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 was heading down the hall when I heard footsteps—heavy, deliberate, unhurried. I paused, peeking around the corner, and that's when I saw him.

At first, I didn't think much of it. Until I saw where he was going.

His hand reached for the doorknob of the room. That room.

The same one he warned me about. The one he said was "off-limits," like I was some stupid guest who needed a rulebook on how to survive living in his house. The same one I tried to open weeks ago, only for his voice to slice through the silence with a firm, cold, "Don't go in there."

But now? He walked right into it. No hesitation. No key, no code. Just opened the door and slipped inside like it was any other part of his mansion.

I stood there frozen. My heart wasn't just beating—it was kicking against my ribs like it was trying to get out.

Why would he hide a room from me? What was in there?

Chapter 54