Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 432 Marcus' POV Saying her name out loud felt like a confession I'd been carrying for years. There, in the darkness of the elevator, with Madeline curled against me, I finally spoke the name that had haunted my nightmares for more than a decade. "Aria was..." I started, then stopped, searching for the right words. How do you explain to someone that a part of you left with another person? "She was my girlfriend when I was seventeen." I felt Madeline shift slightly in my arms, giving me space to speak without pressure. There was no judgment in her silence. Only patience.

"We'd been together for a few months," I went on, letting the good memories surface for the first time in years. "She was... incredible. Smart, funny, determined in a way that sometimes intimidated me a little. She wanted to study veterinary medicine. She was completely in love with animals." Remembering the way her face lit up when she talked about her dreams still warmed something deep inside me, even after all this time. "She used to say she'd open a clinic for abandoned animals," I continued, my voice tinged with nostalgia. "She had everything planned out.

Where it would be, how it would work, even how she'd raise money for emergency cases." I took a deep breath, approaching the hardest part of the story. "It was a weekend, and I wanted to impress her," I admitted, the familiar wave of shame rising. "Christian had just bought a new car. A beautiful convertible. He'd gone out to meet friends, and I... I took the car without asking." My voice dropped, heavy with guilt. "I was seventeen, Madeline. I didn't even have a driver's license yet. But I wanted so badly to impress Aria. I wanted her to see me as mature, interesting.

Aria was glowing, her hair flying in the wind, laughing at something I'd said." The memory was so vivid I could almost hear her laughter again. "She had

of control. Way too fast. We later found out the driver was drunk. Far over the legal limit." I felt Madeline tense in my arms. "He crossed into our lane and... I didn't have time to react. I didn't know how to react. I was too inexperienced. Too young." The words came out uneven, broken. "If I'd been older. If I'd

I replied automatically. "And logically, I know the drunk driver was responsible. But there's a difference between knowing something in your head and being able to forgive yourself in your heart." "There really is," she said gently. "I never

was gone." We sat in silence for a few moments. I could feel Madeline absorbing everything I'd told her. "And after that, you never

driver." "But if I hadn't taken the car-" "If you hadn't taken the car, maybe you'd have been on the sidewalk at the wrong moment," she cut in. "You can't control other drivers. Even if you'd been eighteen, twenty-five, or thirty. Even

know if the person in the other car is drunk, having a medical emergency, or losing control for some other reason." Her words made sense. And still... "Some things are out of our control," she continued, her voice carrying a quiet wisdom shaped