“Don’t do something you will regret. I’m working on getting back to the District. I’ll take care of things the minute I get back. Please, give me your assurance that you will do as I’ve asked.”

“Well, guess what, Ms. Lawyer? I’m not giving you any assurance. I’m outta here the first chance I get. I know Joanie feels the same way I do. Find some other suckers to fund your designer wardrobe.” Newsom blinked when she realized the surrogate had hung up on her.

A glutton for punishment, she hit the speed dial and waited to see if Joan Olsen would answer the phone. The call immediately went to voice mail. She cursed under her breath and threw the cell phone on the grungy yellow bedspread. Her breathing was so ragged, she thought she was going to black out.

Adel Newsom sat down on the edge of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. How the hell did I get into this position? Is Baron right, and it was my own greed? Oh, God!

A sob caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut as she hoped for a lightning-bolt solution to hit her between the eyes. All she had to show for her life was a mediocre law practice, a pricey house in Georgetown with an uncomfortably high mortgage, a high-end car that she was upside down on, scars all over her body from all the exorbitantly expensive plastic surgery, and another woman’s husband three times a week.

There was no doubt in her mind that Baron Bell would throw her to the wolves to protect his nice cushy life. She also knew he’d covered his fat ass all along the way.

“Well, we’ll just see about that, you little toad.”

Newsom pulled on her puffy coat and slogged her way through the snow over to the lobby of the motel. There had to be someone heading into Washington who would give her a lift into town.

Fifteen minutes later she was sitting high in the cab of a truck headed to the nation’s capital with a delivery for Starbucks. For a measly five hundred dollars, the trucker had agreed to drop her off near the White House. Newsom was no fool. “Half now, and the other half when you drop me off,” she told him. “I think I should warn you, I’m a lawyer and an officer of the court. I have a pistol in my bag, and I’m licensed to carry it.”