Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 107

Chapter 107

The silence in the cellar seemed to stretch into infinity, my confession hanging in the air like something poisonous. I waited for it-the disappointment, the hurt, the sense of betrayal to cross Joseph’s face. But what came next left me completely stunned.

A laugh.

Not a polite chuckle or an awkward laugh to ease the tension, but a deep, genuine, full-bodied laugh that came straight from his chest. His shoulders shook with it, and for one absurd moment I thought he might actually be choking.

“Joseph?” I asked hesitantly, my anguish momentarily replaced by concern.

He lifted a hand, asking for a moment as he caught his breath. Finally, wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye, he looked at me with an expression that was equal parts amusement and tenderness.

“My dear, I’m eighty-three, not eight.” He shook his head, still grinning. “Did you really think I didn’t know?”

It felt like the ground vanished beneath my feet.

“You… knew?” My voice barely came out.

“From the very beginning.” He adjusted himself in his chair, suddenly looking far sharper and more calculating than the warm, doting grandfather he usually appeared to be. “No contract involving the Kensington name is ever signed without my knowledge, Zoey. I have eyes and ears in places even Christian doesn’t know about.”

My mind scrambled to catch up. All this time-all the guilt, the worry, the weight of deceiving him-it had been for nothing?

“But… why?” I finally managed. “Why let it happen? Why not say something?”

Joseph picked up the old bottle again, slowly turning it in his hands as the light danced across the dark glass.

“Because I understood the purpose,” he said simply. When he looked at me again, his eyes were startlingly clear. “Christian wanted to secure control of the company before my surgery. He wanted to protect me, in his own complicated, controlling way.” A fond smile touched his lips.

“You’re not angry?” I asked, still reeling from his calmness.

“For trying to protect me?” He placed the bottle on the table between us. “Or for signing a contract that brought me the most delightful granddaughter I could ever hope for?” His smile deepened, warm and genuine. “No, Zoey. I’m not angry.’

“But it was all a lie,” I whispered, the words still burning as I said them. “A business deal.”

“Perhaps in the beginning.” Joseph pulled an old corkscrew from a nearby drawer and began to open the bottle with the practiced ease of a man who’d done it thousands of times. “But I know my grandson better than anyone. Christian would never have kept up the pretense if there wasn’t something real underneath it.”

The cork came free with a soft sigh, releasing an aroma so rich and complex it filled the air around us instantly.

“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice unsteady.

“When I see you two together…” Joseph paused, pouring a small amount of the deep ruby wine into two delicate crystal glasses. “I see the same look Sophie and I shared. Something you can’t fake, no matter how skilled the performance.”

He handed me one of the glasses, and I took it with trembling hands.

“But it started with a contract,” I insisted, still struggling to comprehend how easily he forgave us.

“Many marriages throughout history began as arrangements, Zoey.” He raised his glass slightly, the candlelight catching the wine and setting it aglow. “Some of the happiest and strongest unions I’ve ever known started exactly that way. What matters isn’t how it begins, but what grows from it.”

I searched his face, my heart still tangled between relief and disbelief.

“How can you be so sure?” I asked softly. “How do you know it’s not just a really good act?”

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