OLIVIA“I’m sorry, but he needs urgent surgery to survive.” The doctor said.My mother choked on a sob, staggering backwards so violently that if I hadn’t been holding her, she might have fallen to the ground. After hours of worrying, waiting and praying, this was not the sort of news we’d hoped to hear concerning my brother’s health. I felt goosebumps spread over my skin, my heart dropping at the realization that my brother might die. “Please, doctor..” I stepped forward, my hands trembling. “There has to be another way to save my brother. Please help us.”The doctor shook his head. “Unfortunately, the damage is too deep. Surgery is the only way out. And I’d advise you to hurry because he has less than twelve hours to live without surgery.”My chest felt tight as I fought back tears of my own. I shut my eyes briefly and tried to breathe, but it seemed impossible right now. I was feeling way too much, way too soon. It felt like my world was crashing down on me, and if I weren’t car
OLIVIAThis is a very vivid dream I'm having right now. That was my first thought as I stared at the man seated in front of me, certain that I must have heard him wrong. The chances of what he had just proposed to me being real were extremely low. I just couldn't believe it. Reaching out under the table, I pinched the skin on my arm hard. The pain shooting up my arm only meant that I was truly awake. This was not a dream. I was actually in the restaurant, seated across from Christian Blackwood, listening to him ask me to be his surrogate. He was still staring intensely, waiting for a response. "I…I don't understand," I finally said. And that was not a lie. I was lost here. "I am telling you that if you agree to this deal, you will never have to work a day in your life ever again. You won't need to raise a finger again if that is your wish. And as you said, your brother's health and survival are your top priority. From the look of things, I am your only hope."I swallowed hard, kno
OLIVIAJust like Christian said, my brother was booked for surgery. Twenty minutes after he made the call, my brother was transferred to the best neurosurgeon in the city, and a few hours later, his surgery was over.My mother and I spent the rest of the time in the lobby, overjoyed to learn that the surgery had been a success. My brother was still alive, and in a few weeks, he would be completely fine. I was so happy that I even cried tears of joy. I couldn't believe that I'd managed to pull this off and save my brother’s life. My mother was even happier. She was so overwhelmed with excitement that she did not even ask me where the money came from yet. But I knew in the back of my mind that she would soon return to it, and I had until then to come up with a reasonable lie. I shook my head in horror at the thought of how I would tell my mother about my arrangement with Christian. I didn't even want to think about how she would react or what she would do. Although I felt terrible fo
OLIVIAI could tell he expected me to make a move from the way he looked at me, and I fiddled with my dress, melting under his dark, hot gaze. Slowly, I took off my dress and let it fall to the ground, standing in nothing but lingerie. Heat rushed to my skin as his eyes ran all over my body, his eyes lingering in certain places. Gosh. This was driving me crazy. “Everything.” His voice came again. I locked eyes with him and immediately realized what he meant. He was asking me to strip before him. With shaking fingers, I slowly unclasped the bra. Christian let out a sharp intake of breath, his eyes drenching in the gaze of my body. As I was still contemplating taking off my panties…delving right into it boldly, Christian closed the gap between us, cupping my cheeks and taking me by yet another surprise. But this surprise was nothing compared to the one I felt nanoseconds later when Christian’s lips claimed mine. No, no, no. A protest started in my mind but never made it out of my
CHRISTIAN'S POV THREE DAYS EARLIER "Grandfather is rewriting his will and plans to cut you out of his inheritance." My jaw ticked as I stared at the phone in my hand, reading the text I'd just gotten from my sister over and over again. If I didn't know any better, I might have brushed this off as an expensive joke. But it was real. According to Ophelia, she overheard our grandfather talking about rewriting his will, and immediately, she'd decided to warn me. To solidify this claim, she'd managed to take a picture of the new will's draft. That could only mean one thing: our grandfather was serious. With great difficulty, I pieced together the words on the image. "My successor must have the following qualities: He must have a child and, in the absence of one, a wife to guarantee the continuity of the Blackwood Enterprise.""Fuck!" I hissed, slamming my hand against the table and cursing under my breath. The betraying, sly old man. How could he do this to me? Was this how he pla
OLIVIA'S POV My eyes fluttered open as I stretched out on the soft sheets beneath me, yawning loudly. This room looked unfamiliar.I gasped, sitting up in a flash and letting my eyes roam through the room. The fragments of my memory pieced together, and it all came back to me. Yes... Last night. Christian's room...My steamy first sex.I had eagerly given up my virginity to Christian Blackwood, joining the long list of women who had been intoxicated and enraptured by his looks and had toppled into his bed. I closed my eyes, a flush creeping up my cheeks as I remembered how I had begged him to take me, groping and yearning for him. "Ugh!" I groaned, hitting my arms and legs against the sheets and kicking them away. What had come over me? How could I have been so easy? Giving myself to him so eagerly? Begging to be devoured like my life depended on it?This was next-level embarrassment. I was still on Christian's bed, fully nude and only covered by the duvet hanging over my ches
