Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 478 Madeline's POV "Can we take a break?" I blurted out suddenly, my heart racing, my breathing uneven. "Oh my God, I need a break..." I ran a hand through my hair, nerves buzzing, finally feeling the full weight of what I'd just said crash over me. I love you. I'd actually said it out loud-and now I had to face everything that came with it. Marina looked at me with concern, but she was professional enough to know when to step back. "Of course, no problem," she said gently.

"Let's take a twenty-minute break." Marcus helped me down from the carousel, his grip steady on my hand, his face a mix of surprise and something I couldn't quite read. We walked in silence to the small café nearby, and the entire time my mind spun obsessively around what had just happened. We sat at a secluded table, and a waiter came to take our order. I asked for fresh orange juice; Marcus ordered an espresso. When the waiter walked away, the silence between us felt so heavy it was almost tangible. Marcus was the first to speak-and to my surprise, there was a playful smile on his lips.

"You didn't even give me time to respond, you know." The comment caught me off guard, and I couldn't help smiling too, some of the tension finally easing. "You don't need to," I said, meeting his eyes. "I know you love me." He smiled, and there was something relieved in that smile, like my certainty was exactly what he needed to hear. "I need to apologize," I began, feeling the words pile up inside me like a dam about to burst. "For never really paying attention to everything you do for me.

small, everyday ones." I paused, trying to organize my thoughts as honestly as I could. "I wasn't this kind of person," I went on. "I was romantic, idealistic-the kind of teenage girl who dreamed about a prince on a white horse. And now that he's

sanity." I looked at Marcus, needing him to truly understand. "But you rebuilt me. Brick by brick, day after day, gesture by gesture. Even when I couldn't

"Because at some point, everything was bound to go wrong," I continued, needing to get it all out. Something from the past would come back to haunt us. Or someone new would enter your life. Or maybe you'd just realize that all of this was nothing more than an arrangement you didn't want to keep anymore."

just because Dominic and Vivian turned me into one." I took a deep breath, a new clarity settling over me. "I want to dive