Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 592 Gwen's POV "So, she's single?" Dante's voice cut through the silence in my office, loaded with that inconvenient curiosity he always had when it came to attractive women. It was Monday, lunchtime. Mia and Dante were sitting on the small couch by the window, surrounded by takeout containers from the Thai food we had ordered. | was at my desk, poking distractedly at my own plate without really eating. | had asked Dante to look into Renee. Quietly. Using the resources he had access to through contacts | preferred not to know too much about. "Focus, Dante," | said dryly.

"Did you find anything?" He lifted the tablet he had been studying and scrolled through the screen. "The investigator's report just came in," he replied, his tone turning more professional. "Basic profile. Full name: Renee Julia Sandler. Thirty-two years old. Ex-husband: Nicholas Valemont. Divorced four years ago. No criminal record. No publicly registered debts." ---- He paused, frowning. "Nothing too interesting... wait. Hold on." He looked at me. "You said she's staying at the most expensive hotel in Montelira? "Yes," | confirmed, setting my fork down.

"Why?" Dante turned the tablet so | could see the screen. "Estimated net worth." | looked at the numbers and blinked. "She's broke?" | asked in disbelief. "That doesn't make sense. She's staying at that hotel. Nick said she's looking to buy a house in the area. She talked about expensive lawyers. About having money." Mia shrugged, grabbing another spring roll. "Maybe she already found another idiot to bankroll her," she said casually. "Wouldn't be the first time someone lived beyond their means on someone else's dime." Something cold settled in my stomach.

---- "Or maybe," | said slowly, thinking it through, "she's going after Nick for exactly that reason. To have someone support her. Or at least someone whose situation she can exploit somehow." "Gwen," Mia said, her voice turning more serious, "honestly, if he falls for that, then he really is an idiot. The woman abandoned him for four years. Anyone with two working brain cells would see she didn't come back out of motherly love or genuine regret." "Yeah," | murmured. "Maybe." But even as | said it, part of me refused to believe Nick was that naive. He was vulnerable, yes. Worried about Bella.

She zoomed in on a specific section. "This other name here. Her ex..." She looked up. ---- "|sn't that the CEO of Vanguard Digital That software company that did that massive merger?" Dante leaned in to get a better look. His eyes widened.

meaningfully. "Why is that interesting?" | asked, standing up and walking over to them. "Because the end of his last relationship was a huge scandal," Dante explained, taking the tablet back and typing quickly. "It was all over the tabloids. Massive. Could it have been with this Renee?" Mia had already pulled out her phone and was scrolling

in tabloid articles that had feasted on the scandal. "It was ugly," Mia continued, scrolling. "The wife caught them in bed together, in a secret apartment he kept. Found out they'd been having an affair for three years. Three years while he was married and pretending to be the perfect husband in public." "Jesus," | murmured. "She made

in the divorce and leaked the whole story to the press anyway. He and Renee even went public for a while after that mess. Like it would somehow legitimize what they'd done. But it ended a few months later." Mia smiled, that sharp, cynical smile she got when she was piecing together gossip. "Lbet she wasn't welcomed into his social circle," she said. "A cheated-on wife becomes the sympathetic victim. The mistress

to dump her before she damaged his image even more." looked at both of them, trying to process everything. Renee wasn't the victim of a bad relationship. She was calculating. She had destroyed a marriage and spent years as a ---- married man's mistress for money. And now she was back. Circling Nick. Threatening him with lawyers she probably couldn't afford. Talking about buying a house when she clearly had no