Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 693

Chapter 693

Renee’s POV

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Two months was long enough to learn where the sun hit the living room at the end of the afternoon. Which toys were too loud. Which ones made too much of a mess. Which cartoons Bella watched when she was tired and which ones she watched when she was pretending not to be.

Two months was long enough for me to memorize her routine.

And still not long enough to get what I wanted.

I paced through the living room with my phone to my ear, stepping carefully so I wouldn’t scatter the game pieces Bella had spread across the rug. She was sitting cross-legged, focused, whispering to her dolls like the whole world fit inside that tiny scene.

For her, maybe it did.

For me, the world fit into numbers.

“This is ridiculous,” I said into the phone, keeping my voice controlled. The living room door was open, and the neighbor next door had inconveniently sharp hearing. “I’ve had my daughter for two months and I’m still receiving… that pathetic amount.”

On the other end, my lawyer’s voice came calm, trained.

“Ms. Renee, we’ve discussed this. The provisional amount was based on the elements presented at that stage-”

“Provisional,” I repeated, with disdain. “Everything in this life becomes ‘provisional’ when it’s about keeping me below what I deserve.”

Bella glanced up for a second, curious about my tone. I smiled at her wit walking, so she wouldn’t think the conversation was about her.

“We need the increase based on the standard of living,” I said. “You know that.”

“We’ve already filed the request,” he replied.

wing teeth and kept

“And how long is the judge going to take to recognize the obvious?” I stopped near the window, staring at the garden like looking at something green would stop me from crushing the phone in my hand. “Gwen Kensington is a billionaire. Not just wealthy. A billionaire. My daughter has the right to equal living standards. She can’t live on her father’s crumbs while the other child is born into gold.”

“Ms.-” he warned.

I stepped farther down the hallway and lowered my voice. Bella was still on the rug, distracted, but I didn’t trust distractions.

“Do you know how exhausting it is to play perfect mother for that brat?” I whispered. It wasn’t a

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Chapter 693

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confession. It was contained anger. “Nick’s money doesn’t pay for my sanity. I want the Kensington money.”

There was a small silence on the other end.

“I understand your urgency,” he said finally. “But these things don’t resolve overnight. The request for the increase based on the standard of living is properly grounded. We attached what we could. But a decision may take… up to ninety days.”

“Ninety days,” I repeated, tasting it like poison. “Three months.”

“It could be sooner,” he corrected. “But you need to understand there is procedural timing.”

I closed my eyes and counted to three. One. Two. Three. I was very good at waiting when waiting meant profit.

“One month, then,” I said. “I can tolerate that.”

I hung up.

The silence afterward was almost pleasant.

For exactly two seconds.

“Mommy,” Bella called, in that cloying sweetness. “Aren’t you going to play with me?”

I looked down at the nails on my left hand and felt a surge of irritation at how everything was an obligation. Play. Smile. Stroke her hair. Pretend. Apologize. Don’t yell. Don’t get tired. Don’t exist.

“Not now,” I replied, using the patience I’d practiced. “I just got my nails done.”

Bella frowned.

“Gwen didn’t care.”

The sentence was simple.

But it slid under my skin like a needle.

I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled my phone back out, opening the gossip profile with practiced speed. Then I crouched down beside Bella to get the right angle.

“Gwen didn’t care about you,” I said, like I was giving her useful information. Almost instructional.

Bella blinked, confused.

“What do you mean?”

I turned the screen toward her.

The first photo was perfect. Nick and Gwen on the dance floor, golden light around them, my ex- husband’s hand at her waist, her smile looking painfully real. They looked… free.

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Chapter 693

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“Look at them,” I said.

I swiped.

Another photo. Another angle. More flashes. More perfection. Them laughing. Them toasting. Them

existing.

“Look how happy they are,” I continued. “Now that you’re not at home, they can go out and have fun… because they don’t have to take care of you.”

Bella went still. Her small body rigid, like her brain was trying to rearrange pieces that didn’t fit.

I swiped again.

“And you’re still asking when you can go back,” I said. “Go back for what?”

Her mouth started to tremble. I saw the tears forming before they fell, like always. Children are predictable. That’s why they’re so easy to guide.

“Daddy…” she whispered.

“They don’t love you,” I finished, without raising my voice. I didn’t need to shout to be cruel. “If they did, they wouldn’t be like this.”

The tears came. First in her eyes. Then in sound. A short sob that tried to stay quiet and failed.

“Stop,” I said, already losing patience.

Bella pressed her hands into the rug.

“I… I wanted…”

“Oh, get over it, Isabella,” I cut in. “You already knew. You knew you were goi

She looked at me in panic.

“No…”

replaced.”

“Now it’s just us,” I said firmly, as if I were offering comfort when I was really closing a door. “That’s how

it is.”

She was crying for real now. Face red. Body folding in on itself. Tears soaking into the rug like that was some kind of punishment for me.

“You keep asking when you’re going back to your father…” I continued, my tone almost calm, because that’s the tone that lingers in memory. “Never. Because he doesn’t want you.”

I stood up.

The living room felt like a stage I was done using. Her crying got louder, but I was already on the first step, climbing the stairs with steady steps.

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