So he had proposed a legal surrogacy agreement: Chloe would be compensated, Danny’s debt would disappear, and her brother would be allowed to leave New York alive.

She should have walked away. She should have hated Leo. But desperation had a way of turning impossible decisions into the only visible door.

Lawyers had prepared contracts. Doctors had discussed procedures. Then, on the night they signed the preliminary agreement, fear, anger, and the dark attraction neither of them wanted to acknowledge had shattered their careful plan.

What happened between them had been reckless, mutual, and impossible to undo.

Now the room filled with a rapid, rhythmic sound. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

“There,” Dr. Ellis said. “Strong heartbeat. Growth is exactly where it should be.”