Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 484 Chapter 484 Marcus' POV Two days had passed since the meeting where we all tried to find a solution to the nightmare our lives had become. Two days of heavy silence, of hushed conversations, of looks weighed down with worry. The Kensington mansion in Highridge Valley had turned into a war headquarters. Christian came to find me on the morning of the third day, his face set with a determination I recognized as a decision already made. "I need to talk to you and Madeline. Alone," he said simply.

We found Madeline in the library, absently flipping through a book she clearly wasn't reading. She looked up when we entered, and the tension on her face told me this conversation would matter. Christian skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point, the way he always did when he had difficult decisions to deliver. "I can't decide what you're going to do with Sullivan Parks," he began, holding eye contact with both of us. "That decision belongs to you, and I fully respect that." He paused deliberately before continuing.

"But Kensington will not be involved if you choose to go forward with the opening now. This is not the moment to launch a celebration line. Not the moment to celebrate anything while people are dying and that tragedy is being tied to our name." I understood his position completely. More than that, I agreed with it. Celebrating anything while families were mourning loved ones poisoned by something linked to the Kensington name would be insensitive, maybe even cruel. Even knowing we weren't at fault, we were still carrying the weight of that grief. "Of course, Christian," I said.

"I fully support that decision." But Madeline stood up from the armchair where she'd been sitting, frustration and pain etched across her face. "So that's it?" she asked, her voice trembling with barely contained emotion. "We retreat? We let Dominic win?" Christian kept his expression calm, but I could see the empathy in his eyes. "This isn't about letting Dominic win, Madeline," he said gently but firmly. "It's about respecting the victims. About not adding insult to injury by celebrating while families are suffering because of something that carries our name.

right moment, we'll rise again. But this isn't it." Madeline let out a heavy breath, dragging a hand over her face in a gesture of exhaustion that broke my heart. "I understand that," she said quietly. "But I also understand that Dominic may never give us the right 1/3 moment. He'll keep forcing situations where we always have to retreat, always have to defend ourselves,

dragged Kensington into this," she said, her voice breaking. "Dominic would never be attacking you if it weren't for me. All of this is my fault." Christian stepped closer, his posture losing some of its rigid professionalism. "That doesn't matter right now," he said firmly, but with kindness. "What matters is knowing when to strike-and knowing when to retreat. And this is the moment to retreat." He looked directly at me, and I recognized that expression

eyes, was the one Christian used when he was about to announce something big. "It's not just

generations-long history. It felt like admitting defeat, even if only temporarily. We exchanged looks, each of us trying to process the magnitude of that decision. After a few heavy seconds of silence, Christian left the room, leaving me alone with Madeline. The moment the door closed, she fell apart. Not physically, but emotionally-the tears she'd been holding. back finally spilling freely. I

back slightly, looking at me with red, desperate eyes. "Especially now that I truly understand Dominic isn't just a bad person. He's a cold, calculating killer. He murdered my father, Marcus.