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CHAPTER 23
Veröffentlichungsdatum:
02.04.2026 13:07:16DOMINIC'S POV
Three days without Emma feels like three years.I bring the girls to Lily's apartment every morning, pick them up every evening. Emma is polite but distant."How are you feeling?" I ask on day four."Fine.""Have you thought about—""I'm still thinking."That's all she'll say.Mrs. Kowalski is beside herself. "You need to fix this.""I'm trying."
Aktuellstes Kapitel
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 31
EMMA'S POVVictoria Sterling walks into the restaurant on a Monday.Not our restaurant, the hotel restaurant where I used to work. Dominic and I are having lunch there because he had a meeting nearby and I had a rare free hour while Mrs. Kowalski has the girls. It was spontaneous, easy, the kind of thing we're getting better at.Victoria doesn't see us immediately. She's with two women I don't recognize, all three of them dressed for being seen. The maître d' leads them toward the back and then she turns and her eyes find our table with a precision that feels less like coincidence and more like information.She excuses herself from her group and walks over."Emma. Dominic." She says it warmly, like we're all old friends. "I didn't know you'd be here.""Victoria," Dominic says. Nothing else.She looks at me. "I heard about Lily. Good news on the treatment. I'm glad."I don't know how she knows that. I don't ask.
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 30
DOMINIC'S POVMarcus sends over the partnership documents on a Thursday.I read them twice, make notes, read them again. It's a good deal. Clean structure, reasonable hours built into the agreement itself, which Marcus insisted on and which I would never have thought to ask for a year ago. Forty percent stake in something new instead of a hundred percent stake in something that was slowly eating me alive.Emma finds me at the kitchen table surrounded by papers and doesn't say anything, just makes coffee and puts a cup next to me and goes to get the girls up. Normal morning. I sign the documents before noon.I call Marcus."Done," I say."Good. Welcome back. Sort of. In a healthier way.""Don't make it weird."He laughs and hangs up.Grace comes for lunch on Saturday. Emma's idea, which surprised me, but I've stopped being surprised by Emma's capacity for prac
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 29
EMMA'S POVThree weeks of normal.That's what we've had. Three weeks of Dominic being home for dinner, bath time, middle of the night wake-ups. Three weeks of him learning that Claire needs her sleep sack or she won't settle, and that Sophia wants to be held facing outward or she screams. Small things. The kind of things you only learn by being there.It's been good. Quietly, carefully good.Which is why I'm not prepared for the knock on the door on a Tuesday morning.Dominic is out with Marcus, first time he's left the house for anything work-adjacent since he resigned. I told him to go. He needed it.I answer the door with Sophia on my hip.It's Dominic's grandmother.Grace Westbrook looks smaller than I remember. She's in her eighties, elegant the way old money always is, but there's something different about her today. She's not performing. She's just standing there with her handbag and a look on her face I
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 28
DOMINIC'S POV The ring is still on the kitchen counter where she left it. Emma sees it the moment we walk in. She doesn't pick it up. Neither do I. We move around it like it's something we'll deal with later, and maybe that's fine. Some things don't need to be rushed. Mrs. Kowalski cries when she sees the girls. Actual tears, which she immediately blames on allergies. She takes Sophia and Claire to the nursery, talking to them in that low, warm voice she uses, and the penthouse feels like itself again in a way it hasn't since Emma left. Emma stands in the living room, looking around. "Nothing's changed," she says. "Three days." "Feels longer." I don't argue with that. It felt longer to me too. She goes to unpack the girls' things and I let her have the space. I sit at the kitchen counter and open my laptop
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 27
EMMA'S POVLily's couch is not comfortable.I've been awake since five, staring at the ceiling while the girls sleep in the borrowed pack-n-play beside me. Lily's apartment is small, warm, full of the kind of clutter that means someone actually lives here. It's the opposite of the penthouse, and I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse.My phone lights up. A text from Dominic at three twenty-two AM.*I resigned.*Two words. I read them four times.I type back: *What?*No response. He's probably asleep.I'm not.I pick up Sophia when she starts fussing, settle her against my chest, and sit by the window watching the city wake up. She grabs my finger and holds it like she has opinions about this whole situation. Maybe she does.Lily appears at seven, already dressed, carrying two coffees. She hands me one without a word and sits beside me on the couch."You look terrible," she
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 26
DOMINIC'S POV I come home at one AM to find Emma's engagement ring on the kitchen counter. No note. Just the ring. I find her in our bedroom, packing a suitcase. "What are you doing?" "The girls and I are staying with Lily for a while." My heart stops. "Emma, don't do this." "I have to. This isn't working." "Because I've been working long hours? Emma, it's temporary. Once I fix the company—" "It's always temporary. Always 'once I fix this' or 'after this deal.' But it never ends." "So you're leaving? Just like that?" She stops packing, turns to face me. "I've been alone for three weeks, Dominic. You come home after midnight, leave before dawn. You've missed dinner with the girls every single night. You forgot Sophia's six-month check-up." I close my eyes. I did forget. "I'm sorry."
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 25
EMMA'S POVTwo weeks after postponing the wedding, Grace Westbrook requests a meeting."With both of us," Dominic says. "At her estate.""Why?""She didn't say. But she sounded... different.""Different how?""Les
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 24
EMMA'S POVVictoria is already waiting when we arrive at Dominic's office the next morning.She looks composed, perfect as always."Emma. Dominic. What's this about?"I sit down across from her. Dominic stands beside me."I know about our mothers," I s
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 22
EMMA'S POVVictoria arrives at Dominic's office at ten AM sharp.I'm already there, sitting across from Dominic's desk. He stands when she enters."Emma wanted to speak with you," he says without preamble.Victoria looks between us. "About what?""Abou
SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 21
EMMA'S POVThe email arrives at two in the morning while I'm feeding Claire.I read it three times, not believing what I'm seeing.*Emma,**I know I have no right to contact you after what happened today. But you deserve to know the truth about why I left.*
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