Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 689

Chapter 689

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Chapter 689

Nick’s POV

“Based on the technical evaluation and the minor’s well-being, I grant the request for a provisional measure, establishing temporary residence with the mother, with visitation rights for the father on designated days and times, until further review by this court.”

I heard every word.

But it felt like listening to a language I only understood well enough to recognize danger, not well enough to defend myself against it.

Mother. Father. Visitation. Review.

The sound went distant and unbearably heavy at the same time. I watched the judge’s mouth move and thought, stupidly, that I should’ve brought a glass of water. That I should’ve slept more. That I should’ve answered differently somewhere along the way. On some random day. In some conversation that had now turned into this. A clean, almost polite sentence about my daughter’s life.

I caught a glimpse of Renee. Perfect hair. Straight posture. That calculated calm she only wore when she was winning. Her lawyer already had his pen poised like he’d known the ending from the start. Cross sat beside me, still, hands folded over his folder.

For one second, I was certain the whole world had rehearsed this scene.

Except me.

The judge kept talking, like he was closing a contract.

“…the child is to be transferred within 24 hours, peacefully, with the presence of counsel if necessary.”

Transferred.

The word hit me like something solid.

I blinked, and the thought came late. Stupid. Impossible.

They’re taking Bella from me.

My throat closed. My heart started beating in the wrong place, too loud, uneven. I looked at Cross like he was an emergency exit.

“Cross…” My voice came out too low to sound like a man who deserved to be heard. “Did we… did we lose?”

He didn’t dramatize it. Didn’t look at me with pity. He just turned his head, steady, and gave me the only thing holding the world together in that moment.

“We lost this round. But we’re appealing.”

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Chapter 689

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I wanted to ask how. When. What “this round” even meant. I wanted someone to tell me this couldn’t happen so fast, so cold. But the judge was already moving on. Deadlines. Formalities. Dates.

And all I could think about was Bella waking up tomorrow, assuming her life would be the same.

Because that’s what children believe.

Until life proves otherwise.

When the judge adjourned, Renee stood first.

She didn’t rush. Didn’t throw her arms up in celebration. She did something worse. She smiled at her lawyer, squeezed his hand with quiet triumph, then looked at me in a way that didn’t need words.

I didn’t hear what she said, but I saw her lips move. Something short. Something like, I told you.

My body reacted with anger. I wanted to cross the room and say something, anything, that would give me back an ounce of control.

But I didn’t have control.

I had a court order and twenty-four hours to “transfer” my daughter.

I stood on stiff legs, like I’d aged ten years in that chair. Cross touched my arm.

“Not now,” he murmured. “Don’t give her that.”

I nodded, unsure of anything, and walked out.

In the hallway, the air felt colder than it should have. I took a few steps and stopped. The courthouse doors weren’t an exit. They were a wall. I had to walk through that wall, and on the other side, I had to be

a father.

A capable father. A stable father. A father who didn’t fall apart in front of his own child.

And that’s when I saw Gwen.

She was leaning against a column, like she’d been waiting without taking up space. So quiet it almost hurt to look at her. Because Gwen was never small in the world. But there, in that hallway, she’d made herself smaller.

Not weak.

Smaller, like she’d dimmed her own light to fit inside someone else’s pain.

I didn’t need to say anything. I just looked at her.

And she understood.

Gwen walked toward me without rushing, and I felt her arms around me before I registered the movement. I pressed my face into her hair like, for two seconds, I was allowed not to be the man carrying the weight of everything.

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Chapter 689

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“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. I’m not even sure I heard it clearly. “We’ll… we’ll fix this.”

I wanted to answer. I couldn’t form the words. I just stayed there, breathing against her chest like she was lending me air.

Cross stepped up beside us, professional, controlled.

“Go home,” he said. “I’ll call you later to go over next steps. Don’t do anything without telling me.”

I nodded.

Renee walked past us on her way out, with that stride of a woman who knew she’d won. She threw a quick, sharp glance at Gwen, then looked at me.

“Twenty-four hours,” she said, like she was reminding me about a meeting time.

P

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