Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 619

Chapter 619

Gwen’s POV

The knock on my bedroom door was soft, almost hesitant.

“Come in,” I said, setting my hairbrush down on the vanity.

Christian pushed the door open slowly and leaned against the frame, looking relaxed in that way only he could manage even when he was about to say something important.

“I came to say goodbye,” he said. “Zoey is already losing her mind missing Matt. We left him with the nanny a little too long, and she’s having a full-blown maternal crisis.”

I smiled and stood up.

“You’re still staying in Valentia a few more days, right? We’ll see each other before you go back to Verdania?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him. “I’ve got a few things to take care of. Meetings. Paperwork. The usual boring bureaucracy.”

He opened his arms, and I walked into them without thinking. His hug was firm and protective, the kind only an older brother knows how to give.

“Listen,” Christian said quietly, his voice softer than usual. “He seems like a good guy. Nick. I can understand… what you’re feeling. After… well, you know.”

I did.

He did.

We just didn’t talk about it.

Everyone respected my silence. Especially my brother. He never pushed. Never insisted. He just made it clear through steady presence that he was there whenever I needed him.

But maybe… I didn’t want to stay silent anymore.

“After Samuel,” I said, my voice steadier than I expected. “After he killed my daughter and almost killed me too. After he made me believe I would never deserve to love again or… have a family.”

I felt Christian tighten his arms around me, his chin resting on top of my head.

“Gwen…” he started, pain heavy in his voice.

“It’s okay,” I cut in quickly, because I needed to finish before I lost the courage. “I think… losing my memory served a purpose, you know? It helped me remember what actually matters,

“I spent years blaming myself,” I continued, my voice growing quieter. “Thinking that if I had been stronger, smarter, if I hadn’t gotten into that car… maybe she’d still be here. My daughter. Maybe I

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wouldn’t have wasted so much of my life being afraid of everything and everyone.”

Christian didn’t say a word. He just held me, letting me speak at my own pace.

“And after it was finally over, when he was finally out of my life… I thought it would get better. That I’d feel free. Safe. Ready to start over,” I said. “But I didn’t. I just… shut down. Completely. I built walls so high that no one could truly get close.”

I paused, feeling tears threaten to spill, but I pushed through.

“Living inside a shell, trying to protect myself from every possible direction just so I wouldn’t… feel… so I wouldn’t… love… it’s not worth it,” I said finally. “I know that now. Bella showed me that. Nick showed me that. There are good people out there. Not everyone is going to hurt me. I deserve to be happy again.”

Christian pulled back just enough to look into my eyes, his hands firm on my shoulders.

“You have always deserved to be happy,” he said with absolute conviction. “Always. None of what happened was your fault. None of it.”

I nodded, swallowing the tightness in my throat.

“I know,” I whispered. “Logically, I always knew. But actually feeling it… believing it for real… Nick helped me get there. I don’t need to close myself off to survive anymore.”

Christian let out a soft chuckle and brushed his hand over my hair the same way he used to when we

were kids.

“Good thing I’m here to protect you if you ever need it,” he said, slipping back into a lighter tone. “You know that, right?”

I laughed for real this time, wiping at my slightly damp eyes.

“Oh my God, you didn’t pull that on Nick, did you?” I asked, feigning outrage. “The classic overprotective brother speech? The one where you threaten to become his worst nightmare if he hurts me?”

Christian laughed openly, his eyes gleaming with that unmistakable sense of humor.

“Of course I did,” he said without a shred of regret. “That’s what older brothers are for.”

And he was right.

Christian had always protected me, even from Samuel.

When Samuel was cleared of what the police chose to call an “accident” instead of attempted femicide, Christian made sure what he considered justice was served.

He never told me what he did. I never asked how. I never wanted to know the sordid and probably illegal

details.

But Samuel disappeared from my life for good,

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No more phone calls. No more threats. No more showing up in places he knew I went. No more late- night messages from unknown numbers.

He simply… vanished.

And I never questioned it.

Some things you accept as grace and move on from. Sometimes real justice does not come from a courtroom. And I trusted my brother in a way I had never trusted anyone else in my life.

“Listen,” Christian said, pulling me back to the present, “I’m sorry if I was too hard on you about KWJ. About that whole complicated situation.”

“You’re supposed to be hard on me,” I said honestly. “You can’t just pat me on the head when I screw up. Otherwise I’ll never learn.”

He laughed, shaking his head.

“So you admit you screwed up?”

“Completely,” I said without hesitation. “But you also know I’m capable of fixing it, right?”

He laughed again and leaned in to kiss my cheek.

“I do,” he said firmly.

He turned to leave, his hand already on the doorknob, then paused and glanced, back over his shoulder.

“I’ll see you in Florentia,” he said casually.

He let the words hang for a beat.

“And Gwen… be careful not to become an expert in creative accounting with your own life. Transparency

hurts less than a delayed adjustment.”

I burst out laughing, shaking my head in amused disbelief.

“Oh my God, Christian, is that how you confess your feelings to Zoey?” I teased. “With corporate metaphors and compliance warnings?”

He flashed that devastating smile the Kensington men seemed to have mastered.

“Maybe she likes it,” he said with a shrug.

He winked at me before stepping out and closing the door softly behind him,

I stood there for a moment, alone in my room again, still smiling.

But I knew exactly what my brother meant.

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