Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 265

Chapter 265

Nathaniel’s POV

Standing in the hallway outside the board room, with five minutes before the meeting that would decide Annie’s future and possibly mine, I pulled out my phone. My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few seconds before I finally started typing.

The seventh question I’d planned to ask her was different from the rest. And somehow, I felt like I needed her answer before I made any decision about Marcus’s proposal.

[If you had to choose between what you want… and what’s best for the person you love… what would you choose?

I stared at the message on the screen, my thumb hanging over the send button. It was a loaded question, way too revealing of my own headspace. But maybe that was exactly why I needed to send it-to understand how Annie thought about love, sacrifice, and making the hard choices.

I hit send before I could talk myself out of it.

The meeting room door loomed in front of me like a monument to my indecision. In a few minutes, I’d be sitting at that oval table, facing Alexandra and her political games, trying to save my career and Annie’s. But Marcus’s proposal kept echoing in my mind… that he’d fix everything, if Annie agreed to go to the Imperial City.

The knot in my stomach tightened with every passing second. I’d spent the last hour weighing pros and cons, searching for a third option that didn’t exist. And the worst part? Marcus wasn’t wrong about a lot of it. But the idea of watching Annie leave especially with him felt like a knife twisting right into my chest.

“So… have you made up your mind?”

Marcus’s voice made me lift my head. He was walking toward me with that confident stance that usually irritated me, but his expression was different this time. Less smug, more… professional. Like he understood this wasn’t just another power play.

Before I could answer, my phone buzzed. Annie had replied.

[If it’s real love, sometimes the right choice is putting the person you love first.]

Her words hit me like a punch. There was a clarity in them that forced me to face the truth I’d been avoiding.

If I really loved Annie, if she truly mattered more to me than my ego or my selfish wants, then maybe the right choice really was letting her go.

I looked at Marcus, who was waiting for my answer with an uncharacteristic patience.

“Do whatever’s best for Annie,” I said at last, feeling the words tear their way out of my chest.

I held out the folder with the dossier I’d prepared.

“This might help.”

Marcus took the folder, flipped through it quickly, and nodded in approval.

“Solid work,” he said. “We’ll take care of it.”

We walked into the meeting room together, and after that, everything became a controlled blur of tension and political maneuvering.

Alexandra sat in her usual seat, flawless in a black blazer that made her hair stand out even more. When she saw me walk in with Marcus, her eyes narrowed just a little, like she could sense the shift in the air.

“Gentlemen,” Vincent greeted from the head of the table. “Let’s begin. We’re here to settle the matter of the allegations against Miss Bennett once and for all.”

Alexandra leaned forward, immediately reclaiming the narrative.

“Which suggests internal sabotage,” Marcus added, not quite looking at Alexandra but making the implication obvious.

Alexandra tried to counter, insisting Annie could have had an accomplice, but her position had collapsed under the weight of the evidence. I could see the frustration hardening in her eyes as she realized how badly she’d underestimated the preparation behind this.

After forty minutes of debate, Vincent called for the vote.

“All those in favor of reinstating Miss Bennett to her position, under temporary supervision while we continue investigating the true source of the leak?”

Nearly every hand went up. Only Alexandra and one of her loyalists voted against.

“Motion approved,” Vincent announced. “Miss Bennett may return to work tomorrow.”

He paused, glancing in my direction.

“And Mr. Carter is cleared of all allegations. The evidence presented shows no wrongdoing on his part.”

When the meeting finally adjourned, a strange, hollow sense of victory settled in my chest. Annie was safe. Her career was intact. But I knew this was only the first step in Marcus’s plan.

One by one, the board members filtered out, Alexandra leaving visibly furious, until only Marcus and I remained.

He turned to face me, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes.

“My part is done,” he said simply. “Now do yours.”