Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 636

Chapter 636

Gwen’s POV

“No.”

The word came out before I even realized I’d made the decision. Sharp. Final. The kind that leaves no room for negotiation.

Renee blinked, like she hadn’t heard me correctly.

“What?”

I stood up from my chair. I could feel my hands trembling, but my voice stayed steady.

“I said no. I’m not giving you a single cent. I’m not giving in to this pathetic blackmail.”

I pointed toward the door.

“Get out. Now.”

She laughed. That elastic, grating laugh that always sounded more like a taunt than amusement.

“You’re going to regret this…”

“Get out!” I shouted, louder than I meant to. “Now!”

My voice ricocheted off the glass walls and came back at me. For a second, I startled myself.

Renee stood slowly, calm as if she were leaving a café instead of the scene of an attempted extortion. She picked up her purse and adjusted the strap on her shoulder.

“Fine,” she said, walking toward the door.

At the threshold, she turned back one last time. Her eyes empty of any trace of shame.

“You’ll pay for this, Gwen,” she said coldly. “If not with money, then another way.”

And she walked out.

The door closed behind her with a soft click.

I stood there.

Then my body finally caught up.

I grabbed my phone off the desk with the overwhelming sense that if I waited even one more minute,

something irreversible would happen. This wasn’t about me anymore. It wasn’t about the vineyard, or the debt, or lies and secrets.

It was about Bella.

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About a mother with absolutely no scruples willing to use her own daughter as a bargaining chip in some twisted game of chess.

I needed to talk to Nick. Now.

I dialed his number with shaking fingers.

It rang and rang, then went to voicemail.

“Damn it,” I muttered, already calling again.

Second try.

Voicemail again.

Third time.

Same result.

He wasn’t answering.

I closed my eyes for a second, took a breath, and hit the button to record a voice message.

“Nick,” I started, trying and failing to keep my voice steady, “we need to talk. It’s important. Really

important. Don’t listen to anything your ex tries to tell you, okay? Nothing. I need to talk to you first. I’m on my way there now.”

I hit send before I could overthink every word.

I grabbed my bag and coat and rushed out of my office.

“Cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day,” I told my assistant as I passed. “All of them. Family emergency.”

Her eyes widened.

“Did something-”

“I’ll explain later,” I cut in as I stepped into the elevator.

The elevator doors slid shut, and Renee’s face flashed in my mind.

“You’ll pay another way.”

I shoved the fear down. This wasn’t the time to shake. It was the time to move.

I went straight to the garage, got into my Audi, and started the engine in one fluid motion my body knew by heart.

I pulled out fast.

Florentia blurred past my windows. Streets. Traffic lights. Tourists crossing too slowly Motorbikes

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appearing out of nowhere. I knew I shouldn’t have been driving like that, but I was desperate.

I tried calling Nick again on speaker.

Nothing.

The voice message would have to be enough for now.

I took the road toward Montelira. The city thinned behind me. Open countryside. Rolling hills. Occasional road signs.

I pressed the gas a little harder. The speedometer climbed.

100… 110… 120…

My hands were tight on the steering wheel, knuckles nearly white. My jaw locked.

“I just need to talk to him first,” I repeated in my head. “I just need to get there first.”

I was about twenty minutes outside Florentia when I caught up to a slower car ahead of me. I changed lanes to pass. A normal move. Something I’d done a thousand times.

Signal. Check the mirror. Ease left.

I was halfway through overtaking when the other car suddenly accelerated.

I frowned.

I pushed the pedal down more, trying to complete the pass quickly. The car ahead sped up too, as if it were playing some twisted game, blocking me from getting around.

“What the hell…” I muttered.

I tried to fall back into the right lane, but I was too far committed. The car stayed exactly beside me, trapping me. A strange, dangerous dance that made no sense.

Then I looked over.

And saw Renee.

Our eyes met. She recognized me. I recognized that cold and almost satisfied smile.

She kept accelerating, holding me in the oncoming lane like it was some kind of sport.

My stomach turned to ice.

The road began to curve gently to the right. I was still trying to pass when I saw it ahead, in my lane-

A massive truck coming straight at me.

Its horn exploded through the air, long and desperate, like the sound alone could shove my car out of the

way.

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My heart slammed so hard it felt like it would tear out of my chest.

I yanked the steering wheel hard.

Back to the right.

The tires screamed against the asphalt.

For a second, the car obeyed. I missed the truck by inches. Literal inches. I felt the blast of displaced air as it roared past, the world shaking beside me.

But I’d turned too fast and too hard.

The rear tires lost grip.

The car began to spin.

I tried to correct it. Turned the wheel the other way. Hit the brakes on instinct, searching for control.

Nothing.

The world became a violent carousel.

Asphalt.

Dirt.

Sky.

Trees.

Asphalt again.

Everything blurred together too fast to process.

I heard the first impact when the car left the road. The sound of metal tearing. Something solid slamming into the side.

The airbag exploded into my face. A blunt, violent blow. Sharp pain across my nose, my forehead, my cheeks.

The car kept dragging, skidding. Another hit, harder, on my side. My body slammed against the seatbelt. Glass shattered. A hollow, crushing sound like something bending past its limit.

My head snapped back and forth.

There was pain. So much pain.

And then, suddenly, silence.

Not complete silence. There was still a high, distant ringing in my ears, like the world had been muffled underwater. But no more screaming metal. No more tires scraping. No more horns.

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The car stopped.

I didn’t know in what position. Everything felt tilted. Wrong.

I tried to move.

My body didn’t respond the way I wanted it to. Everything was heavy. Everything hurt.

I forced my eyes open. My vision was blurred, streaked with red.

Blood.

Running down my forehead, over my nose, along the side of my face. It burned when I tried to blink.

I reached for the seatbelt. My fingers trembled, slipping over the buckle.

“Help,” I tried to call out.

It came out as nothing but a rough breath. Barely sound at all.

I heard muffled voices. Someone shouted in the distance. There were footsteps running too.

I tried to answer. Tried to shout that I was there, that I needed help, that I couldn’t lose time, that I had to get to Nick before Renee did.

Nothing.

The pain felt like it was growing and fading at the same time. Like my body was flipping off switches one by one.

Everything started drifting farther away.

Darker.

Like I was sinking into something thick and heavy.

I thought about the voice message.

About Nick listening to me say, “Don’t believe anything your ex tries to tell you.”

I imagined him understanding too late that I had been on my way to him. That I had tried to get there first. Tried to fix it.

Renee crossed my mind again.

Had she stopped? Turned back? Or had she kept driving, straight and steady, heading to the estate with whatever version of the story she wanted to tell?

I tried to move one more time. Just one movement. Just open the door. Just reach for my phone. Just… anything.

Nothing.

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The darkness crept in from the edges of my vision, swallowing everything slowly.

Bella.

Her image came to me so clearly it hurt worse than the crash. Her laugh. Her wide eyes. Her hands dusted with flour when she helped in the kitchen.

Nick.

The way he looked at me in that kitchen at the estate, like I was the most improbable and most right thing that had ever happened to him.

‘I’m sorry.’

The word formed in my mind before it could ever reach my lips.

And then there was nothing at all.

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