Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 419

Chapter 419

Marcus’ POV

I instinctively widened my eyes when I saw the look on Madeline’s face. There was something completely unexpected there. A mix of surprise and shock that made me instantly forget our argument about schedules and missed calls.

“Are you okay?” I asked, alarmed, taking a step toward her. My mind immediately jumped to every medical possibility. Pregnancy complications? Pain? Was it something going wrong that I wouldn’t know how to handle?

She didn’t answer. She just kept staring at me with that strange expression, one hand still resting on her belly.

“Madeline, please tell me what’s happening,” I insisted, urgency creeping into my voice. “I’m sorry I got home late. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I don’t want to worry you, I don’t want to stress you out or do anything that could hurt you or the baby and-”

She interrupted me with another small cry, very similar to the first one, but this time there was something different in her expression.

It wasn’t fear.

It was… amusement?

“Madeline?” I said again, completely lost.

Then she laughed. It was a soft, almost awed sound that only confused me more.

“I think he likes your voice,” she said gently, her eyes shining with an emotion I couldn’t immediately name.

“What?” I asked, frowning, completely confused.

stead of answering, Madeline reached for my hand and guided it carefully until it rested against her belly. Her in was warm through the thin fabric of her shirt, and I could feel the gentle curve that had formed over the ast few months.

“Keep talking,” she said softly, covering my hand with hers.

“About what?” I asked, still disoriented, but instinctively doing what she asked.

“Anything,” she replied, her voice filled with an anticipation I still didn’t fully understand.

I tried to organize my thoughts, searching for something mundane to say while keeping my hand exactly where she’d placed it.

“Well…” I began hesitantly. “Christian had this kind of crazy idea today about organizing a team-bonding retreat. He thinks if we take everyone from Kensington Valentia out into the countryside for a weekend, it’ll boost morale after all the leadership changes. Especially after all the news coming out of Verdania. Just imagine Mia trying to set up a tent or-”

I didn’t get to finish the sentence.

Something unexpected pressed against my palm from the inside.

1/3

It was subtle, but unmistakable. Like something small and determined had pushed back against my hand from within Madeline’s belly. A gentle wave of movement that rippled through her skin.

I stopped talking instantly, my eyes locking onto hers.

“He kicked,” I said, my voice dropping to a whisper of pure awe.

We stared at each other for a moment that felt endless, both of us trying to process the magnitude of what had just happened.

Then, at the exact same time, we started laughing.

Not laughter from humor but from emotion, wonder, and a joy so intense it needed somewhere to go.

“My God,” I murmured, keeping my hand exactly where it was, waiting for it to happen again. “That was real. I felt it.”

“It’s never happened before,” Madeline said, her voice thick with emotion. “It’s like he was waiting for you to get home.”

I stood there, my hand resting on her belly, feeling our baby move for the first time, and suddenly everything became overwhelmingly real in a way I hadn’t fully processed until that moment.

Throughout all the weeks since we found out about the pregnancy, through the escape, everything with Dominic, all the stress and planning and constant worry, part of me had still treated the baby as something abstract. A concept. A future possibility. A reason to protect Madeline, but not quite a real person yet.

But standing there, feeling that small yet unmistakable movement, I understood it viscerally. There was a life growing inside her. Our child. Son or daughter. Already communicating with us. Reacting to our presence. Making their existence known in a way that was impossible to ignore.

“It feels so real now,” Madeline said softly, like she was reading my thoughts.

“I know,” I agreed, my voice still full of awe. “Before it was like… like an idea. Something that would happen someday. But now…”

“Now it’s a person,” she finished. “A tiny person who recognizes your voice.”

We stayed quiet for a few minutes. My hand never leaving her belly, both of us waiting. When it happened again -another small push, maybe a little stronger than the first—I felt an emotion so intense it nearly knocked the air out of me.

I was really going to be a father. I was going to have a son or a daughter. Someone who would depend on me. Who would look to me for protection, guidance, an example. Someone who would carry part of me and part of Madeline into the future.

The responsibility was overwhelming. And at the same time, thrilling in a way I had never experienced before. This wasn’t just about protecting Madeline from Dominic’s schemes anymore. Or keeping our legal situation under control. Or trying to build something functional between the two of us.

This was about building a family. A real family with a new person who was already making their presence known. Already responding to the sound of my voice. Already part of our lives in a tangible, immediate way.

2/3

“Our fight feels kind of stupid now, doesn’t it?” I said quietly, still not moving my hand.

Madeline laughed softly.

“A little. But I still want you to call when you’re going to be late,” she said, her tone completely free of the earlier irritation. “We’re three now. And all of us worry when you disappear.”

“We’re three,” I repeated, letting the weight of those words settle into me.

A father.

I was going to be a father.

COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus

P

Comments

Support

Share

3/3

GET IT

X

nus