Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 397

Chapter 397

Vivian’s POV

My phone screen glowed with dozens of notifications as I had breakfast in a discreet corner of a small café in dov Town Belmonte. Every gossip profile, every society column, every celebrity blog was covering the same explosive story: Madeline Sullivan’s whirlwind wedding to Marcus Kensington, the heir to one of the most influential and powerful families in the world.

I scrolled obsessively, devouring every sordid detail, every paparazzi photo, every malicious, venomous comment. There were images of the ceremony on the family’s estate in Highridge Valley. Photos of the lavish reception in the mansion’s gardens. Close-ups of the simple yet elegant dress Madeline wore. She was smiling in every picture, as if she were the happiest woman alive.

“Kensington…” I muttered under my breath, the name tasting like a bitter curse.

How was this even possible? How had that dull, insignificant girl not only escaped the consequences of her reckless behavior, but gone on to marry one of the country’s most desired and most untouchable bachelors? And so quickly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The last I’d heard of Madeline, she’d been fleeing a medical clinic like a criminal. And now, less than a week later, she was posing for wedding photos like a fairy-tale princess, shielded by the name and influence of one of the most powerful families on the planet.

It was infuriating and unfair. I couldn’t comprehend it.

I was so completely absorbed in the compulsive reading that I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone violently dragged the chair opposite me across the floor. The harsh scrape of metal against tile echoed like a gunshot, making me flinch and almost knock over my coffee.

My entire body tensed automatically, every muscle locking as if bracing for another explosive outburst, another moment of uncontrolled violence. My face still bore the vivid, humiliating mark of the slap Dominic had given me-a bruise in shades of purple and yellow stretching from my cheek to my temple, impossible to fully hide no matter how much foundation or concealer I used.

But when I forced my eyes up from the phone, Dominic was… calm.

There was no murderous fury in his dark eyes. None of that dangerous, predatory tension that had become his trademark over the last few horrific days. Instead, there was something almost… satisfied in his expression. As if he’d just received excellent news.

“Seen it yet?” he asked evenly, nodding toward my phone, which still displayed Madeline’s wedding photos.

I nodded automatically, not trusting my voice not to sound shaky and pathetic.

“Why aren’t you furious?” I finally managed to ask, curiosity overpowering my instinctive fear.

It was the very last reaction I’d expected from him.

Dominic leaned back calmly in his chair, a cold, calculating smile playing at the corners of his mouth, as if he were savoring a delicious secret.

“Because now I know exactly where she is,” he said, his glacial calm sending a deeper chill through me than any

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uncontrolled outburst ever could.

“But she’s married to

man,” I insisted, genuinely confused by his unsettling composure.

“Is she?” he asked rhetorically, lifting an eyebrow in a way that made it clear he knew something crucial I did. “Because as far as I know, a mentally stable, well-adjusted person doesn’t marry a complete stranger overnight, out of nowhere. How much, exactly, did this Kensington coerce her? I mean, weeks earlier, she was in a psychiatric clinic…”

A slow, malicious smile spread across my face as I finally understood where he was going. The sheer brilliance of the strategy hit me like a flash of light, illuminating possibilities I hadn’t even considered.

“I think I know exactly where you’re headed,” I said, my voice tinged with genuine admiration for his diabolical cunning.

“I want you to dig up everything on that family,” Dominic said, leaning forward slightly, his voice low but heavy with ruthless authority. “Every skeleton. Especially Marcus’s. We can’t act impulsively again like before. This time, we plan carefully. We build a solid case.”

“I’ll do it,” I replied immediately, a wave of relief washing over me at finally having a clear direction-an actual mission.

‘And don’t forget her parents,” he added. “They’re on our side, of course. They’ll back up any claim of Madeline’s mental instability.”

“That makes things easier.”

Dominic studied me for a long moment with those dark, penetrating eyes that always seemed capable of seeing straight through any mask or pretense.

“And Vivian…” he said, his tone shifting in a way that made my entire skin prickle with anticipatory fear, “I won’t tolerate any more mistakes.”

The threat hung in the air between us like a poisonous cloud. I swallowed hard, my hand instinctively rising to the still-tender bruise on my face.

“Just this week alone, two more casinos had to be shut down,” he continued relentlessly, each word landing like a hammer blow. “Do you have any idea how much money I’m losing while we can’t get our hands on those parks? I don’t like losing money, Vivian. Not at all.”

“I won’t mess up,” I promised desperately, forcing far more conviction into my voice than I actually felt. “I won’t.”

“For your sake,” Dominic said coldly, “you’d better not.”

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