Chapter 1
At three in the morning, Jasper Hogan called me over to deliver the ovulation induction shot.
I stood at the door, drenched from head to toe, as his lazy gaze swept over me.
He drawled, "Are you too dumb to call a cab?"
I handed him the temperature-controlled box. "This is what you wanted."
He reached out to take it, then drew me in.
His warm breath brushed against my ear, his voice low and casual. "She's about to wake up. Shouldn't we hurry while we still can?"
While I was still dazed, he snickered.
He gripped my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye.
He said, "Layla, you've got some nerve, huh?"
His gaze slid downward. "I've scheduled your implantation surgery for tomorrow afternoon. After three years with me, it's about time your body proved its worth, don't you think?"
*****
Jasper asked, but his gaze left no room for argument.
He looked at me like I was just an object.
I nodded. "I'll go."
He caught the tremor in my voice, and his brows furrowed. But it was only for a moment.
Melted snow dripped from my hair down my neck, making me shiver.
"I'll go now," I said.
"Wait," Jasper said. He turned and went back inside. When he came out again, he was holding something.
He stuffed a hand warmer into my cold, stiff hand, not caring if it hurt.
I looked up, ready to speak, but found myself locked in his intense gaze.
His Adam's apple shifted, and out of nowhere he said, "Stay tonight."
I froze, blurting out, "But we're not supposed to before the surgery..."
He interrupted me before I could finish.
He pressed his finger to my lips, irritation clear in his tone. "I said stay the fuck here. Let me check you over. If you're carrying my kid, you better not be a dud."
That night, Jasper had me in his bed.
He was gentle, so gentle it was almost out of character for him.
Sweat soaked the sheets as he leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear.
He whispered, "This is the last time. Cecilia's about to wake up. I don't want her to get the wrong idea, so just do as you're told and get the surgery done."
He finally came clean.
Fueled by anger, I bit down hard on his shoulder, leaving a bloody mark.
He didn't fight back. When I let go, he simply wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the pad of his finger.
He said, "Layla, don't forget our agreement."
The agreement...
Three years ago, my dad racked up ten million dollars in gambling debt.
Jasper found me and tossed me an agreement.
He paid off my dad's debt. In exchange, I became his lover and the one to bear his child.
All of this would last until his fiancée, Cecilia Giles, woke up from her coma.
By morning, I could hear the shower running in the bathroom.
I grabbed my clothes off the floor, ready to slip out.
This was our routine. Jasper never let me stay over.
For three years, no matter how hard or how late things got, I always had to leave when it was done.
Once it was over, I was always the one who had to leave.
But today was different.
I pulled on my clothes, and just as my hand touched the doorknob, his voice stopped me.
He said, "Where do you think you're going?"
I turned around and saw him leaning against the bathroom door, shirtless.
Water droplets trickled down his abs.
"Home," I said.
He raised an eyebrow. "You're not going home today. I'll have the doctor come over and give you a check-up right here."
I tightened my grip on the doorknob.
I replied, "No. I don't want to do it here."
Jasper stopped drying his hair.
There was a brief silence.
After a beat, he smiled. "Suit yourself."
That afternoon, Jasper's driver dropped me off at a private clinic.
The stench of disinfectant hit me, making my stomach turn.
The doctor led me down a long hallway and stopped outside a VIP ward.
Through the massive glass window, I saw Cecilia for the very first time.
She was lying in bed, hooked up to IVs and wires everywhere.
Everything was quiet. She looked just like a sleeping beauty.
Jasper stood at the glass, lost in her, completely entranced.
He didn't turn around, but his cold voice pierced right through me.
Jasper said, "You're carrying my child. But the mother on the record will always be her."
I stared at my reflection in the glass. I looked ghostly pale, completely bloodless.
For the next month, I was locked away in that sterile white hospital room, with nurses coming in every day to inject me.
The ovulation hormones made my whole body swell, and night after night, I was nauseous and vomiting.
I dropped ten pounds, but my belly kept swelling up.
Jasper came by every single day.
He'd stand outside the glass, his gaze going straight past me to the bed behind.
He'd ask the doctor, "Any changes in her vitals?"
The doctor would always reply, "Everything's stable, Mr. Hogan."
He never once asked me, "Are you uncomfortable?"
The day they put the embryo inside me, my hands and feet were strapped down to the operating table.
When the cold instruments went in, the pain made me shake uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face.
Meanwhile, Jasper was just outside, his back to me, talking on the phone.
His voice was soft, tinged with hope. "Margaret, make sure to change out Cecilia's favorite lilies every day. Only the freshest ones. She'll be happy when she wakes up and sees them."
After the surgery, they wheeled me back to my hospital room.
Once the anesthesia faded, sharp waves of pain started twisting through my belly.