Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 590

Chapter 590

Nicholas’ POV

I left the house before the sun had fully risen over the hills.

I didn’t want Bella to wake up and see me leaving. I didn’t want to have to explain where I was going, or why.

Martina knew.

She had seen the card Renee left on the table and the look on my face. She didn’t say a word. She only nodded as I passed through the kitchen and handed me a thermos of coffee, no questions asked.

The hotel was exactly what I had expected.

One of those luxury places with a perfectly restored historic façade. Expensive flower arrangements in every window. A uniformed doorman at the entrance who looked me up and down, clearly deciding whether I belonged there.

I immediately felt out of place.

My clothes were clean but worn. My car was parked between Mercedes and BMWs. My work boots left faint traces of dirt on the polished marble floor of the lobby.

“May I help you?” the receptionist asked, wearing that professional smile that never quite reached her

eyes.

“I’m here to see Renee Sandler,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Room twenty-three.”

She picked up the phone, dialed, and waited.

“Ms. Sandler? You have a visitor. Nicholas Valemont.”

A pause.

“Yes, of course. I’ll send him up.”

She hung up and gestured toward the elevators.

“Second floor. Last door on the left.”

M

I stepped into the mirrored elevator, watching my reflection multiply endlessly.

I looked tired. I looked stressed. I looked exactly like a man who hadn’t slept after his ex-wife had suddenly appeared at his daughter’s birthday.

I knocked on the door of room twenty-three, and Renee opened it almost immediately.

And I froze.

She was wearing lingerie.

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Expensive lingerie, obviously. Black. Lace. Leaving very little to the imagination. One strap had slipped slightly off her shoulder. Her hair was tousled, as if she had just woken up. Her makeup was light and

flawless.

“Nick!” she said, with a surprise that felt a little too practiced to be real. “I’m sorry. I just woke up and didn’t have time to get dressed properly. Come in, come in.”

I stood there for a moment, processing.

Seriously considering turning around and walking away.

But I needed to deal with this. I needed to make it clear she couldn’t just show up and demand Bella

back.

So I went in.

”

The room was spacious. Not the presidential suite, but clearly expensive. A small sitting area with a sofa and armchairs separated the living space from the bedroom I couldn’t see from there. A balcony overlooked the distant mountains. A bottle of champagne sat in an ice bucket, even though it was barely morning.

“Sit,” Renee said, gesturing toward the small sofa by the window. “Would you like something to drink?”

She moved toward the minibar, and I watched. It was impossible not to. The way her lingerie rode up her thigh when she bent to pick something up. A movement that looked casual but was obviously deliberate.

“No, thank you,” I said firmly, sitting down but keeping my posture rigid.

She poured anyway, setting one glass on the coffee table in front of me before sitting in the armchair

across from me with her own.

I picked up the glass, then set it back down, sliding it slightly away.

“It’s barely seven in the morning,” I muttered.

“Would you prefer coffee, then?” she asked, tilting her head. “I can have them bring some up.”

“I’d rather get straight to the point,” I replied, forcing my voice to stay neutral. “You said you wanted to

talk. So talk.”

Renee took a long sip of her drink, studying me over the rim of her glass.

“The situation is simple,” she said at last, setting it aside. “I’m back in town. For good. I’m looking for a house to buy. Something nice. With space. And I want contact with my daughter again.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I said immediately.

“I can take this to court,” she replied calmly, as if we were talking about the weather.

“You disappeared for four years,” I said, feeling anger begin to boil beneath my control. “Your daughter doesn’t even recognize you, Renee. She hid behind someone else when she saw you yesterday. No judge

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would give you access to her after that.”

“I’m not asking for custody,” Renee said, her voice remaining infuriatingly calm. “I know Bella is fine with you. I just want the right to be part of her life again. Gradually. Supervised visits at first, maybe. Rebuild our relationship. And no judge would deny that to a mother who is clearly trying to fix her mistakes.”

She leaned forward, and her lingerie shifted in ways that were obviously intentional.

“I have good lawyers,” she continued. “Expensive ones. They know exactly how to argue cases like this.”

I clenched my fists, fighting to keep my composure.

“Why now?” I asked, my voice turning harder. “Why after four years? And what about your husband?”

”

“We’re divorced,” she said simply. “It’s been a year.”

I couldn’t stop the bitter sound that escaped me.

“That didn’t last long for someone who abandoned her husband and daughter for the so-called love of her life,” I said harshly.

Renee stood abruptly and walked to the window, turning her back to me.

“Listen,” she said, her voice losing its control, becoming more emotional, “I messed up, okay? He never really loved me. He just… used me. He cheated on me with other women while I thought we were building a life together. I was completely wrong about him. About everything.”

She turned to face me.

“But I’m back now to try to fix this. To try to repair what I broke.”

“And it still took you a year after the divorce,” I said coldly.

“I needed time to think!” she snapped. “I needed to put things in perspective. To process everything. Because I didn’t know if Bella would forgive me. I didn’t know if you would forgive me. I didn’t know if I had any chance of getting back what I threw away.”

“Now you know.” I didn’t forgive her.

Renee walked slowly toward me, deliberately invading my personal space.

She sat on the arm of the sofa beside me, her hand settling on my shoulder. Her fingers moved lightly, stroking. Her expensive perfume wrapped around me.

I froze, furious.

“I made mistakes,” she said softly, her voice dropping, almost intimate. “But I’ll do whatever it takes to get my family back. And that includes you, Nick.”

I pulled away so abruptly that I almost knocked over the coffee table,

“It’s better if we leave this to our lawyers,” I said, already heading for the door.

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“Nick, wait…”

I didn’t. I opened the door and walked out, slamming it hard enough to make the picture on the wall

shake.

D

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