All Chapters of A SURROGATE FOR MY SISTER'S ALPHA HUSBAND: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Mica povThe doctor's words echoed inside my head.*She doesn't have much time.*No.No.This couldn't be happening.My legs refused to move as the doctor pushed open the ICU door.The steady rhythm of the heart monitor filled the room.Beep...Beep...Beep...It was too slow. Too weak. Too... final.The scent of antiseptic burned my nose as I stepped inside.My heart shattered."Ophelia..."She looked so small.My sister, who had always seemed larger than life, was buried beneath white hospital sheets, tubes snaking from her arms, oxygen resting beneath her nose. Her usually rosy cheeks were pale, and her lips had lost their color.Yet she smiled.She actually smiled."There you are," she whispered.My vision blurred.I rushed to her bedside, taking her cold hand between both of mine."Don't..." My voice broke. "Don't scare me like this."She chuckled softly. "Oh, Little Bean."My chest tightened.Little Bean. She hadn't called me that in years."You still cry too easily."A sob esca

Mica povPeople say funerals bring closure.They're liars.There was no closure in watching the only person who had ever loved me unconditionally lowered into the ground. There was no peace in hearing strangers tell me she was "in a better place."The rain hadn't stopped since the day she died.Neither had I.Black. Everywhere I looked, there was black. Black umbrellas. Black dresses. Black roses. It was as though the entire world had decided to mourn with us.I stood beside Ophelia's white casket, unable to look away.She hated black. She used to say funerals should have flowers in every color, because life deserved to be celebrated, even at the end."Don't let anyone bury me on a gloomy day," she'd joked once. "If I die, I want sunshine."I looked up at the gray sky."I'm sorry," I whispered. "I couldn't even give you that."Someone handed me a tissue. Selene."I know this is difficult.""Everyone keeps saying that," I said, my voice hoarse. "Like there's a script.""There isn't. I

Mica pov I broke every speed limit getting to the mansion.The gates were barely open before I was out of the car, running up the front steps, past a butler who called my name and didn't get an answer. I found Nyric in his study, a glass of untouched whiskey in front of him, staring at nothing."Tell me you didn't call that clinic."He didn't even look up. "Mica—""Tell me you didn't just decide, alone, in the middle of the night, to erase the one thing your wife asked us to protect.""I made a decision.""You made a *mistake*."That got his attention. His eyes lifted to mine, silver and sharp and furious."You don't get to lecture me about mistakes."Something in his tone made my stomach twist — like he knew. Like he could smell the guilt still clinging to me from the night before. I pushed the thought away before it could take root."This isn't about me. This is about her.""I know exactly who this is about." He stood so fast his chair scraped against the floor. "It's about my wife

MicaI was still sitting on the living room floor when I heard footsteps on the stairs.Not coming down. Going up.I recognized the weight of them, the pace. Nyric. He didn't stop at the living room doorway, didn't look in. A moment later I heard his study door close, faint but final, somewhere above me.I looked down at the letter in my lap. I'd read it so many times the creases were starting to soften.*Little Bean — Read this before you decide anything.*I already knew every word by heart. I didn't need to read it again. I read it again anyway.Sleep didn't come until nearly dawn, and when it did, it wasn't restful. I woke to gray light and an empty house that somehow felt louder in its silence than it ever had with people in it.Nyric didn't come down for breakfast."He left early," the butler told me, setting down a plate I didn't touch. "Business in the city. He didn't say when he'd be back."That became the pattern.Day one, he left before I woke and returned after I'd gone to

MicaThe car at the gate turned out to be nothing.A delivery driver, hours off schedule, dropping supplies for the kitchen staff that should have arrived that afternoon. Nyric didn't relax until Ethan confirmed it over the radio, and even then, he walked me back upstairs himself before returning to his study, like he didn't quite trust the quiet anymore.Neither did I, if I was honest.Two days later, my apartment was empty and my things were in boxes stacked along the wall of what used to be a guest room and was now, apparently, mine."For as long as you need it," the butler said, setting down the last box. "Longer, I imagine."He said it kindly. I still flinched.The house didn't quite know what to do with me. I understood that within the first week. I wasn't Ophelia — no one would ever mistake me for her, and no one tried. But I also wasn't a guest anymore, and the staff seemed genuinely uncertain what category I belonged to instead."Should I have your laundry sent up with the Al