CHRISTIAN'S POV I'd slept with several women, but something about Olivia was nerve-wracking. Why? What could it be? What was it about her?I've had several wild nights with women: Veronica in Mexico, Lydia in England, Isla in Italy, and many more than I could recall. I've had fun, fulfilling several fantasies with different kinds of women. So why was one night of meaningless sex with a surrogate eating away at me?I couldn't understand it. Why couldn't I get the thoughts of last night out of my mind? Why did I get these crazy flashbacks? It was all I'd been thinking about the entire day. Which didn't make any sense to me. Was it the way she stared at me while I took her, her eyes filled with innocence and passion? Was it the way she clung to me like a lifeline, her fingers digging into my shoulders as her moans filled my ears? Or was it the way she wanted me? Begged me?She had felt so tight....nearly driving me insane with pleasure.I inhaled sharply and ran my fingers through my
OLIVIA'S POV I had to get used to my new lifestyle. Fast.It felt like being thrown in the middle of a bustling, chaotic roller coaster. It was practically one thing after another, back-to-back to the point where I felt like I could hardly breathe.Mr Dennison dropped me at Blackwood Hotel after the longest hours of shopping I'd ever experienced in my life. You would think shopping was invigorating and fun, but I had never been more wrong about anything in my life.After trying over a hundred different outfits, I was exhausted to the bone. It might have been shorter if my PA, Grace, hadn't kept discarding and disapproving of every outfit I actually liked."Wasn't fashionable enough," She had said. Wasn't Christian's taste...blah blah.Excuse me? Wasn't I the one to wear these dresses?We'd had to scour the entire store to pick out outfits, shoes, and accessories. I was too terrified to even look at the receipt because the price tags were enough to show me that we had splurged thousan
CHRISTIANIt was the quickest fucking quickie ever, because even though she said it was safe, I wasn’t about to take chances. “That was fast,” she murmured against my skin, her voice sleepy and satisfied. A corner of my lip tilted up in a smirk. “For saying that, I’m going to fuck you for hours after the baby’s out.” As she stared up at me, I realized what I’d just said, and the cheery mood evaporated like smoke. I sighed, shaking my head. “You’re about to say the contract ends once the baby’s out, right?” She shook her head, her big green eyes staring up at me — the same eyes that did something crazy to my heart, making me feel things I used to believe I couldn’t feel. “Why didn’t you…” she whispered, her voice soft, “Why did you turn Lydia away?” I chuckled under my breath. “Is that what you’re thinking about right now?” Her brows pinched together slightly and her lips twisted shyly. “It’s not like you.” She revealed. “I know you always made time for her whenever she showed
CHRISTIAN What am I doing? That’s a fair question. Because if someone had told me months ago that I would find myself in this position—kneeling before Olivia, my only focus on her pleasure, and my own desires secondary, I would have called them crazy. And yet, here I was, overwhelmed by the need to make her squirm, to hear her breath hitch, to watch her lose herself under my touch and consumed by a hunger I couldn’t control. Oh, how I’d missed the sight of her writhing beneath me. It takes a real man to admit when a woman has completely shifted his world and I was that man. So yes, I knew what I was doing, and the end result? It would most likely be her release all over my face. Soon. Slowly, I trailed kisses up her thighs, nearing the place where she pulsed with need and she trembled. “Relax,” I whispered against her skin, and somehow, that made her quiver even more. A groan rumbled in my chest as my eyes caught the sight of her…soft, wet, and waiting for me. I could lose
OLIVIA It was just a simple misunderstanding. And yet it had wrecked me for weeks. I’d cried, sulked, pushed him away, all because of something that was never even real. My eyes stung with embarrassment. I tightened my fingers in my dress and turned away, unable to look at him, memories of every stupid argument flashing through my mind. I remembered all the times he said there was nothing between him and Lydia. And all the times I hadn’t believed him. I thought about that night in the car, the way I’d thrown words at him like knives. I thought about how he had just sat there and taken it. I must have looked like a fool and sounded even worse. I swallowed hard and dropped my head, squeezing my eyes shut, and wishing I could erase everything. Then suddenly, I felt his hand on my shoulder, wrapping me with warmth. I opened my eyes, blinking back tears, just as he pulled me into a hug from behind. The second my back hit his chest, everything broke loose. I started sobbing — ug
