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

After lunch, we lounged back in the sunroom—one of my favorite places in the fortress. It was bright, airy, the windows wide open, sunlight washing over the whole space. I curled up on the edge of the couch while Ma flipped through a magazine and Mabel, of course, was scrolling through her phone like her life depended on it.

"What now?" I asked, already bracing for drama.

"Another one of those gossip pages again—look at this headline." She turned the phone to show me. "'Billionaire Ace Milan arrested for suspected fraudulent practices. What's going on behind the glass walls of Milan Corp?'" Her voice turned dramatic as she read.

Ma squinted. "They actually posted his name?"

Chapter 51