Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 681 Nick's POV | had made a promise. Not the kind with pretty words. Not the kind adults say to feel better about themselves. | had promised with presence. With time. With the rarest thing I'd learned to give after becoming a father. Staying. Bella was sprawled across the living room rug with a blanket over her head, turning herself into a dramatic "ghost" who. shuffled slowly and deliberately bumped into furniture. "Uuuuuh.." she moaned, lightly crashing into the couch.

"I'm the ghost that haunts dads who make babies." | laughed before I could stop myself, even with everything still tight in my chest. "Wow. That's very specific." "Ghosts know everything," she replied, throwing the blanket off. Her hair was a mess, her nose still pink from crying earlier. | crouched down in front of her. ---- "Okay. Smart ghost. Want to talk to me without the blanket?" She hesitated, her eyes sliding away like talking might be a trap. But her hand reached for mine anyway. Small. Warm. That hit harder than anything she could have said.

"| don't want to lose you," she blurted out, the way kids do when they don't have the vocabulary to soften fear. My throat tightened. "You're not going to lose me." "Yes, | am," she insisted, her voice rising. "Because the baby is tiny and you're going to hold him and... and... and I'll be..." "Look at me," | said, firm but gentle. She did. And | saw it right there. The damage of adult words lodged inside a heart that was too small to carry them. "There's space for you and space for a baby," | said.

"And space for all the days that are still coming, Love isn't a cake that runs out when someone takes the last slice, Bella." She bit her lip. "But Gwen will have a baby that's hers." ---- "So?" "So..." She gestured with both hands, frustrated that she couldn't explain it. "The baby is hers. I'm not." | took a slow breath and chose not to contradict her fear outright. | didn't want to erase it. | wanted to walk through it with her. "Do you remember the first time Gwen made you laugh at the estate?" | asked. Bella frowned, searching her memory.

she said suddenly, making a face. "She called it an excavator and you made that grumpy old-man face." "I did not make a grumpy old-man face." "You did," she said with absolute certainty. "You said, 'It's not an excavator.' And she said, 'Fine, construction grump." | laughed for real because | could see the whole scene like it was happening again. "And you laughed," | reminded her. "| laughed because you turned red," she admitted, and for a ---- second her face lightened. Then

| said, "Not once. If anything, she's always pulled you closer." Bella stayed quiet "Remember the three of us watching cartoons together?" | went 'on. "You in the middle, commenting on

doesn't have rankings, Bella. There's no first place." ---- "There is," she muttered stubbornly. "Okay. Then let's run a scientific test," | said, standing up. " Tonight's lab experiment: sugar and a movie." She raised an eyebrow. "That's science?" "Valentian science," | declared. "The most respected kind."

her grandmother had taught her. "Not too much sugar," she warned seriously. "Nonna says it ruins the flavor." "Yes, ma'am," | said, handing her the spoon for approval. Halfway through the movie, she leaned against my shoulder without even realizing it. | froze, afraid that if |

In fact, as soon as the movie's over, we're starting that new game you've been bugging me about." "| don't bug," she protested, but she was smiling. "You absolutely bug. It's just the