Todos os capítulos de SURROGATE FOR THE COLD BILLIONAIRE: Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

Dominic's POVI'm dressed by eight.The ceremony isn't until four. Marcus arrives at ten with coffee and the specific energy of a man who finds other people's weddings deeply satisfying."You're already in your suit," he says."It's a good suit.""It's ten in the morning.""I'm aware of the time."He sets the coffee down and looks at me the way he's been looking at me since February, like he's watching something he invested in finally paying off. It would be annoying if he weren't usually right."How do you feel?" he says."Ready.""That's it? Just ready?""What else should I feel?"He picks up his coffee. "Diane cried getting dressed this morning. Sympathy emotion, she said. For Emma." He shakes his head. "Thirty people and half of them are already compromised.""Emma won't want crying.""Emma is absolutely going to cry." He sits down. "You might too."

Dominic's POVWe don't go on a honeymoon immediately.Emma has her Tuesday and Thursday shifts at the patisserie. The girls are in a sleep regression that has nothing to do with the wedding and everything to do with being fifteen months old and opinionated. Marcus needs me on a call with the Singapore team about the new property.Life doesn't pause for sentiment. We both knew that going in."We could do a long weekend in November," Emma says Monday morning. She's feeding Ava, who is refusing the spoon on principle and trying to eat oatmeal with her hands. "Somewhere that isn't here.""Where do you want to go?""Somewhere with a bathtub and no schedule.""I can arrange that.""I'm not asking you to arrange anything elaborate.""Emma. A bathtub and no schedule is not elaborate."She looks at me over Ava's head. "Just that. Nothing else."

Dominic's POV We come home Sunday evening to two toddlers who have apparently spent four days testing Mrs. Kowalski's patience and found it finite. She meets us at the door with Sophia on her hip and the expression of a woman who has fulfilled her contractual obligations and is ready to be relieved. "Sophia bit her sister," she says. "Twice. Ava pulled the plant off the windowsill. The one I've had for eleven years." She hands Sophia to Emma. "They're fed and bathed. I'm going home." She takes her coat and leaves before either of us can respond. Ava is in the playpen reaching for me with both arms and the urgent expression she uses when she's deciding whether to cry about something. I pick her up and she grabs my collar and announces something at length. "I was gone four days," I tell her. She continues. "I understand," I say. Emma is watching me over Sop

Dominic's POV Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday. Emma's shift ends at noon and I pick her up from the patisserie because it's cold and she'll argue about the subway and I've stopped pretending the argument is one I'm willing to have. She comes out with a white box tied in string. "What's that?" I say. "Celeste let me take the extras." She gets in and puts the box on her lap. "Buche de Noel. Individual ones. She made forty-two and sold forty and gave me the last two because she was in a good mood." "Celeste has good moods?" "Twice a year apparently. Christmas Eve is one of them." She sets the box carefully on the back seat. "Don't ask about the other one." I pull into traffic. She leans her head back and exhales the long exhale of someone releasing a week of accumulated effort.

Emma's POVLily calls on Thursday and I almost don't answer because I know she'll hear it in my voice.I answer anyway."You sound different," she says. Before hello. Before anything."I'm fine.""Not fine-different. Good-different." A pause. "Emma.""Lily.""Something happened.""Nothing happened.""Something is happening," she corrects. "Present tense. Ongoing." Another pause and I can hear her sitting up, fully invested now. "It's him."I look down the hall toward Dominic's office. The door is half open. I can hear the low cadence of his voice on a call."We talked," I say. "A few times. Honestly.""Honestly how.""Lily.""I need a scale. Are we talking politely or actually honest.""Actually," I say quietly.She exhales long and slow. "Okay. Okay, Emma. What did he say.""That he wants every part of me I keep out of reach." I say it plainly because it's Lily and there's no version of this conversation where I can be vague with her. "That he's not afraid of it."Silence."And you b