Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 553 Nicholas' POV The scream woke me. It was high pitched, filled with pain and terror. I sat straight up in bed, my heart racing, completely disoriented for a moment. Where was I? The room was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the lantern left burning on the dresser. Then I remembered. Gwen's room. I had stayed because she asked me to. Because she was scared. Because she was hurting. Another scream followed, more muffled this time, as if she were trying to hold it back.

I turned and saw Gwen twisting beneath the blankets, her head thrashing side to side, her fingers clenched tightly in the sheets. "No, no, no," she murmured, her voice frantic. "Please, no..." She was having a nightmare. "Gwen," I said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Gwen, wake up. It's just a dream." She didn't respond. She kept struggling, her words dissolving into something more broken, more panicked. "Gwen," I said louder, gently shaking her. Her eyes flew open, wide and wild, not really seeing me. Her body was rigid, stretched tight like a snapped wire.

"Hey, hey," I said, gripping her shoulders. "It's okay. It was just a nightmare. You're safe." Slowly, I watched recognition return to her eyes. The wildness faded into confusion, then awareness. "Nick?" Her voice was hoarse, cracked. "I'm here," I said. "It was just a bad dream." Then she brought her hands to her head, fingers pressing hard into her temples, and let out a low groan of pain. "My head," she whispered. "God, my head is... it feels like it's splitting open." I grabbed the lantern and brought it closer so I could see her face. She was pale. Too pale.

A thin sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain. "How bad?" I asked. "From one to ten." "Nine," she said through clenched teeth. "Maybe ten. I don't know. I've never felt anything like this before. Or... maybe I have, but I don't remember." 1/5 Shit. I got out of bed immediately. "I'm taking you to the doctor," I said, already reaching for warmer clothes. "Right now." "Nick, it's the middle of the night," she protested weakly. "And there's a snowstorm..." "I don't care," I cut in, grabbing the coat hanging over the chair.

"We need to see Doctor Marshall now." I draped the coat over her shoulders and helped her stand. Gwen wobbled, gripping my arm to steady herself. "Can you walk?" I asked. "I think so." I picked up the lantern and guided her out of the room, down the dark hallway toward the stairs. Every step seemed to hurt her. I could see it in the way she squeezed her eyes shut, in the way she held her breath. I left Gwen in the living room for a moment while I went quickly to my mother's room to warn her.

was sitting on the couch, curled in on herself, her hands still pressed to her head. "Let's go," I said, helping her up again. The cold hit me like a solid wall. Snow was falling in thick, heavy flakes, already piled at least a foot deep on the ground. The wind howled, driving the snow into swirling patterns under the weak lantern light.

around to the driver's side, brushing snow off the windshield. The engine coughed once, twice, before finally turning over. I cranked the heater all the way up and eased the car forward, driving slowly, carefully, along the snow-covered road. Visibility was terrible. I could barely see ten feet ahead of me. The headlights reflected off the falling snow, creating an almost solid wall of white. It took forty minutes to make a drive that normally took fifteen. Forty minutes of pure tension, crawling along at less than twenty kilometers per hour,

this hour?" 2/5 "Emergency," I said simply. "I need to see Doctor Marshall." "He's on call. I'll get him." A few minutes later, Doctor Marshall appeared, looking tired but alert. "Nicholas," he greeted me, then

shined a small light into her eyes, asked detailed questions about the pain and her symptoms. "Mr. Valemont, may I speak with you for a moment?" he asked. "Outside?" "Of course." We stepped into the

So that alone isn't an immediate cause for alarm." He paused. "But headaches of this intensity are concerning. Head pain after a head injury isn't unusual, but the severity she described is higher than expected. I've

her family. She's going to need support." "Her brother already tried to reach her," I said quickly. "He called the inn, but the power outage cut the call before I could explain. You're running on a generator here," I added, gesturing to the lights. "Can't you call him? I have his number." Doctor Marshall sighed. "The generator keeps the lights and essential equipment running, yes. But the landlines depend on external lines, and those are down because of the storm. And

storm passes and the lines come back, you 3/5 need to contact her family. She needs care that goes beyond what I can provide here." I nodded, the weight of that responsibility pressing heavily on my chest. Doctor Marshall returned to the exam room, and I followed. He explained the new medication to Gwen, wrote a prescription, and gave