouldn't have. It worried me that the next month was going to be stressful for us. I didn't want her to hate me and I really didn't want to hate her. I couldn't spend the next month of my life avoiding her when we lived together and she was meant to take care of me.

Giovanni was still upstairs with Quinn. I expected him to talk to her and then go back outside. It worried me that he was up there for so long. Clearly, they were talking about me.

Were they deciding what to do with me? I didn't know how many people they went through at ASI before they got to me. Maybe they were just tired of dealing with difficult people and that included me.

I didn't want to stay after hearing their rules. They were stupid and made me feel like I was just their doll and not a real person. But if what Quinn said was accurate, then I had reason to be worried. If the contract was breached in any way, I'd have to pay ASI and Quinn and Giovanni $100,000. That was $100,000 more than I had. There was no way I'd be able to ever pay that kind of debt off.

Wringing my hands in front of me, I got to my feet and walked toward the steps. Maybe if I just apologized, we could move past what happened in the closet and all talk of the contract being breached would be forgotten.

Giovanni appeared at the top of the landing and slowed his walk down the remaining stairs until he was only two steps away from me. "Come with me."

I took a step back so he could walk down the rest of the steps. I followed as he headed towards the front door. "Am I in trouble?"

He unlocked the front door and opened it. "We need to talk."

I held my breath as I walked past him, afraid of what he might do. The front porch had a bench with a cushion on it, several chairs, and plants sitting on either side of the door. It faced the street but since it was at the end of the cul-de-sac, it didn't really matter the appearance. I figured they still cared though as it was their house.

Giovanni sat down on one of the chairs. He nodded to the one closest to me, presumably for me to sit in.

I took the short few steps to the chair and sat down, cringing as I felt the diaper squish under me. I hadn't used it yet and was dreading having to use it but just feeling the material under me was enough to gross me out.

"I'm not going to let Quinn break the contract. If it gets breached, it won't be because of us. I think she just let her emotions get the best of her and she reacted without thinking it through."

"I didn't mean to upset her."

"What were you doing in our closet?"

I stared down at the ground. Quinn knew my intentions. Giovanni knew them, even if he didn't come out and say it like Quinn had. I couldn't lie my way out of the situation. "Everyone has secrets they don't want people to know about. I thought... I just wanted leverage. I wasn't expecting... I didn't expect to find that."

Giovanni leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his hands together between his knees. "I'm sorry you don't like it here. Our rules are unconventional but we think the reward overrules that. All we're asking for is thirty days. We don't want a fight."

"The thirty days is just preliminary stuff. What about after? Isn't the whole point for you to find someone who will stay past that time?"

He nodded. "It is. We're still working on figuring that part out. We've never made it past the first thirty days."

"You're focusing too much on the first thirty days and not anything after."

"We give everyone the chance to decide what happens to the contract after the first thirty days. That should be enough."

I could understand why they thought that would be enough. They offered up a fairly large amount of money and in return, they just wanted someone to take care of and love. Their way of showing that love was a bit unorthodox but there had to be someone who was into that sort of thing.

"Maybe we need to find someone less stubborn." He looked over at me with an eyebrow raised.

I leaned back in my seat and played with the bottom of my dress. "You probably should have offered the money to someone that's easier to deal with."

"I like a challenge."

"But what if I don't stay after the initial thirty days?"

He shrugged. "Then we find someone new."

"Isn't that exhausting though? It has to be hard going from person to person without finding the right one."

"It is."

"If you give everyone you work with $100,000, how do you even have anything left over?" Losing $100,000 even once was enough to put me into a lifetime of debt. That was why I couldn't let the contract be breached, even though I wanted to.

"We don't give everyone $100,000. We were just hoping we could coax you into staying if we offered a lot of money upfront."

"You can't just give someone money and expect them to like you."

"Well, we're hoping it'll work with you."

It didn't seem like it was working. I didn't think I would stay after the first thirty days. I didn't know what the future contract would look like beyond the initial one. Would they want me to keep up the facade of being a baby?

I brushed my hair away from my face. It was tangled and knotted from not being brushed for so long. I needed to deal with it soon before it became a big problem. "Maybe you should offer a million dollars. That might be enough to convince me."

He rolled his eyes. "Be realistic, Isabella."

"So a million dollars is where you draw the line then? I'm surprised, honestly. I thought $100,000 was a lot of money."

"It is but we're hoping you're worth it."

My face flushed. I certainly didn't feel like I was worth paying that much money. My attitude would have made any sane person get rid of me and move on. I wasn't sure why Giovanni and Quinn wanted to bother.

Giovanni got to his feet and turned to face me. "Go talk to Quinn. Don't look for any chances to hurt her feelings. Just talk. She really wants you here. She wants you to enjoy being here."

"That might take a while."

"Just give us a chance."