Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 608

Chapter 608

Nicholas’ POV

I dropped Bella off at school that Monday morning like I always did. She practically jumped out of the car, already buzzing with excitement to tell her friends that Gwen was officially Daddy’s girlfriend now.

“Remember,” I told her before she ran off, “this is family business. You don’t need to tell everyone, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

But the huge grin on her face told me her entire class would know before recess.

I drove back to the estate with the window down, letting the cool morning air hit my face. The property was busier than ever. More guests. More reservations. Things were finally starting to work the way

I’d

dreamed for years.

Gwen had made that happen. She and her expertise. Her ideas. Her relentless determination.

I smiled, thinking about her. About the weekend. The tower. About how everything between us had shifted so quickly.

But the smile disappeared the second I turned into the driveway and saw Martina standing near the main house, talking to the mailman.

My stomach tightened instantly.

1 parked faster than I should have, barely waiting for the engine to die before stepping out.

By the time I reached her, the mailman was already walking away, giving a polite wave as he headed

back to his scooter.

If something had required a signature, it wasn’t good news.

My first thought was Renee. Some new legal move about Bella. More demands. More threats.

“What is it?” I asked as I approached Martina, my voice sharper than I meant it to be..

She looked at me with a worried expression, holding a large envelope in her hands.

“This came for you,” she said, handing it over. “Registered mail. Needed a signature.”

I took the envelope, my fingers trembling slightly. I recognized the bank’s logo in the corner immediately.

Damn it.

I tore it open right there, scanning the first few lines.

Notice of credit assignment.

The debt had been sold.

1/3

“What?” I muttered, reading it again to make sure I understood correctly.

“What’s happening?” Martina asked, trying to look over my shoulder.

Before I could come up with an excuse, some lie to keep her from worrying, she had already taken the letter from my hand and was reading it herself.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice rising. “Our debt was sold? To who? What does that mean?”

“It’s a banking procedure,” I said quickly, trying to sound calmer than I felt. “Sometimes they do this. They sell troubled loans to credit recovery companies.”

But the truth was, I didn’t fully understand what was happening either.

Didn’t I have a deadline? Weren’t there at least a few more weeks, like the bank manager had said? Time

to put together a better proposal? To try and negotiate?

What did this mean now?

That someone could show up here at any moment and enforce the collateral? That they could just take the property?

“But what does this actually mean, Nick?” Martina pressed, her voice climbing with worry. “Can these people come here and take the estate from us? Could we lose everything we built?”

I saw the fear in her eyes. The same fear I’d seen too many times over the past few years. Ever since my

father died and left this mess behind.

I couldn’t let her carry that again.

“No, no, of course not,” I lied, forcing confidence into my voice. “We’re handling it, remember? We’ve saved some money. And our bookings for next month look really strong with all the new reservations coming in. We’ll negotiate with this company and it’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, wanting to believe me but clearly unsure.

“Of course,” I said, forcing a smile as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her back inside. “It’s going to be okay, Mom. Trust me.”

She nodded, looking slightly calmer, and went back to whatever she had been doing.

I stayed outside for a long moment, staring down at the letter in my hand.

KWJ Holdings LLC.

I had never heard of them. I had no idea who they were or what they wanted.

Later, when Paula arrived for her shift, I pulled her aside into a more private corner of the office.

“I need to show you something,” I said, handing her the letter.

She read in silence, her expression growing more serious with every line of formal legal language.

2/3

“Shit,” she said simply when she finished.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“What exactly does this mean?” she asked, handing the paper back to me.

I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled heavily.

“I… don’t fully understand how it works,” I admitted. “I just know that when the bank sells a debt, it means things are already bad. And companies that buy this kind of debt aren’t interested in extensions or

if they don’t get

friendly negotiations. They want their money. Fast. And it, they enforce the collateral without thinking twice.”

Paula stared at the company name at the top of the page again.

Then she nodded slowly.

“And we don’t have the money,” she said quietly. “Not all of it. Not yet.”

It was true. Even with the recent improvements, even with more guests coming in, we didn’t have forty- two thousand dollars sitting around. Not even close.

“No,” I said, the word heavy in my mouth.

“So what are we going to do?” she asked, looking at me like I had some kind of miracle answer.

I shook my head, feeling the weight settle back onto my shoulders.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Look into this KWJ Holdings. Try to contact them. See if we can negotiate some kind of payment plan.”

Paula was quiet for a moment, thinking.

“I think they’ll send someone,” she said finally. “That’s usually how it works. When they buy a debt like this, they send a representative to assess the collateral and speak to the debtor.”

She paused, meeting my eyes.

“But Nick, we’re racing the clock now. More than ever. Whatever you were planning to do to fix this… it needs to happen fast.”

COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus

P

Comments

U

Support

Share

GET IT

3/3

X