Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 500

Chapter 500

Madeline’s POV

Marcus pulled the car to a stop a few yards from the warehouse, turned off the engine, and let the silence close in around us. We stayed there for a moment, just staring at the structure ahead.

We were far from the city. The address led to a less developed area, almost rural, where old houses blended into abandoned lots and wild vegetation grew unchecked. The kind of place where no one heard screams. Where no one asked questions.

The warehouse itself wasn’t very big. It looked more like a storage building from some abandoned property-rusted metal framework, corrugated sheet walls, a few windows broken or boarded up.

My stomach twisted. My daughter was in there. Or at least information about where she was. She had to

“Wait,” Marcus said when I started to open the door.

He was fiddling with something on the dashboard, pressing a few buttons until a red light began to blink.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice sharper than I meant it to be.

“Car tracker,” he replied, finishing whatever he was doing before turning to me. “It’s active now.”

Something clenched tight in my chest.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I said, casting a nervous glance at the warehouse. “What if they’re monitoring us? What if they realize someone else is involved?”

Marcus took my hand, squeezing it firmly.

“Someone needs to know where we are, Madeline,” he said, his voice low but steady. “If something goes

wrong,

if we don’t check in within half an hour, Christian will know what to do. He’ll bring help. The right kind of help.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted to say this would ruin everything, that Dominic would find out, that we’d put Aurora in even more danger. But I was so tired. So scared. So desperate just to find my daughter that I didn’t have the strength to fight him.

And maybe… maybe Marcus was right. Maybe it was smart to have a backup plan. Because if something did go wrong, if Dominic really meant to kill us in there, at least someone would know where to find us.

“Okay,” I whispered at last. “Half an hour.”

I stepped out of the car, my legs shaking as my feet hit the ground. The afternoon air was cold, the wind carrying the scent of dirt and overgrown plants. There were no other sounds besides the wind and the chirping of crickets. No passing cars. No nearby houses with lights on. We were completely isolated.

Marcus got out right after me, closing the car door softly. He came to my side, and together we started

1/3

Chapter 500

walking toward the warehouse.

Each step felt heavier than the last. My heart was racing so fast I could hear it pounding in my ears.

We reached the entrance. The metal door was slightly ajar, a sinister invitation to go inside. Marcus pushed it the rest of the way open, and it let out a loud, grating creak.

It was completely empty.

The inside of the warehouse was wide but almost bare. A few wooden crates stacked in one corner. Tall, grimy windows. And dust. So much dust, floating through the air, lit by the single bulb hanging from the ceiling at the center of the space.

But there was no sign of Aurora. No sign of Vivian. No sign of anyone.

“Madeline,” Marcus said beside me, his voice tight. “Are you sure this is the place?”

I pulled my phone from my pocket with shaking hands, checking the message for the hundredth time.

“Yes,” I answered, my voice cracking slightly. “This is the address Vivian sent. This is it.”

Marcus took a few steps farther into the warehouse, his eyes sweeping every corner, every shadow. I followed him, my breathing growing shallower with every second.

Where was Aurora? Where was Vivian? Why was the place empty?

“Maybe she changed her mind,” Marcus started, turning back toward me. “Maybe this was just a trap to get us out of the hospital, or-”

“She didn’t,” I cut in, and my voice came out strangely calm.

I had seen it. In the upper left corner of the warehouse, attached to the metal framework. Small. Discreet.

But unmistakable.

A camera.

I pointed to it. Marcus followed my gaze, his body going rigid when he noticed it.

“Maybe she just didn’t like,” I continued, keeping my eyes fixed on the camera lens watching us, “that you came with me. She told me to come alone.”

Now I was speaking directly to the camera, raising my voice to make sure whoever was on the other side

could hear me.

“But he came anyway. Because Aurora is his daughter too. And he has just as much right to be here as I

do.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. Only the sound of the wind outside and our breathing filled

the space.

And then I heard it.

2/3

Footsteps. Coming from somewhere at the back of the warehouse,

A door I hadn’t even noticed before began to open slowly.

Marcus immediately stepped in front of me, his body shielding mine, protective even now.

The door opened all the way.

And Vivian walked in,

She looked different from the last time I’d seen her. She was thinner and paler, with dark circles carved deep beneath her eyes. But what caught my attention most wasn’t her appearance.

It was the gun in her hand, pointed straight at us.

“And you really don’t know how to follow orders, do you, Madeline?” Vivian said. Her voice was eerily calm and cold, devoid of any emotion. “I told you to come alone. A-L-O-N-E. There was a reason for that.”

And then it happened.

The sound exploded through the warehouse, so loud my ears rang.

A gunshot.

D

می

Comments

Support

Share

3/3

11