Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 690

Chapter 690

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Chapter 690

Nick’s POV

The silence in the car was worse than anything else.

I drove without remembering the route. Gwen sat with her hands folded in her lap, her fingers moving now and then like she was counting something invisible to keep herself steady. Heartbeats. Deadlines. Fear.

When we got home, Bella was in the living room with Martina, sitting on the floor drawing.

When she saw us, she looked up and smiled. Small. Real. The kind of joy that wrecked me because it had no idea what was coming.

“Daddy!” She jumped up and ran to me with that pure, instinctive sense of belonging.

I crouched down and hugged her, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Hey, baby.”

Martina looked at me, then at Gwen, reading the news in our faces. She didn’t ask. She just stood slowly and touched my shoulder. A silent I’m here.

It took me a full minute to find words that didn’t taste like panic.

“Bella… can you come with me for a minute?” I asked. “Let’s talk in your room.”

She nodded like it was nothing. Took my hand and started up the stairs without fear. Like it wasn’t her hand the world had just tried to pull out of mine.

In her room, I sat on the edge of the bed. She climbed up beside me, her legs swinging.

“Something… grown-up happened,” I started, hating the phrase. “And things are going to be… different for a little while.”

Bella frowned, alert.

“Different how?”

I took a breath. Then another. Like air could hold the world in place.

“You’re going to stay with Mommy for a few days.”

The silence that followed was small.

But heavy.

Bella blinked.

“Are you coming with me?”

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Chapter 690

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My chest tightened. I looked at her face and felt the full injustice of that question.

“No, sweetheart,” I said slowly. “It’ll just be you and her, okay? But I’ll see you. I’ll be close. I’ll-”

“Mommy promised she’ll play with me,” she said, and her voice carried a hope that should’ve comforted me… but instead sent something sharp through my chest. “And get gelato.”

I felt Gwen’s presence in the doorway. She’d followed us up but stayed outside, not stepping in. Not intruding. I saw the way she stiffened for a second. Martina appeared in the hallway too, quiet, watching the way mothers do when they see their child about to fall.

I forced a smile for Bella.

“Oh yeah? Gelato?”

Bella nodded, brighter now, like she’d found a plan that made this less scary.

“And video games. Because it’ll be just me and Mommy.”

Gwen stepped fully into the room then, her entire body on alert.

“Just you two?” she asked carefully. “And… what else did your mom promise, sweetheart? What else did she say?”

Bella looked at Gwen the way a child looks at someone who exists in the room but doesn’t control the rules. She wasn’t mean. She was just… closed.

“She said… she said she’ll never replace me with a baby,” Bella answered simply. “That it’ll be just us.”

My stomach dropped.

I looked at Gwen. She understood without words. That wasn’t an innocent comment. It had shape.

Direction. Intention.

I turned back to Bella, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Is that why…” My throat felt raw. “Is that why you told the man… the man in the suit… that you liked staying at Mommy’s house more?”

Bella shrugged, like it was obvious.

“Yeah. Because I’m hers.”

She looked at Gwen and added, without cruelty, just with that clean certainty children have:

“And I’m not Gwen’s.”

Gwen walked closer and crouched down in front of her, at eye level. I saw the effort it took for her not to look hurt. Not to look like she was asking for love.

“Do you remember what we talked about in the car?” Gwen asked softly. “About you being the baby’s big sister?”

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Chapter 690

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Bella’s eyes widened a little, like that was the only part she could still touch without it hurting.

“That I get to pick the name… right?”

“You do.” Gwen smiled, and the corner of her mouth trembled. “And that means you’re family. My family. My heart-daughter.”

Gwen lifted the beaded necklace around her neck. The crooked, colorful one Bella had made in a rush of joy at the estate, back when decorating people like Christmas trees was still a game.

“You made this for me,” Gwen said. “Our friendship necklace. I keep it. I wear it.”

Bella looked at the necklace. Her expression softened for a second.

“I remember.”

“So we’re forever friends, right? We’re family.”

And then, like she needed to protect herself from that softness, Bella said quickly, “I’m going with Mommy. But then I’ll come back.”

The sentence was small. Harmless. The kind only a child could say.

But I felt the ground split open under me.

Because I knew “then I’ll come back” wasn’t simple when there was a stamped order and a deadline. I knew Renee wouldn’t hand her back easily. I knew I’d be picking up my daughter at scheduled hours, like love was something you signed for.

Bella looked so sure that “later” was just later.

And I lied.

Because it was the only thing I could do without shattering her childhood right there in front of me.

“Of course, baby,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Then you’ll come back.”

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