Unlawful Possession
By Unsprouted Bean
She needed a baby so she’d never have to rely on a man. He needed that same child because it was his family’s final chance at an heir. Odessa Rourke grew up watching her mother live a life bound by dependence, only to be abandoned by men. The one lesson she carried away was simple: never hand over control of your life to anyone. At thirty, she takes matters into her own hands, paying out of pocket for an artificial insemination (IUI) using an anonymous donor—desiring nothing more than a child of her own, with no husband and no strings attached. Except the donor was Kit Wexcombe—a twenty-four-year-old who just tragically perished in a car crash right after a bitter argument with his older brother. Theron Wexcombe is the CEO of a massive maritime shipbuilding empire. At twenty-four, a battle with testicular cancer left him permanently incapable of fathering a child. The sole remaining chance for his family to carry on the Wexcombe bloodline… is the very last batch of sperm his younger brother left behind in a cryobank. By the time Theron tracks it down, Odessa is already seven weeks pregnant. His offer to buy the child for $2.5 million is torn to pieces right in front of his face. To Odessa, no wealthy man will ever use his fortune to rip away the child she worked so hard to create. Unable to break her with money or the law, Theron turns to obsession and manipulation: He leases the residence directly across from her apartment to keep her under constant watch. He plants people to monitor her daily schedule, every prenatal appointment, and every moment of vulnerability. He insidiously inserts himself into her life under the guise of an "uncle wanting to care for the pregnancy," tightening his grip step by step. Theron believes he is maintaining absolute control to protect his brother’s legacy—until he realizes he has grown completely unhinged over this fiercely stubborn woman. And when the truth of his systemic invasion of her privacy is dragged into the light, the man who controls everything will be forced to pay with the one thing he fears losing most.
