Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 668

Chapter 668

Gwen’s POV

The municipal building wasn’t romantic.

It was beautiful in its own way. Old stone. A wide staircase. A flag drifting lazily outside. But it wasn’t the kind of place you chose because you wanted a “setting.” It was the kind of place you chose because you had to.

And right now, I had to.

I carried the documents in a slim folder, as if paper alone could hold an entire home upright. My heels echoed down the tall corridor, and I found myself noticing things I’d normally ignore. The sharp click of my steps. The scent of waxed floors. Sunlight filtering through stained glass without ceremony.

Nick walked beside me. Not in a perfect suit. Not like the man he could be at some glossy magazine party. Just put together in the way he did when he wanted to look calm and absolutely wasn’t. Light shirt. Dark jacket. That quiet, capable energy of someone who builds things with his hands, even if today’s fight was different.

Christian trailed behind us, tapping at his phone with the focus of someone trying to manage the world through text messages. And Martina… Martina was quieter than I’d ever seen her, like she was holding something tight inside her chest so it wouldn’t spill out too soon.

The witnesses.

Just the four of us.

Simple. Clean. Fast. Like pressing a bandage firmly into place. No slow peeling.

Nick squeezed my hand in the hallway, and I squeezed back.

“Gwen,” he said softly before we turned the corner toward the office where everything would become

official.

I stopped. Looked at him.

He hesitated, and I saw the question before he asked it.

“Are you sure?” Nick’s voice was gentle, but the worry in it was real. “We don’t have to do this today. We could wait. Do it the way you always imagined… something bigger. I know you don’t want to admit it, but I

know.”

I took a deep breath.

Because part of me did want that. A part of me always had.

But another part, the one that had learned how to survive, looked at what was at stake and chose what

was necessary.

Chapter 668

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“I’m sure,” I said, steady.

Nick frowned slightly, the look that meant give me the whole truth.

So I did.

“I want to do this now. Keep it simple.” I swallowed. “For Bella.”

The word came out and carried weight with it. Not a bad weight. A solid one. The weight of an adult decision.

“To show that our life isn’t improvised,” I said, holding his gaze. “To show it’s not just some relationship that falls apart the next time things get hard. To show… stability. To give Renee less ammunition and Bella more solid ground.”

I saw something shift in his face, like a quiet guilt had just been dragged into the light.

He opened his mouth, but I lifted my hand to stop him. I didn’t want a speech. I wanted him to hear me.

“And later,” I continued, my voice softening even though it stayed steady, “after this storm passes… we’ll have the party.”

Nick exhaled like he’d been holding his breath since last week.

“You’re impossible.”

“I’m practical,” I corrected, and Christian rolled his eyes behind us like I’d just said something scandalous in a government building.

Nick rested his forehead against mine for a second. It was a small gesture, too intimate for a place like

that.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said, and my mouth trembled into a smile I couldn’t control. “I love you, too.

We walked in.

The room was bright. A desk. Two chairs. A crest mounted on the wall. The woman officiating had a practiced, gentle smile and a pen that looked like it had signed a thousand endings and a thousand beginnings.

Christian sat as a witness with the posture of someone attending a high-level board meeting. Martina sat like someone trying very hard not to cry too soon.

The clerk asked for our documents. I handed mine over. Nick handed over his. She checked everything, typed, printed.

The bureaucracy moved like an indifferent machine, and yet my heart pounded as if I were stepping up to an altar.

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When she started reading the terms, something unexpected hit me. I was calm. Nervous, yes. But calm. Like this decision had finally clicked something into place that had been loose inside me for far too long.

“Gwen Kensington,” the clerk said, looking at me, “do you accept?”

My “yes” came out clear.

It wasn’t a fairy-tale yes. It was the yes of a woman choosing to fight for her family.

“Nicholas Valemont,” she continued, “do you accept?”

His yes was steady. Grounded. I felt it all the way through me, like he’d planted his feet and decided he wasn’t moving.

The clerk smiled, satisfied, and then came the part that wasn’t required but suddenly felt inevitable.

“I don’t have a speech,” Nick said quietly, looking at me like the world had narrowed down to just us. “But I do have a promise.”

I swallowed.

“I promise you’ll never be alone,” he said. “Not when I’m scared. Not when life is loud. Not when we’re exhausted. I’ll stay. And I’ll choose you, every day.”

He slid the ring onto my finger.

The gesture was simple. And enormous.

My turn.

I took his hand. Strong. Rough from work. And still trembling just a little.

“I’m not going to be easy,” I said, and Christian muttered, “Obviously,” under his breath, just quiet enough to pretend he hadn’t.

Nick smiled.

“But I promise I’ll be your home,” I continued, because that was the only word that felt right. “And we’re going to do this the right way. For what we want. And because we love each other.”

I slipped the ring onto his finger.

The clerk finalized everything. Signed. Stamped. There was a formal declaration about us being married. and the room seemed to hang in suspension for a second, like even the air paused to take note.

Martina lifted her hand to her face quickly, like she was brushing away nothing. But I saw it. The shine in her eyes. The emotion she was holding back. The way she looked at Nick like she was witnessing a small miracle in the middle of hell.

Christian cleared his throat, sharp and quick, but his eyes had changed. Proud. And a little shaken.

Nick kissed me.

+25 Bonum

It wasn’t cinematic. It wasn’t a performance.

It was real.

And for a moment, I felt like our life had found its anchor.

When we stepped out of the room, I took a full breath, like there was finally enough air in the world. And my brain, which never knew how to relax for more than thirty seconds, flipped back into autopilot

“Okay,” I said, already digging through my purse for my phone. “I think I’m heading back to the office. I need to sync with legal about updating the paperwork, and-”

“Nope,” Christian cut in, smoothly plucking the phone out of my line of sight with the irritating ease of an older brother. “Zoey planned a surprise for you two.”

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