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Home / Romance / SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE / Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

All Chapters of SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

47 Chapters

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.**Someone paid me to break up with you. $50,000 to move to Paris and never contact you again. The payment came from an offshore account—I couldn't trace who sent it. I was broke, desperate, and stupid. I thought I'd go to Paris, start my restaurant, and maybe come back for you later.**I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just thought you should know that our breakup wasn't entirely my choice. Someone wanted you out of my life badly enough to pay for it.**I'm sorry for everything.**-James*I stare at the screen until the words blur.Someone paid James to leave me.Who would do that? And why?Dominic is asleep beside me. I sho

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?""About the fifty thousand dollars your father paid my ex-boyfriend to leave me," I say.Her face doesn't change. "I don't know what you're talking about.""Don't lie," Dominic says. "We have proof. The payment traced back to your father's shell company."Victoria sits down slowly. "Even if that were true, what does it have to do with me?""Everything," I say. "You paid James to break up with me six months before I met Dominic. You manipulated my life so I'd be desperate enough to become a surrogate.""That's quite a conspiracy theory.""Is it? Because the timing is awfully convenient. James leaves, I lose my support system, my sister gets sick

CHAPTER 23

DOMINIC'S POVThree 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.""Try harder. That woman loves you. But you hurt her.""I know.""So grovel. Beg. Do whatever it takes."But I don't know how to fix something this broken.At the office, I can't focus. My assistant brings me documents to sign and I barely read them."Mr. Westbrook, are you alright?""Fine."I'm not fine.On day five, my lawyer calls."I looked into the surrogacy age

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 say.Her expression doesn't change. "What about them?""That they knew each other. That you remembered my story. That you specifically targeted me because you knew my history."Victoria is quiet for a moment. Then she leans back in her chair."Yes. I remembered you.""Why didn't you say that before?""Because it wasn't relevant.""Not relevant? You manipulated my entire life based on a story your mother told you!""I saw an opportunity and I took it. That's business.""This isn't business. This is my life."Victoria looks at me with something almost like pity. "Emma, do you know what your mother said abo

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?""Less hostile. Almost cordial."We drive to Grace's estate on Saturday. It's massive, intimidating, everything I expected.A butler leads us to a sitting room where Grace waits."Dominic. Emma. Thank you for coming."She gestures for us to sit. I notice she looks older, frailer than at our last meeting."I'll get straight to the point," Grace says. "I've been diagnosed with stage three lung cancer."Dominic goes rigid beside me. "What?""I found out three weeks ago. The prognosis is... not good. Two years, maybe three if the treatment works.""Grace, I'm sorry," I say.Sh

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."

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

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

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

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

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