Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 677 Gwen's POV The door was locked. The click still echoed in my head like a warning. No one was coming in here by accident. Outside, the muffled noise of the event carried on. Laughter, footsteps, a microphone being tested In here, | was just a woman trying not to fall apart. Renee, on the other hand, looked far too comfortable. Leaning against the sink with the posture of someone who felt like she owned the place, as if an event restroom were just another extension of her world.

| stepped further into the room, making it clear that | wasn't going to back down simply because she fed on retreat. "| know exactly what you want," | began. "And let me save you some time. You're never getting a cent of my money." "Oh..." she said, sounding almost pleased. "That's adorable. The billionaire thinks the center of the universe is her bank account." It might have been funny if it hadn't been so calculated. If she weren't trying to turn me into a caricature. The untouchable rich woman who buys everything and therefore deserves to be taken from.

---- | took a slow breath through my nose and kept my voice even. "You can pick whatever fight you want, Renee. But we're going to handle this the right way. The way that actually matters. Because we know the law is on our side." | said "we" and felt the weight of it. Nick. Bella. My baby. Renee tilted her head as if she were listening to someone talk about fairy tales. "The law?" she repeated slowly. "The law is always on the mother's side." Awave of nausea rose in my stomach. | couldn't tell if it was the pregnancy or the anger. Maybe they felt the same.

sleeping in. Not when that mother hides behind cheap talk of parental alienation to poison the girl's mind and then plays the victim afterward." | saw her smile freeze for half a second. Renee slowly uncrossed

a more clinical tone, ---- like she was doing me the courtesy of legal advice. "You should be careful what you say," she replied with artificial sweetness. "You'll have to prove every accusation." She shifted slightly, like we were in a courtroom instead of a restroom. "Because if you can't, I'll be adding another lawsuit to the pile. Defamation." "Id love to see you try." Renee's brows lifted, satisfied that | had stepped into the game. That was exactly what she wanted. To push me out of my safe

by piece. "No, Gwen," she corrected calmly. "I'd like to see you try." She let the words settle and studied my face, waiting for the first crack.

Bella stay with you and Nick." She said Bella's name the way someone might refer to an object. Like a trophy she could take off a shelf whenever she felt like it. "You're used to getting everything you want, aren't you?" she continued. "Buying whatever you want." Her gaze moved over me slowly, deliberately, as if my body itself were

money. You can have your last name. You can have that entire stage applauding you..." She tilted her face, calm and composed, and | could