numusjamesroses

Hazel Rogers never imagined her mother’s failing heart would force her into the arms of a stranger. With hospital bills piling up and no time left, she signs a desperate contract— as a surrogate for a billionaire who she doesn’t know. Ace Milan is cold, calculated, and devastatingly powerful, a man who built his empire on control and keeps  his heart locked behind a fortress. Hazel is just a transaction to him. But when a scary accident forces her to move into his home, the lines blur. He becomes cruel, unpredictable—testing her limits with sharp words and colder actions. Yet beneath his ice is something else, something broken, watching her with eyes that never quite soften. As her pregnancy progresses, Hazel stumbles upon whispers of the woman who came before her—the first surrogate. The one who vanished. No one speaks of her, and Ace refuses to explain. But the house holds secrets. Locked rooms. Late-night phone calls. Half-truths wrapped in charm. And suddenly, the child inside Hazel becomes more than a contract—it becomes a target. Torn between protecting the life growing inside her and uncovering the truth about the man she’s starting to feel dangerously drawn to, Hazel is forced to make a choice. Walk away before she ends up like the last surrogate… or risk everything to unravel the darkness Ace has spent his life hiding. One thing is clear—nothing in this arrangement is what it seems. And some secrets are buried deep for a reason.

THE BILLIONAIRE’S SECRET : Her contract, His Heart

I came downstairs with a full mind. I had a lot of things to do. But I had come home earlier only to meet this brat of a girl who wants to prove she's hard-headed.

I sat at the table forcing myself to eat. I didn't need the food. I was just pushing it around the plate, the steak had gone cold while my mind picked at something warmer, stubborn and infuriating.

She was upstairs, probably crying. And it annoyed me. I was doing all this for my child. She's the one benefiting so why be stubborn?

I kept eating but my mind just kept wandering to different places. Particularly how she looked when she glared at me, the way her eyes brightened as she expressed her anger like a little doll. I hated that I noticed. Hated even more that I was waiting for her to come downstairs, knowing she wouldn't.

Zain walked into the dining, the fact that Hazel wasn't here already. I knew what message she was about to deliver.

Chapter 18