Three Years Behind Bars The Billionaire's Surrogate SecretChapter 1

I loved Hudson Farley for ten years.

At eighteen, Hudson sponsored my way through college. I gave him my first time.

At twenty, I hid in the crowd and watched Hudson and Aria Fox's engagement ceremony.

That night, Hudson climbed into my bed and held me from behind. "Thelma Pruitt, once I take control of the Farley family, I'll call off the engagement and marry you."

At twenty-three, I gave birth to twins and handed them over to Aria to raise.

The first time I heard my own children—the babies I'd carried for nine months—call Aria "Mama," I cried the entire night.

At twenty-eight, Aria killed someone in a hit-and-run.

Hudson came to me, his expression strained. "Thelma, Colton and Willa can't grow up without a mother."

"Aria's already agreed. You take her place in prison, and she'll annul the marriage."

"The kids and I will be waiting for you when you get out."

I stared at the man I'd loved for a decade and realized, with a jolt of clarity, that this was the closest Hudson Farley had ever come to making me a promise.

I nodded. Said one word.

"Okay."

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