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 woke up to cold sheets and the low beep of a machine somewhere near my head.

My eyelids felt like bricks. The ceiling was white and bright. I rubbed my eyes and opened them slowly.

I wasn't at the Fortress. This was... a hospital room?

The sheets were stiffer. The pillows weren't the luxury kind I'd gotten used to. There was a faint beeping somewhere. And that sterile, lemon-clean smell hospitals always had.

I turned my head and there he was—Ace.

Sitting beside the bed. Slouched back in the visitor's chair, head tilted, mouth slightly open, one hand hanging off the side of the bed. And the other?

I carefully slid my hand away from his. He stirred immediately, like he'd been waiting for me to make any movement.

"You're up," he said, voice rough.

I didn't say anything for some seconds before saying…yeah... apparently.

Chapter 35