Chapter 1

Connor Harris and I grew up in the gray world of foster care, vowing to build a life that was only ours. That dream shattered the day his long-lost, wealthy family found him and swept him away, leaving me behind.

His mother made it clear I wasn't welcome. She offered me a million dollars to disappear from his life forever. I refused, believing our love was priceless.

That belief led to a secret marriage, a cruel three-year contract to produce an heir, and my ultimate failure. They brought in a surrogate, Kassie, who didn't just carry his child-she stole his heart.

Chapter 1

Aubrey Johnson and Connor Harris grew up together in the gray, uniform world of the foster care system. They were each other' s everything. In a place where no one was permanent, they were a constant. They shared food, secrets, and the fierce, unwavering belief that one day, they would leave together and build a life that was only theirs.

That belief shattered the day a long, black car pulled up to the orphanage.

A woman in a tailored suit stepped out, her face a mask of cold composure. Her name was Eleanor Harris, and she was Connor' s mother. He wasn't an orphan after all, just a lost heir, a forgotten piece of a powerful, old-money family, finally found.

Connor was swept away into a world of mansions and private jets, leaving Aubrey behind in the silence of their shared dorm room. The gulf between them became immediate and vast.

Eleanor Harris made it clear that Aubrey was not welcome in their new reality. She summoned Aubrey to the Harris mansion, a place so large it felt like a museum. Eleanor sat across from her in a lavish living room, a checkbook resting on the polished table between them.

"I know what you want," Eleanor said, her voice dripping with disdain. "Girls like you always do."

She wrote a number on a check and pushed it across the table. It was for one million dollars.

"Take this. It's more money than you' ve ever dreamed of. Leave my son alone and never contact him again."

Aubrey looked at the check, then at the woman who despised her for no other reason than her birth. "I don' t want your money. I just want Connor."

Eleanor' s laugh was a sharp, ugly sound. "You want Connor? A crippled girl from the gutter? You are nothing. You will only ever be a stain on his reputation."

The words hit Aubrey, but she refused to let them break her. She left the check on the table and walked out, her limp more pronounced under the weight of Eleanor' s hatred.

The Harris family cut off all contact. They changed Connor' s number, blocked her on every social media platform, and instructed the orphanage staff not to pass along her letters. For months, Aubrey lived in a void, the silence from Connor a constant, aching pain.

Then, news reports began to surface. Connor Harris, the newly discovered heir, was on a hunger strike. He was refusing all food and medical treatment, his only demand to be reunited with a girl from his past. His life was in danger.

Faced with the potential death of their only son and the ensuing scandal, the Harris family relented. They brought a weak but determined Connor to see her. He held her tight, his body frail but his grip strong.

"I' ll never leave you again, Aubrey," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I promise. I' ll die before I let them separate us again."

His desperation moved her to tears. She believed him.

The family proposed a compromise, a cruel one wrapped in the guise of acceptance. They would allow Connor and Aubrey to be together, but their relationship had to remain a secret. They were to be married in a private ceremony, with no guests and no public record. And there was a condition, embedded in a thick prenuptial agreement.

Aubrey had three years to produce a Harris heir.

If she failed, the contract stated, the family would hire a surrogate to carry Connor' s child. The lineage had to be secured.

It was a trap, and they both knew it. But looking at Connor' s gaunt face, Aubrey saw no other choice. They were young and in love, and they believed their love could conquer anything, even the cold machinations of the Harris family. They signed the papers.

Three years passed. The secret marriage was a lonely one, confined to the guest house on the Harris estate, away from the main mansion. Aubrey tried to create a home, but the pressure of the agreement was a constant shadow. And every month, the shadow grew darker.

She never got pregnant.

On the third anniversary of their secret wedding, Eleanor Harris arrived at their door. She was not alone. Standing beside her was a woman who looked strikingly like Aubrey. Her name was Kassie Whitney.

"Your time is up," Eleanor announced, her voice devoid of any emotion. "This is the surrogate."

Connor was furious, but the contract was ironclad. He had to comply. The arrangement was cold and clinical. Kassie would live in a separate wing of the main house. She would undergo the procedure, and once the child was born, she would be paid and sent away.

But Kassie didn't just want the money. She wanted the life that came with it.

Her interactions with Connor started as perfunctory, but slowly, they changed. She was a master manipulator, playing the part of a gentle, kind woman caught in a difficult situation. She would bring him tea, ask about his day, and listen with a sympathetic ear that Aubrey, worn down by years of stress and isolation, could no longer provide.

