Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 692

Chapter 692

Gwen’s POV

Two months have a cruel way of looking short on a calendar and endless in your body.

The new routine settled like fine dust. You don’t see it at first, but you feel it in your throat. I memorized visitation hours like medication instructions. I learned not to ask questions that sounded like interrogations. I learned to smile at Bella without asking for anything back.

And most of all, I learned the sound of Nick’s car in the garage.

That afternoon, I heard the elevator and closed my laptop before finishing the email. Automatic. My body already knew.

Nick walked in without announcing himself. Not because he was trying to be dramatic. He just saved words when words were expensive.

He dropped his keys on the console, took off his coat slowly, and stood there for a second like the house had shifted in the last three days.

“She asked again,” he said.

I didn’t ask what, because I knew. I just stepped close enough for him to see me without feeling

cornered.

“Can I come back yet?” he finished. His voice sounded like a door that creaks just slightly. “I told her not

yet.”

He ran a hand over his face.

“How did she say it?” I asked,

“Quiet. Like she didn’t want her mom to hear.” He exhaled. “Then she pretended she didn’t care. Showed me a new game. But… she was different.”

I nodded,

“Different how?”

“Quieter.” He looked at the window instead of me. “She hugged me tighter when I left.”

What I wanted to say was this is manipulation. This is alienation. This is a child surviving in the middle of a tug-of-war.

What I said was:

“She’s trying to adapt. The only way she knows how.”

Nick let out a short breath through his nose.

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“And me? I’m trying to be a father by appointment.”

I stepped closer.

“You are being a father,” I said. “By appointment, off appointment, with a judge, without one. You show up. You go. You come back. That matters.”

He finally looked at me. The look of someone who accepts the logic but not the price.

“It matters… but it doesn’t change her house.” He looked away again. “I hate picturing her room there. I hate imagining what she hears.”

I swallowed the urge to say Renee’s name. I wouldn’t give her more space inside our walls.

“Do you want a shower?” I asked, practical. It was what I could offer without taking his dignity. “Or something to eat?”

He shook his head.

“I just want… five minutes without thinking.”

“Then you’ll have them.” He lifted an eyebrow, already suspicious. “We have the event tonight.”

The Kensington event had been looming on the calendar for weeks. Celebration of a new distributor in Italy. Partners. Press. Speeches. Smiles. A party that existed before our chaos and therefore felt like an insult.

“I don’t know…” Nick said.

“I know. I don’t want to go either.” I kept my tone neutral. “But I think we should.”

“Gwen…”

“Not for business,” I cut in gently. “For two hours where no one decides anything for us. Two hours where you don’t get in a car thinking about her gate.”

He went quiet as he evaluated. Then he looked at the floor, then back at me, and nodded once.

“Okay.”

I went to the bedroom and picked a dress without overthinking it. When I overthought, I wore too much armor. I needed something that felt like me. Not the woman getting hit by the world. Not the woman trying to conquer it. Just me.

As I tied my hair back, I heard Nick in the bathroom, opening and closing drawers carefully, like the sound might break something.

When he stepped into the bedroom in a dark suit and an open-collar shirt, I noticed something he probably didn’t.

He looked more handsome when he was tired.

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Because his face stopped pretending to be hard.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He shrugged.

“I look presentable.”

I took that as a win.

When we arrived, the lights were already blazing like it was daytime. There was a carpet at the entrance, photographers, guests smiling in clusters. The air smelled like expensive perfume and freshly poured

wine.

“If it gets to be too much, tell me,” I murmured.

Nick nodded.

“If I don’t stay long enough, forgive me.”

“I’ll follow your lead,” I said.

Inside, someone called my last name before I’d even crossed half the room.

“Kensington!” a man shouted, like I was a brand with legs.

I smiled on instinct, shook hands, and accepted compliments. The new distributor stood near the stage with a glass in hand, wearing the enthusiasm of someone investing in the future.

“Gwen,” he said, taking my hand formally. “Congratulations. I’m certain this will be a successful partnership.”

“Absolutely,” I replied.

When they called me up, I stepped onto the stage. The lights intensified, the room quieted just enough. I spotted Nick near a column, like he was using it as an anchor.

I delivered the speech the way I always do. Short. Clear. No miracles promised. I spoke about the distributor, about quality, about vision, about what Kensington represents when it’s led with responsibility.

Applause followed. I stepped down with a practiced smile and found Nick, touching his arm in a silent

it’s done.

Servers passed with drinks constantly. I declined the first glass out of habit. Accepted the second out of stubbornness.

“Just one,” I warned.

Nick made a small agreeing sound.

“Same.”

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The music shifted. Smooth jazz that pretended to be effortless. Couples drifted toward the dance floor like it was instinct.

Nick looked at me.

“Do you want to… dance?”

It sounded casual, but I knew him well enough to hear the real question underneath. Don’t let go of my hand.

“I do,” I answered.

On the dance floor, his hand settled at my waist, controlled but firm. I rested mine on his shoulder, feeling the difference in his breathing. Not like at home. Not as tight.

“Better?” I asked.

“A little,” he admitted.

I smiled.

“A little is already a lot.”

He pulled me closer, like I was solid ground.

“I was thinking about something,” I said quietly, so it wouldn’t become public conversation. “Soon we’ll have the Valemont by Kensington celebration.”

Nick exhaled, almost a laugh.

“The estate’s practically finished,” he said. “Just a few things left.”

I looked up at him.

“Then we have the party there.”

He nodded slowly.

“I wanted…” he started.

“Tell me.”

“I wanted Bella to be there with us.”

“She will be,” I said, squeezing the fabric of his shirt for a second. “All four of us.”

He looked at me like the image was almost too good to trust.

“Like a family,” he finished.

I nodded.

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Chapter 692

“Like a family.”

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