Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 720

Chapter 720

Gwen’s POV

They said twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

I repeated that window so many times in my head it became a kind of internal clock. A clock of tension. The constant feeling that something could happen at any moment, that the timeline wasn’t mine anymore.

Twenty-four to forty-eight hours for the investigation to move forward after the evidence was presented.

Which meant the call could come at any time.

I still hadn’t told Nick anything. Because there’s a very specific kind of hope that, when placed in the hands of a broken man, turns into a promise.

And promises are dangerous.

If the plan led nowhere, we would have to go through the legal route. The formal path. Slow. Full of hearings and competing narratives. I didn’t want Nick to feel like everything was resolved, only to watch reality take it away from him as easily as Renee had taken our peace.

I didn’t want to see his eyes light up just to go dark again days later.

So I carried it alone.

I tucked the weight into a place inside me I knew well. The place where I put everything that couldn’t spill over.

That Saturday night, I tried to allow myself a truce.

Nick and I were curled up on the couch in the living room. Some mindless documentary played on the TV. The kind that starts by promising mystery and ten minutes later you realize it’s just people speaking seriously about something trivial.

Nick had a blanket over his legs and his arm wrapped around me. I felt the warmth of his body and, for a few minutes, I could almost believe in normalcy.

My belly pulled me forward. A physical reminder that life doesn’t wait for wars to end.

Nick shifted the remote, lowering the volume.

“I was thinking about something dumb today,” he said. “The girls’ room.”

I turned to him, attentive.

“What dumb thing?”

“If we get the color wrong, we’re going to look at that wall every day and remember we messed up,” he said with almost funny seriousness. “And I want to get it right.”

I smiled.

“You’re more of a perfectionist than you like to admit.”

“I’m practical,” he corrected. “You’re the perfectionist.”

“Me?” I made an offended face.

He squeezed my hand.

“What color do you think Bella would like?”

“Something very princess. Like… Royal Blush. Castle Vanilla. Wand Sparkle.”

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Nick looked at me sideways.

“You’re making that up.”

“And you’re underestimating the paint industry,” I replied with fake seriousness. “If I look it up, it exists.”

Nick let out a laugh, pulling me closer, and I laughed with him, feeling my chest lighten like, for a second, life remembered how

to be soft.

“And for the…,” he started, then stopped.

I felt his body tense slightly, like the sentence had brushed against something sensitive.

“For the baby,” I finished.

“For the baby… what color do you want?” he asked.

I looked up at the ceiling, pretending to think hard.

“I always thought I’d want something classic,” I said. “White, beige, that magazine neutral. But now I…”

“Now you want something that feels like home,” he completed.

I turned to him.

“Yes,” I admitted. “Something that feels like home.”

He nodded once.

“A soft green,” he suggested. “The kind that reminds you of the inside of a leaf. Not dark. Just… alive.”

“You understand color now?” I teased.

He shrugged.

“I understand soil,” he said. “Soil has nuance.”

I smiled. 1

“Then a soft green,” I repeated, like I was testing the idea on my tongue.

He squeezed my shoulder.

“I’d put the crib together,” Nick said, and his tone shifted. Lower. Firmer. “Like I did for Bella’s.”

My chest tightened.

He’d told me that once, in one of those rare moments when he spoke about the past without being pushed. Said he’d assembled the crib himself. Tightened every screw like it could hold his daughter in the world.

“And I plan to put together the…” he started.

And stopped again.

“We really need to think of a name, don’t we?” he asked.

I smiled.

“We do,” I agreed.

He frowned slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting.

“We can’t keep calling her Princess Glitter forever.”

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Chapter 799

I laughed for real.

“At the risk of disappointing Bella… we can’t,” I replied.

I took a breath and finally let the idea that had been circling my mind come out.

“But we could call her… Clara,” I said.

The word floated between us like a piece of glass.

Nick repeated it slowly, trying it out.

“Clara.”

I watched his eyes move with the sound. Like he was seeing the baby for the first time with something other than fear.

“It means clear, bright,” I added quietly. “And… the closest I can get to glitter,” I let myself laugh softly.

A name that was a promise without tempting fate.

Nick stayed silent for a long moment.

Then he nodded.

“It sounds perfect,” he said.

He slid his hand over my belly with care.

“Our little Clara,” he murmured.

Like she was already there, listening.

Like the name could anchor her.

I smiled and closed my eyes.

And as if the world wanted to make a joke, the baby kicked.

A firm, decided kick.

My eyes flew open and I laughed.

“I think she agrees,” I said.

Nick looked at my belly like he had just received a direct message from the universe.

“See?” he whispered. “She’s already in charge.”

I rested my forehead against his.

And the kiss came.

Nick pulled me closer, and I felt his body steady like I was an anchor.

I pulled back slightly, breathing, and he rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed.

“I’m going to build Clara’s crib,” he said, like a decision he needed to say out loud.

I smiled.

“You will,” I replied.

The phone rang.

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The sound was small, but inside me it exploded.

The device was on the side table, within Nick’s reach.

I felt his body go rigid.

He picked up the phone and answered without looking at the screen.

“Hello?”

On the other end, I heard a voice. Formal. Direct.

“Nick Valemont?”

“Yes,” he replied.

I held my breath.

“We’re calling regarding the minor Isabella Valemont,” the voice continued. “She was admitted a short while ago. We need the parent to come immediately to Nocturne Hospital.”

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