Connor' s feelings began to shift. He started spending more time with Kassie, drawn in by her seemingly soft nature. The shift was subtle at first, then undeniable. He began to see Kassie not as a surrogate, but as a person, a woman he was starting to care for.

A few months later, Kassie announced she was pregnant.

A wave of relief washed over Aubrey. The contract was fulfilled. The pressure was finally off. She thought her nightmare was about to end. She could finally have Connor to herself again.

She was wrong.

One evening, Connor came to her. He couldn' t meet her eyes.

"Kassie wants to keep the baby," he said.

Aubrey' s blood ran cold. "What are you talking about, Connor? That wasn' t the deal."

"She' s gotten attached. She loves the baby," he explained, his voice pleading. "Aubrey, please understand. After this child, we can have our own. I promise. We' ll try again."

His words were a betrayal. He was choosing Kassie and her child over their own future, over their twenty-year bond.

Before Aubrey could argue, before she could scream, he turned and left. "I have to go," he said over his shoulder. "Kassie is feeling anxious." He rushed away, leaving Aubrey standing alone in the silent house, the promise of their future turning to ash in her mouth.

The next day, she received a call from her doctor. The results of her recent check-up were in. It was a routine appointment she' d scheduled due to persistent fatigue. The doctor' s voice was grave.

She had terminal kidney failure. Her life expectancy was less than a year.

The world tilted on its axis. As she hung up the phone, her body went numb. That evening, as she sat in the dark, trying to process the death sentence she' d just been given, two men in black suits broke into the house. They grabbed her, a cloth stuffed in her mouth, and dragged her out into the cold night.

They threw her into the back of a van. When they finally stopped, they pulled her out and tossed her into the icy water of the estate' s swimming pool.

Panic seized her. She couldn' t swim. A childhood accident had left her with a deep-seated fear of water. She thrashed, her lungs burning, the cold seeping into her bones.

Just as her vision started to fade, a figure appeared at the edge of the pool. It was Connor.

For a heart-stopping moment, she felt a surge of hope. He would save her.

But the look on his face was not one of concern. It was pure, unadulterated fury.

"How dare you push Kassie?" he spat, his voice a venomous hiss. "She' s pregnant with my child! I should have known you were this vindictive."

The hope in Aubrey' s chest died, replaced by a chilling realization. He didn't believe her. He thought she was a monster.

He had once promised to protect her from the world. Now, he was her world' s greatest threat.

He gestured to his men. "Hold her under."

They pushed her head back into the freezing water. The world became a blur of blue and black. Her lungs screamed for air. As she struggled, a memory surfaced: Connor as a boy, thinner and smaller, donating his meager portion of bread to her because she was sick.

They pulled her up, gasping, choking.

"Do you know who saved my life five years ago?" Connor' s voice was laced with a gratitude that was cruelly misplaced. "When my kidneys failed, and I needed a transplant? It was Kassie. She gave me her kidney, Aubrey. She saved my life. What have you ever done for me but hold me back?"

The lie was so enormous, so audacious, it stole the air from her lungs all over again.

She had been his donor. She had given him her kidney in secret, telling him it was from an anonymous deceased donor because she didn't want him to feel indebted to her. The surgery had compromised her remaining kidney, leading directly to the terminal diagnosis she had received just hours ago.

"No, Connor..." she croaked, water and despair choking her. "It was me. I gave you my kidney."

His phone rang. He answered it, his tone instantly shifting from rage to soft concern. "Kassie? Are you okay? Where are you? Don' t worry, I' m on my way."

He hung up and looked back at Aubrey, his face hard. His family had found Kassie, unharmed, wandering the grounds. His mother and sister were on the phone, screaming accusations, demanding Aubrey be punished.

Connor made his decision. He would handle it himself.

"Kneel," he commanded, his voice like ice.

He made her kneel by the pool as a cold rain began to fall, soaking her thin clothes. The water mixed with the tears streaming down her face. She remembered another time, years ago, when he had knelt before her, begging for forgiveness after a stupid fight, promising he would never make her cry again.

The irony was a physical pain. She knelt there for hours, the cold seeping deep into her bones, her body wracked with shivers, until the pain and the heartbreak became too much to bear.

She collapsed, her consciousness slipping away into the merciful dark.