Surrogate for My Mafia Ex

Chapter 6 Every Breath You Take

Harper’s POV

I was completely stunned.

The mysterious Young Leone that had everyone’s interest was Cade.

Everything suddenly made sense.

Why did he freeze when he first saw me. Why he deliberately cut into me during the interview.

Why he had called me back to be his surrogate.

Why did he miss the first embryo transfer.

I thought nothing of it, but it was obvious he missed the transfer on purpose. Now I was bound to him as his surrogate, I couldn’t just walk away anymore since I’d completed the first embryo transfer.

With all the facts laid out in front of me, I could only assume that Cade wanted one thing—Revenge.

My chest ached at the thought.

I had imagined us meeting again countless times.

I always pictured if we ever did, that Cade would be a successful and accomplished business man with a good head on his shoulders and kind heart in his chest.

I always imagined that he would be long past me, that even if he did remember me, he would smile at our past and say something about us just being kids.

I would swallow my pain, wish him well, and the two of us would return to our separate lives—never crossing paths again.

That was the reunion I had imagined. Something bittersweet where Cade just went back to his life and I buried my pain for the love I had lost.

Instead—

Cade stepped forward and lifted my face, calmly checking me for injuries without a word.

My eyes glanced between him and the debt collectors, not sure who I should be more concerned about as he held my chin in his hand.

The debt collector with the birthmark cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter.

“I respect that you’re now the head of Leone family,” the man said, “But that doesn’t mean that this debt could simply disappear.”

He paused and eyed me up and down in disgust.

“Young Leone,” he said, “if you want to take your surrogate—or w***e, or whatever she is—someone has to pay the price.”

The man put on a defiant, shameless expression, no longer as frightened as he’d been when Cade first appeared. Probably thinking Cade came here for his w***e, which he wouldn't care much about.

I took a fearful breath and briefly cast a glance at Michelle and my father—they both stood frozen nearby, not daring to speak.

Cade finally pulled his hand away from my face, and I almost missed the feeling of his gentle warmth against my skin. He cast the man a single cold and menacing glance as he stepped toward him.

“You,” Cade said evenly, making sure it was clear who he was talking to. “You’re the one who dragged my surrogate?”

The man with the birthmark faltered, widening his eyes as the situation dawned on him.

He nodded slowly, clearly back to being terrified of the man in front of him.

“But,” the man tried to defend, “I was just—”

Cade punched him once square in the jaw with a strength that was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

The man collapsed unconscious to the floor immediately. Cade had knocked him out with a single punch as easily as breathing, barely acknowledging it.

Cade turned his attention to the front door where a few men who looked like bodyguards or enforcers were patiently waiting.

“Deal with him.” Cade ordered calmly, radiating authority.

Two of his men wordlessly came in and picked up the man with the birthmark, dragging him out of the apartment similar to how he had tried to drag us.

Everyone in the apartment was frozen, all attention focused on the powerful man that stood before us. No one in my family dared to say a word.

The man with the tattoo was the first to unfreeze as he started trembling and shaking his head. He turned his attention to his feet.

“Our boss won’t be happy about this.” The man muttered. “He’ll have my head if this debt isn’t paid.”

Cade sent the tattooed man a glare and pulled out a checkbook from his pocket. He quickly scribbled out something onto it then held it out to the man emotionlessly.

“There, that should cover the debt.” Cade said then motioned with his head towards. “It should also cover the price of the life I just bought.”

The man took the check hesitantly and without a word, then practically ran out the door to get away from the man in front of him.

I could only stand and watch everything unfold, my heart pounding like a drum in my ears.

The Cade I knew and loved so long ago had been gentle, sweet, and kind. He refused to kill spiders, he never once insulted anyone, and he had been the most understanding person I’d ever met.

This violent version of him that could knock out a man with a single punch and claim that he could just buy someone’s life felt like something out of my nightmares.

What had he gone through? What kind of man had he become? How had he changed from that sweet Cade I once knew into this violently powerful man?

At last, the chaos in the apartment came to an end and a stillness settled in the air.

My father, beaten, shaken, and desperate, finally pulled himself off the ground. He took a slow and uneasy step forward.

“Thank you.” My father said. “I see you grew into quite a man, Cade. It’s been a long time, it’s good to see you.”

My father stepped forward with open arms as if to give Cade a hug.

Michelle fearfully pulled him back to stop him.

My father looked at her for a moment then back at Cade.

“I know your past is a little rocky,” He said with an apologetic smile, “but you must still really care about Harper to step in like that. Thank you, really, Cade.”

Cade sent my father an accusing look, accusing him of what I wasn’t sure.

“Who said this had anything to do with the past?” Cade answered coldly. “If Harper weren’t my surrogate, I wouldn’t care whether this gold-digging woman lived or died.”

Michelle and my father stared at me in shock. I could tell both of their thoughts by their expressions alone:

So I had been telling the truth to the debt collectors. I really was a surrogate for a powerful mafia man. And even worse, I was Cade’s surrogate.

I hadn’t had the chance to say anything sooner, and I knew they would find out I was a surrogate eventually, but I never imagined they would find out like this.

“Her compensation has already been advanced.” Cade continued flatly as his eyes drifted to me. “You’d better understand this clearly—from now on, everything will be done according to my arrangements.”

That was what finally broke me into a million pieces.

His words confirmed everything I suspected.

Cade had hated me for years, from the moment I had ended things. This whole situation had always been about his revenge.

I couldn’t help but stare at Cade in the silence, surprised at everything that had become of my reality.

“But…” Michelle hesitantly said. “If you don’t care about Harper and you’ve already dealt with her payment. Why did you come here in the first place?”

Cade met my gaze with a dark intensity, questions in his eyes that I could no longer read. He cleared his throat and looked away from eyes—focusing on anything in the room other than my face.

“I didn’t have time to meet her earlier at the surrogacy center.” Cade said matter-of-factly. “That was the only reason I came here. ”

He looked around the whole apartment, scrutinizing everything in his sight in disgust.

“Pack your things.” Cade said. “Your first task is to move into my house. Tonight.”