Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 633 Nicholas' POV The silence after what | said weighed more than any of the numbers he had laid out in front of me. In my head, | could still hear every word he'd used. Scale. Volume. Structure. He'd listed them like he was breaking down a simple equation For me, it wasn't simple. It was my entire life lined up in rows of vines. He frowned slightly. "That's not what | said." "It's what it sounds like." He took a slow breath and rested his elbows on the desk. "Nick, you're not a failure,' he said firmly. "You're just not a businessman.

You're a man who leads with his heart." | let out a humorless laugh. "And | can't be both?" "You can," he admitted. "But only if you know how to separate the two. And you don't." ---- He made a small gesture in the air, like he was drawing a line. "You make decisions with your heart and expect the business to adjust. Gwen does that too, more than I'd like, actually." One corner of his mouth lifted. "The difference is she's had years of training dealing with the fallout afterward." | looked down at my hands, open over my knees. "So that's it?" | asked quietly.

"At best, | save the estate, get out of debt, improve the numbers a little... and spend my life dragging myself from one crisis to the next?" | swallowed. "You could build a stable life. And that's not a bad thing..." "But it's not Gwen Kensington standard." A faint smile touched his mouth. "No, it's not," he agreed, without cruelty. "And that's not a problem by itself. The question is: do you want a stable life, or do you want to build something that can withstand the kind of storms she's used to facing?" Lifted my gaze. "So what do | do?" ---- He didn't answer right away.

thinking. "You accept that you're not going to evolve on your own without turning Valemont into a real business," he said at last. "With governance. With planning. With outside voices weighing in. Investors. Partners." The word made my body go rigid "Im not selling the estate," | shot back automatically. "Not even a piece of it." "It's not about selling," he replied calmly. "It's about accepting influence. Nick, you want to own everything. Every vine, every bolt. But that comes with

things." He leaned forward slightly. "What | see is something else. An associated line. Not untouchable luxury wine, but a wine with the same obsession for quality, positioned for a slightly different audience. More accessible pricing, without carrying our main name, but backed by our structure." ---- | tried to keep up. "You want to... buy the brand?" | asked. "No," he

if that's what you want. But underneath, in smaller letters, it says 'a Kensington Group company." He shrugged lightly. "In practical terms: we help with investment, distribution, cenology, strategy. In return, you accept that some decisions stop being yours alone.

"Gwen," he said simply. "As long as her name is tied to anything that involves you, do you really think she'd let us turn your home into a theme park?" ---- The image of her in my kitchen flashed through my mind. Cutting bread unevenly, pretending that any of it was normal. "Even so..." | started. "Even so, it's a risk," he admitted. "And I'm not going to lie to you. The moment you

and let out a slow breath. "You say that like it's easy," | muttered "It's not," he replied. "If it were, we'd buy half of Castoria in three years. The point is, you asked me for help so you wouldn't feel like a burden in my