All Chapters of Single Mom * Brooding Billionaire : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

She was three months postpartum, two jobs short of rent, and one missed payment away from losing the only roof over her daughter’s head. He was a billionaire CEO who bought her rundown coffee shop to tear it down and build glass towers. He was supposed to evict her. Instead, he found her at 3am, shaking, breastfeeding in the back room because her sitter cancelled again. Instead, he learned her daughter’s name before he learned her lease terms. Adia Mbeki doesn’t trust rich men. Especially not the one who holds the pen to her eviction notice. But when Kael Sterling starts showing up with coffee, diapers, and a rule that says “no one touches you when you’re tired,” she starts to wonder if some deals aren’t written on paper. He called it a business arrangement. She called it survival. Neither of them called it love until it was too late to stop. --The bell above the coffee shop door hadn’t rung in twenty minutes, which meant it was 2:47am and New York had finally decided to be quie

Chapter 3The SUV was still idling when we stepped out. Rain on the windshield. Engine low and quiet, like it was trying not to wake the street. Kael opened the back door himself. No driver jumped out. No assistant. Just him, holding the door with one hand, the other in his coat pocket.“After you,” he said. I didn’t move right away. Lila was asleep against my chest, heavy in the carrier. My duffel bag hung off one shoulder. Three onesies. Two diapers. A half-empty bottle. My entire life fit in canvas. Getting into that car meant I couldn’t change my mind.Kael didn’t say anything. He just waited. Rain dripping off his coat onto the sidewalk. No impatience. No pressure. That was worse, somehow. I slid in. The leather was warm. The car smelled like cedar and clean air. No air freshener. No trash. No baby toys on the floor. It didn’t feel lived in. It felt… staged.Lila shifted as the door shut. Her little fists curled against me. Kael got in beside me. He left space. A whole person of

8:30AM.The penthouse felt different in daylight.No shadows to hide in. The whole city was bright and loud 60 floors down. And Kael was different too. Gone was the man in sweats from the kitchen.Back was Kael Sterling, CEO. Navy suit. Crisp white shirt. Tie knotted perfect. Watch on his wrist that I knew cost more than my rent for a year. Hair combed back. Face like a locked door.He was on a call by 8:31, pacing the length of the living room.“No. I’m not revising the Sterling Tower bid. Tell them it’s non-negotiable or we walk.” Lila was on her play mat in the nursery, chewing a silicone star and drooling everywhere. I was folding the 20 new baby outfits his assistant had delivered at 5AM. Tags still on.My phone buzzed on the dresser. Unknown number._“Ms. Mbeki, Lara Chen, Mr. Sterling’s EA. Investors will be in the penthouse at 8:40 for a 30-min review. Please keep baby noise to a minimum during that window. Thank you.”Investors. Here. Now.I stared at the text until the screen

Day 24.Three days since Kael told three billionaires, _They live here. Probably longer.The penthouse hadn’t changed out loud.He still left at 6:30AM. Still took calls from his office with the door shut. Still signed things at the dining table. But small things had shifted. His tie was on the back of a kitchen chair now instead of hidden in his office. He asked “How’d she sleep?” instead of “Any issues with the baby?” The nursery door stayed cracked two inches, every night.Adia told herself it meant nothing.Lila told her otherwise at 3:17AM.3:17AMLila had been screaming for 41 minutes.Adia knew because her phone was face-down on the mattress, the red numbers burning through the dark: 3:17. Teething. Gas. Overtired. It didn’t matter. When it was 3AM, every cry felt like proof she was failing. Her body felt hollow. Her milk had dried up from stress weeks ago. Her brain felt worse.She rolled off the bed. The marble floor was ice under her bare feet. The penthouse was too big at n

6:14AM. The LeakAdia’s phone didn’t ring. It detonated.Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.WhatsApp. Twitter. News alerts. 3 missed calls from a number she didn’t know. She fumbled for it in the dark, squinting. 6:14AM. Lila was still asleep in the crib.First notification:*`BREAKING: KAEL STERLING SPOTTED WITH MYSTERY WOMAN AND INFANT AT WOODLANDS GROCERY`*She tapped it.Photo 1: Kael pushing a cart. Lila in the carrier on Adia’s chest. Adia reaching for apples, laughing at something he’d said.Photo 2: Parking lot. Kael holding the car door open for her. His hand on her lower back.Photo 3: Close-up, grainy. Kael looking down at Lila. His expression wasn’t CEO. It was soft. The way he looked at 3:17AM.Caption: _`Sources say woman is new nanny. Or is it more? Sterling, 36, seen with her 3 times this week. Ex-fiancée Elise Vance has not commented.`_Adia’s stomach dropped to the floor.Comments scrolled automatically:`Gold digger.``She looks broke.``Is the baby his??``Elise deserves better.`An