Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 701

Chapter 701

+25 Bonus

Chapter 701

Gwen’s POV

When I stepped out to the outer wing of the estate, the air felt colder than it had minutes before.

The sun was sinking behind the vineyards, washing everything in a glow I would normally call beautiful. Tonight it felt like mockery.

Nick stood in the courtyard a few yards ahead, speaking to two police officers. I recognized his posture. from a distance. Body steady. Head slightly inclined. The stance of a man answering questions while trying not to shake. He barely gestured. He handed over details like he was building a map.

I paused in the doorway and watched for a second.

I could cross the courtyard. Interrupt. Say what I was thinking.

“I know where Bella might be.”

I could.

But the sentence, in my head, came with an invisible warning.

Might.

It was just a theory. A guess built on a detail. Offering hope without certainty felt wrong. Worse than wrong. Cruel.

And there was something else.

That conversation with the police could take time.

They would repeat timelines, repeat names, repeat routes, repeat the obvious until someone felt like they were “doing something.” I understood protocol. I respected protocol.

But I couldn’t wait.

So I closed the door behind me quietly, careful not to draw attention. I moved quickly to the spot where the bikes were always kept ready for rides and grabbed one.

My hands found the handlebars with a familiarity I wasn’t sure was real or just urgency. I adjusted the seat without thinking, swung on, and pushed off. My body protested slightly, but I ignored it and started pedaling

The vineyards opened in front of me in long, ordered lines, as if nature itself had decided to cooperate. Rows Direction Structure.

Two gelatos One for my dad.”

The vendor’s words looped in my head in rhythm with the turning wheels

US

Chapter

And then Nick’s voice from earlier joined in.

“Gelato at the medieval tower.”

I pedaled faster.

The path up to the tower climbed steadily. Old stones under the tires. The air thinner, colder. My heart pounded too hard, and for a second I heard Nick telling me to breathe.

When I reached the base of the tower, I barely touched the brakes. I dropped the bike wherever it landed, not caring about elegance.

As I ran up the spiral stairs, I was already shouting.

“Bella!” My voice hit the stone walls and came back louder, like the tower itself wanted to frighten me.

Bella!”

I climbed faster, chest tight. The top felt endless.

When I finally reached it, the wind hit me first.

The space was small. A circle of stone. No doors. No rooms. No shadows.

One glance was enough.

Bella wasn’t there.

The world stopped for a second. When it started again, it came back like a fall.

“No…” The word slipped out of me like air.

A scream tore out of my chest. I was angry, scared, and frustrated.

This had been my best guess.

And I was wrong.

My legs gave out like they’d only just remembered they existed. I slid down against the stone wall and

sat hard on the cold floor.

And finally, I let the panic catch up to me.

I cried

I cried with my face buried in my hands, trying to stay quiet, like shame could stop me from breaking apart. Like I was still someone who got to choose where and when she lost control.

I had always organized things into action.

One task after another.

One call

Chapter 701

+25 Bonus

One list.

One plan.

That was how I kept my mind busy enough not to… not to fall apart.

But now…

Now all I had was time.

And time, that day, felt like an enemy.

I pulled in a shaky breath and forced my brain back onto the track.

The vendor.

Two gelatos.

“One for my dad.”

But if she wasn’t at the tower, where would she be?

The question circled again.

And with it, a word Nick had used without realizing the weight of it.

‘Run.’

“Run away from our problems.”

Like it was a joke.

Like it was temporary salvation.

And the understanding snapped into place.

Hide.

Run from the world.

Hide from the world.

A child

A child who ran.

Who bought two gelatos.

Who wanted to give one to her father

Who didn’t find him

What does a child do when she fails? She looks for somewhere to wait Somewhere she can…. hide.

I pushed myself up fast, wiping my face with my sleeve like that could erase what I was feeling.

I ran down the stairs, knees shaking.

I nearly tripped halfway, and the fear of falling reminded me, too late, that I wasn’t alone inside my body

anymore.

At the base of the tower, I grabbed the bike and pedaled in a different direction, guided not by certainty but by stubborn hope.

The barrel cellar.

The place where Nick stored the casks. The place that smelled like wood and quiet. The place where a child could play hide-and-seek and pretend it was an adventure.

I pedaled like fate depended on the rhythm of my legs.

When I arrived, I dropped the bike and pushed the door open.

The cellar swallowed me in cool, damp air.

“Bella!” I called, her name bouncing off the stone walls and coming back at me in different echoes. “Bella!

The rows of barrels stretched out like dark corridors. This wasn’t like the tower. Here, you could

disappear.

I moved between the casks, brushing my hand along the wood like it could anchor me.

“Bella, sweetheart… it’s Gwen. Are you here?”

Her name echoed back at me, multiplied, and I hated how the cellar gave me so

nothing else.

I took another step. Then another. Calling softer now, like any wrong noise might scare her away.

“Bella… I-”

I stopped abruptly.

My eyes went wide.

Both hands flew to my stomach.

And I screamed.

45