OLIVIA For weeks, I’d waited for him to explain their relationship, to show that she didn’t matter, but I never got that. I couldn’t keep waiting for his words to match his actions. “What about her?” He didn’t answer right away, but his gaze didn’t waver either. His eyes searched mine, like he was waiting for me to say more. When I didn’t, he exhaled. “I didn’t fuck her, Olivia.” He took a slow step forward, like he wanted to make sure I understood every word. “Or whatever you think happened.” I shook my head, still not convinced. “Then just tell me the truth.” His eyes softened for a second. “Tell me why you think I’m lying. And say something more than me dancing with her at the ball.” Dancing with her at the ball? Was that all he thought this was about? I lifted my chin. “When I went to shop for a dress… Lydia told me you…” I paused, trying to steady myself. “She said you made her leave your bed that morning. I don’t think that means nothing.” He raised an eyebrow, a
OLIVIA I cocked a brow from where I was hiding at the staircase, staring down at them with disbelief. My mother sighed heavily, dragging her hand over her face in frustration. “Look at you,” she muttered. “Standing there talking about respect.” She dropped her hand and pinned him with a hard stare. “If you really respected my daughter, you wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant without putting a ring on her finger.” Christian’s jaw tightened, but he stayed silent. “She had dreams, you know,” she pressed, her voice breaking now. “Big dreams, a future. And you…” she shook her head again, “You’re about to take all of it from her with that baby. Just like that!” Oh, Mom. I knew she was hurting, and angry, but she was pushing too far now. She didn’t know the full story. She didn’t know I chose this, too. I opened my mouth, ready to finally go down and stop her……when something happened that made me freeze. Christian dropped to his knees. My heart slammed against my ribs and my
OLIVIA The ride home was hell. My mother always had a short fuse over the smallest things, so now that it was something big, she was losing her mind. Completely. She hadn’t stopped yelling since we got in the car, and the entire ride was hot and suffocating, her words burning through the air like acid. I stayed silent, staring out the window, and feeling smaller with every mile. Besides, what could I even say? That Christian had paid me to be his surrogate? That I used the money to save James’ life? That everything between Christian and me was built on a lie? She wouldn’t just be angry, she’d probably drop dead the second she heard it. Christian sat stiffly beside me, quiet, and tense. It was the first time I ever saw him seem unsure of himself. After a while of her yelling, he responded, his voice calm. “Ma’am, we’re really sorry you had to find out this way.” I blinked in surprise and turned to look at him. He was apologizing? But, of course, it didn’t matt
OLIVIA “Is it safe for her to be discharged?” he asked. “Yes,” the nurse nodded reassuringly. “She’s stable. She just needs rest.” Christian hesitated, glancing back at me like he wasn’t sure he trusted the answer. His gaze locked with mine for a few seconds, searching, and unsure. Finally, after a beat of silence, he released my hand and gave a tight nod, excusing himself to follow the nurse out of the room. The door clicked shut behind them, and the second he was gone, Liam exhaled loudly, shifting awkwardly as he shuffled closer to me. He rubbed the back of his neck, confusion or maybe even shyness flickering across his features. His gaze kept shifting between me and the empty space where Christian had been, like he was trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. “So,” he finally said, jerking his chin in the direction Christian had gone, “Is he the father?” I let out a small, tired sigh and gave a tiny nod, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. “Wow,”
OLIVIA My face burned. I shifted slightly on the bed, fingers brushing over the IV in my wrist as the nurse glanced at her chart. “We ran a series of tests,” she said, flipping a page. “You’re fine.” She paused, eyes narrowing at something on the paper. “It looks like it was just stress. And… you’re not eating enough, especially for someone who’s pregnant.” I nodded, even though she wasn’t really waiting for a response. Honestly, I felt fine now, too fine, considering I’d almost passed out earlier. Maybe it was the IV, or the sheer humiliation of being here because I skipped breakfast that numbed everything down. I let out a small breath and turned my head, hoping for some kind of distraction…and my gaze flicked to Liam. He stood near the bed, hands shoved deep into his pockets, just staring at me like he wasn’t sure if he should say something or just turn around and leave. For long, I had tried to pretend he wasn’t there, had kept my eyes on the nurse, on the IV line
OLIVIA I knew the way he spoke, the way his voice shifted depending on who he was talking to. I knew the way he smiled when he meant it and the way he didn’t when he didn’t. I knew the small, careful movements he made that most people missed. I could probably write a thousand pages about him without blinking. With a sharp exhale, I dropped the fight. I lowered my head and let the words come, scribbling down whatever poured out, until several minutes passed and my pages were filled. “You have ten seconds!” Mr. Sylas announced, and murmurs spread through the room as everyone rushed to finish up. I smiled to myself and set my pen down, folding my arms in satisfaction. The alarm blared, signaling the end of the exam. I handed in my paper and started heading out with others. Just as I was trailing behind others, Mr. Sylas called out my name. “Olivia Carter!” I turned, brow raised in annoyance. Why did he always have to say my full name? He crooked a finger, beckoning me fo