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 had left the house very early in the morning without breakfast. No words to even my maids. I just grabbed my keys and walked out running away from my unending thoughts I guess. Feeling suffocated in your own damn house is now a new added black tick in my life.

Which, honestly, it kind of was.

The second I stepped into the cold, everything felt quieter. I slid into my car. I needed to drive today. It would help clear my thoughts. I had lots of meetings all lined up, but it wasn't about that. I needed space. Away from Hazel. Away from the house, practically everything.

She moved like she had something to prove, even in fear. And that… irritated me. I wouldn't say she was trying to be stubborn but in all of her childish wittiness. I couldn't stop noticing her. Not because she was being difficult, but because I couldn't stop noticing her. The way she bit her fingers when she was nervous. Damn, I hated how aware of her I was.

Chapter 21