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 didn't even get the damn door fully closed before Callen's voice came in low and sharp.

I didn't like the way he said it. I hadn't even caught my breath yet. Hazel was still in that room, her scent all over me, and now here Callen was—standing in my hallway, tie loose, expression dead serious.

I nodded once and turned, walking him towards my home office.

He dropped into the chair across from my desk. I stayed standing. My hands were twitching and I didn't want to give him the wrong idea—that I was calm. I wasn't.

Callen didn't waste time. "The name you asked June to pull— Travis Dorne."

I remembered it. Burned it into my mind the second I saw it pop up in the documents. A name that didn't belong in my ledger. A name tied to Fortean Holdings, before it was mine.

Chapter 47