Prologue
The first time he saw her, she was crying over a cracked coffee mug.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just silent tears slipping down her cheeks as she knelt behind the café counter, carefully picking up the broken pieces like they were something precious.
Adrian Blackwood paused mid-step.
CEO.
Billionaire.
The man whose name alone could shut down boardrooms.
Yet somehow, the sight of a café worker in a faded apron brought his world to a halt.
She didn't notice him at first. Her fingers trembled as she placed the shards into a small trash bag, her lips pressed together like she was holding back more than tears. When she finally stood, she wiped her face quickly and forced a smile for the next customer in line.
A practiced smile.
The kind worn by someone used to pretending everything was fine.
Adrian frowned.
He didn't believe in distractions. He didn't believe in emotions. And he certainly didn't believe in women changing his carefully controlled life.
Yet something about her soft, fragile, stubbornly strong ,made his chest tighten in a way he didn't understand.
Later that night, as rain streaked down the windows of his penthouse, Adrian signed the final documents on his tablet.
Surrogacy Program:
Approved.
No wife.
No love.
No complications.
Just a child.
That was all he wanted.
He had no idea that the woman destined to carry his baby was the same girl who cleaned coffee stains off tables…
or that she would become the one thing he could no longer control.
Chapter 1
The Girl Behind the Counter
Mila Hart's alarm went off at 4:30 a.m.
She didn't hit snooze.
She couldn't afford to.
Mila sat up slowly, carefully .The tiny apartment was cold, the walls thin, the silence heavy with exhaustion. She rubbed her eyes, already tired before the day had even begun.
Bills waited on the kitchen table.
Rent. Electricity. Medical fees.
Her café job barely kept them afloat.
By the time the sun rose, Mila was already tying her apron, forcing on her customer-service smile. She served coffee, wiped counters, apologized for things that weren't her fault.
And then she overheard it.
Two women near the window whispering excitedly.
"Did you hear? That Blackwood Group is sponsoring a private surrogacy program."
"For real? Billionaire-level pay?"
"Yeah. Enough to change someone's life."
Mila's hand froze around the coffee pot.
A surrogate.
She swallowed.
She had never imagined something like that. Never thought someone like her would even qualify. But as she glanced at the unpaid bills a dangerous thought crept into her mind.
What if this is the way out?
Across the city, in a glass tower that touched the clouds, Adrian Blackwood stared at the applicant profiles scrolling across his screen.
Until one name made him stop.
Mila Hart.
Simple. Unremarkable on paper.
Yet for reasons he couldn't explain, his eyes lingered.
And the contract that was meant to bind only a baby…
was about to bind two lives forever.