Pregnant With Four Alphas' Babies: A Reverse Harem Romance Chapter 237: Baby for Sale, Cheap

*Retta*

My heart is racing, and there’s a rock in the pit of my stomach big enough to make me want to throw up. Desperately, I pull up another floorboard, thinking maybe my money fell to the side or something and it’s still there.

But there’s no sign of my money bag.

I feel like I can’t even take a breath. I’ve never felt this out of control in my life. I look around the room, trying to remember if maybe I didn’t really put the gold coins into the floor like I’d meant to. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me.

I pull out all the drawers in the dresser, look under the bed, search in the closets… I look everywhere, and that beautiful sack of gold coins is nowhere to be found.

To make matters worse, all my rustling around the motel room has made Astrid wake up, and she’s starting to cry. I pick her up to try to get her to quiet down before the manager or the neighbors start complaining.

Oh, no, the manager… I remember that I’m supposed to pay him today for my room, so he will probably be by soon, and he’ll show up even sooner if Astrid doesn’t quiet down. I don’t have a single gold coin left to pay him….

Bouncing Astrid against my shoulder, I use my one free hand to make her a bottle. There’s barely any formula left, just enough for this one feeding. Looking over at what’s left of the package of diapers, I start to panic even more. There are barely enough left to last for a single day.

I lay Astrid down on the bed to feed her, because that’s easier. At least she’ll quiet down with a full belly, even though that might be the last bottle she’ll get for a while. She finishes up, and I pick her up to burp her, then I set her back down, and she closes her eyes again, thankfully.

I prop a couple of pillows around her and sit down on the chair, the only one in this tiny motel room. I need to come up with a plan. There’s no formula left, and it’s not like I can feed her myself since I’m not her real mom, so that’s a huge problem. Then there’s the matter of the diapers, and of course, the room rent I’m supposed to pay today.

It’s looking like I have no choice left.

I take one last look at Astrid sleeping soundly, her little dark curls bouncing with every move of her head. She’s adorable, and I want her to be mine forever, but I need to prioritize things right now.

If I don’t get rid of her and get some money for her now, I’m going to starve. I’m not going to let that happen. She’s cute and all, but my life has to come first.

So, I make up my mind and decide it’s best to get the hell out of here before the manager shows up. I’ll just take everything I own and never come back. It’s not like I have a lot with me, so it doesn’t take long to gather everything. The last thing I do is pick up Astrid and walk out the door.

Luckily, no one is around, so I get out of the room before the manager can see me.

And I head down the street… back to Max in the bar.

There are a few more people here when I arrive, and they all eye me a little funny for carrying a baby into a bar, but that doesn’t last long as they turn the other way. I guess everyone around here knows what Max is up to.

There’s a man in the corner I’ve never seen before, and frankly, he doesn’t look like he belongs here. Everyone else in here—in this whole neighborhood, really—looks like they’ve been through a long life, even those women on the street corner who must be around my age. I guess a hard life really does age people quickly.

This man… he’s got some really beautiful blond hair and blue eyes, and he’s just sitting quietly in the corner watching people, sipping on a glass of something. Maybe he’s new to all this.

Then my eyes meet Max, and a sense of dread washes over me. I don’t want to sell Astrid to such an awful man, but I have no choice. I can’t keep taking care of her without money, and I can’t get money unless I sell her. I’m sure her life won’t be too awful. After all, those women on the street seem nice enough. Maybe they got sold to Max as babies too.

I can’t think about Astrid anymore, and that’s really hard to do while she’s still in my arms, so I hope Max just buys her and they take her away as quickly as possible.

“Well, would you look at who’s back?” Max says with a bit of a drawl, his mouth forming a smile that adds to the dread I’m already feeling. “Change your mind, little lady?”

I nod, having a hard time getting the words out of my mouth. But then I remember how desperate my situation is right now, how I’ll starve if I don’t sell Astrid, and I say, “Yes. I’m afraid I do need to sell her. Four hundred, right?”

Max laughs—not as if he’d heard something funny, but in a strange sort of half-sneering way that reminds me of that pit in my stomach. “Little girl,” he says. “That offer is no longer valid.”

“No longer valid?” I repeat his words. I know what he means, but right now I’m just not able to accept what he’s just said. “You don’t want to buy her?”

He laughs again, and this time it sounds a little more normal, except that the smile on his face has turned upward sharply. “Oh, that’s not what I meant,” he says. “I’ll buy her, but not for four hundred.”

I realize that I’ve lost a good opportunity by not selling Astrid the last time I was here. At least I could still ask for three hundred, which is the same as I’d gotten for the other three babies. “Okay,” I say. “So three hundred then?”

Inwardly, I chastised myself, because I shouldn’t have made that sound like a question. When I’m negotiating, I know that I need to sound firm and confident. Hopefully, he accepts the three hundred coin suggestion.

In the corner of my eye, I see the blond man get up and leave the bar, and he looks like he’s in a hurry.

But I return my gaze to Max, who is shaking his head. “I’m afraid all bets are off, little lady, since you insulted me before. I’ll give you two hundred and not a penny more.”

“But… but that’s half—”

“One fifty,” Max says, cutting me off. “The more you say, the less you get.”

“I’ll… I’ll take it,” I say.

“Smart girl,” he says. “Now, hand her over to Miss Precious over there, and I’ll get you your money. Then you have to get out of here and never come back.”

I nod. He doesn’t have to tell me that twice.

I collect the money from the bartender, who I guess is on Max’s payroll, and leave the bar, trying not to look back at Astrid. I hear her crying as I go, and I have to harden myself not to turn around and grab her away from them.

I guess I’m not a great mom after all, but I’m sure she’ll be okay.

I can do a lot with a hundred and fifty gold coins on my own.

* * *

*Mark*

Tristan, Eli, Reece, and I have just met up outside the train station, where Reece has just seen Rose and the babies off to head back to my castle, where she wants to talk to Barbara directly.

“Do any of us think that’s a good idea?” asks Eli.

We all look at each other, knowing the answer, but also knowing that we can’t keep Rose from doing everything she can to find Trisha.

Reece says it out loud first. “I’m not going to be the one to stop Rose,” he says.

“I think we’re in agreement then,” I say, chuckling lightly until I look at Tristan’s face.

It still has the look of pain and horror that all of us felt not long ago when our own children were missing. That look on his face brings it all back to me, and I refocus my determination to find his daughter. Even though Trisha isn’t my own child, she’s Rose’s little girl. And that makes her my priority, too.

“I think it’s safe to say that Trisha is out of this city now,” says Eli. “So we could split up, or we could keep chasing down leads together.”

“I don’t have any leads,” says Tristan. He barely seems capable of getting the words out of his mouth.

I’m about to open my own mouth to speak when I hear a voice in my head. “Alpha Mark,” a man’s voice says.

I recognize it instantly as Chester. He’s one of the warriors I’ve sent out to neighboring towns and cities to look for all the babies, and who are now all concentrating on finding Trisha. Chester has a family of his own, and it wasn’t that long ago that his wife had a little girl with bright blonde hair and blue eyes, just like his father.

“I think I know where the Alpha can find his daughter,” Chester says.