Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 662 Renee's POV Driving to Florentia was a humiliation | swallowed with clenched teeth. Not because of the road. Castoria was too beautiful to deserve people like me. Or people like them. It was the symbolism. Before, Bella came to me. Now | was the one crossing hills, toll booths, signs, winding curves to "pick up my daughter' in her city. Their city. The city where Gwen Kensington breathed like oxygen had been invented specifically for her lungs. Every other weekend Like I was a calendar appointment. Like | was a visitor.

| parked with surgical precision, turned off the engine, and stayed there for a moment with my hands on the steering wheel The leather still held the warmth of my fingers. The car smelled ---- like expensive perfume and old resentment 'Calm down, Renee.' I checked myself in the rearview mirror. Lipstick perfect. Hair flawless. Eyes sharp enough to cut glass. | would not lose control. Not today. Today was Bella's day. And Bella was the only piece that truly mattered.

She came out of the building with a backpack bigger than her torso, coat half open, walking with that exaggerated confidence little girls adopt when they're trying to look older. Probably because her father found it adorable and Gwen encouraged " independence." When she saw me, her face opened into a smile that had taken me weeks to earn. At first, Bella had been stone. Polite. Distant. Like she was repeating a script her father had rehearsed with her. But | learned quickly. Never argue about her father in front of her. Never paint Gwen as ---- the villain. Just listen. Agree.

Consistency worked miracles. Or at least performed a convincing imitation. "Mom!" she ran toward me and hugged me tight. | crouched to meet her and kissed her forehead. "My love. You look beautiful." "Lhad pasta yesterday," she announced, like it was

cared about melted cheese. The pizzeria was small, warm, noisy. Smelled like baked dough and tomatoes. Bella lit up instantly. "Can | get fries on top?" she asked, eyes wide. "You can get whatever you want," | said. That wasn't just generosity. It was strategy. A full, happy child would talk

she rambled about school-some drawing, a competition, a girl who "doesn't know how to share'-I watched notifications light up on my phone. | didn't need to search for gossip. Gossip found me. "Kensington and Valemont: whirlwind wedding and baby on the ---- way?" | read the headline without changing my expression. Only my fingers tightened

Let her keep talking, Let her relax. Then | casually tilted my phone toward her plate, like | was showing her something funny. "Look," | said lightly. "Guess what just popped up?" She leaned closer. "What?" | showed her the headline without opening the full article. No adult details.

nothing. "It looks like they're having a baby." | said it the way someone comments on the weather. As if | hadn't just dropped a grenade. The effect was subtle at first. Not shock. Confusion. "A baby?" Bella repeated, her voice smaller. | gave a small shrug, like | was just processing it too. "That's what people are