Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 561

Chapter 561

Gwen’s POV

I woke up in an uncomfortable bed.

The mattress was too firm, sinking in all the wrong places. The sheets had that rough texture of fabric washed a thousand times, lightly scratching against my skin. The room was small and cramped, with furniture that had seen better decades and wallpaper faded along the edges.

So different from my spacious suite in Florentia, with its thousand-thread-count Egyptian sheets and orthopedic mattress that had cost more than some cars. So far from the comfort I was used to.

And yet, in a strange and inexplicable way, it felt familiar. Familiar in a gentle, comforting sense, the kind that made me want to stay there a few more minutes, wrapped in those rough but clean sheets, listening

to the distant sound of the wind outside.

My memories were all there now. Exactly where they belonged. Organized. Catalogued. Accessible. My entire life as Gwen Kensington, current COO of Kensington Valentia.

I remembered everything. The office in Florentia. The endless meetings. The spreadsheets, projections, and market strategies. The cold, calculated satisfaction of closing a particularly difficult deal. The way Christian trusted me to execute his vision, to turn ideas into profit.

I remembered the mission that had brought me here. Evaluating Valemont Estate. Figuring out whether it was worth acquiring, how much to offer, how to convince the family to sell. All of it under the guise of Gwen Parker, marketing consultant, because Christian wanted absolute discretion.

But some memories hurt more than others.

Memories I had carefully locked away in a drawer at the very back of my mind for the past six years.

Now that drawer was open. Wrenched open with the same violence as everything else when my memory came flooding back in the cabin. And it refused to be shut again. The memories spilled out, insistent and painful, impossible to ignore.

Tears started sliding down my face before I could stop them. Warm. Salty. Soaking into the rough. pillowcase. I cried quietly, trying to stay silent, not wanting anyone to hear. Not wanting to have to explain why I was crying when, technically, I should have been relieved to have my memory back.

“Gwen?”

The small voice made my heart stop for a second.

I opened my eyes quickly, turning my head toward the sound, and found Bella sitting in the corner of the room, on a chair near the window. She’d been so quiet I hadn’t even noticed she was there.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, her little voice full of worry.

I quickly wiped my tears with the back of my hand, trying to pull my face together into something that

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wouldn’t scare her.

“No, sweetheart,” I said, my voice coming out hoarse. “I’m okay.”

Bella slid off the chair, her small feet tapping softly against the wooden floor as she came closer to the bed. She looked sad, her big eyes shining with something that could turn into tears at any moment.

“Daddy said I could help take care of you while you slept,” she explained, stopping beside the bed and looking at me with that serious expression kids sometimes get. “He said you got really tired and needed to rest.”

She sat down carefully on the edge of the bed, as if she were afraid of hurting me. Then she slipped her little hand into the pocket of her dress and pulled out something that made my chest ache painfully.

The necklace.

The gold chain with the star I had given her.

“He also said I should give this back to you,” Bella said, her words slow and heavy with sadness.” Because you’re going away.”

She held out her small hand, offering the necklace.

Then her eyes filled with tears that spilled down her rosy cheeks.

“Are you going away?”

The question cut through me like a blade.

I looked around the room. Snow was still falling outside the window, but not nearly as hard as before. The storm was passing. And the light was on again, the lamp beside the bed glowing softly, which meant the power had been restored.

“I think so,” I said honestly, because I couldn’t lie to her. Not after everything. I looked at Bella with a tenderness that physically hurt in my chest.

But then I took the necklace from her hand and gently placed it back around her neck, fastening the clasp carefully.

“But you can keep the necklace, sweetheart. It’s our friendship necklace, remember? And friends don’t have to be in the same place to stay friends.”

Bella touched the little star hanging at her throat and nodded, a tiny smile trying to form on her lips. But then the sadness came back stronger, and the smile faded before it could really exist.

“But I didn’t want you to go,” she said, her voice breaking. “Aren’t you going to marry my dad and be my new mommy?”

The question shattered me.

I pulled Bella into a hug, wrapping my arms around her small, warm body and holding her against my

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Chapter 95

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chest as if she were the most precious thing in the world. My tears came back full force, soaking into her

soft hair as I held her.

“It’s complicated,” I managed to say through the tears. “Grown-up stuff.”

Bella cuddled closer, her little arms looping around my neck.

“Are you not happy?” she asked, and there was so much weight in that simple question.

There was the deep pain of a little girl who had already heard cruel words from her own mother. Words that had marked her in ways that would probably take years of therapy to untangle.

But the worst part, the absolute worst, was realizing something my rational brain tried immediately to reject, but my heart already knew was true.

I had been happy.

I was happy.

Happy with a fiancé who took care of me with genuine kindness, who held me when I had nightmares, who drove through a dangerous snowstorm just to take me to the doctor. Happy with a special little girl who had adopted me with her whole open, generous heart, who made bead necklaces and wanted to show me her favorite cartoons. Happy living in a place where not everything revolved around work, spreadsheets, profit margins, and market strategies.

I had been happy, even though it had all been built on an ice castle that melted at the first touch of reality.

“I’m happy,” I murmured into Bella’s hair, my voice barely audible. “I’m really happy.”

Bella pulled back just enough to look at my face, her big eyes studying every detail as if searching for

lies.

Then she smiled hopefully.

“Then stay.”

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