Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 406 Marcus' POV When we turned around, a woman was standing there, casually leaning against a nearby column. I didn't recognize her, but something about her posture put me on alert immediately. She wore a fitted dress, flawless makeup despite the Belmonte heat, and a smile that never quite reached her eyes. Her gaze swept over me slowly, deliberately, like I was an object in a display window she was considering buying. The sensation made my skin crawl. "Marcus Kensington," she said, as if testing my name on her tongue, savoring every syllable.

"So we finally meet in person." "And you are?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral despite the tension thickening the air. "Vivian," she replied, extending her hand toward me. The name hit me like a punch to the chest. Vivian. Madeline's so-called best friend. The woman Madeline had told me about. Dominic's accomplice. Part of the manipulation from the very beginning. And now she was standing here, smiling at me like we were old friends. I didn't take her hand. "What are you doing here?" Olivia asked, her voice icy enough to cut glass.

"Visiting Madeline, of course," Vivian replied, putting on a mask of fake innocence that probably worked on less perceptive people. "Unlike you two, I'm allowed to go in and see her whenever I want." The provocation was obvious. And painfully effective. My jaw clenched on its own. "What do you mean, you're allowed in?" I asked, fighting to keep my tone controlled when every instinct screamed at me to confront her head-on. Vivian took a few slow, deliberate steps toward us, her movement almost choreographed to draw attention to her body.

There was something predatory in the way she moved, like a snake closing in on its prey. "Well, I'm her best friend," she said, as if that explained everything. "I'm helping keep her calm during this very difficult time for all of us. Of course the administration would let me support her in a moment like this." The way she spoke, as if she genuinely cared about Madeline, made my stomach churn. Olivia and I exchanged a look of grim understanding. That was exactly it.

loved Madeline, while granting access to those who were part of the control. The manipulation. "And how is she?" Olivia asked, forcing a casual tone while clearly trying to extract every possible detail. TI "Oh, sweetheart," Vivian sighed dramatically, pressing a hand to her chest in an overdone show of concern. She's doing terribly. Completely out of control, really. Having awful hallucinations. Saying things that

stable." Every word felt like a knife straight to my chest. Knowing Madeline was being drugged against her will, suffering while I stood outside powerless to protect her, made me want to break something. Someone. at kind

total submission was the most natural thing in the world, made it painfully clear just how sick and twisted the entire situation was. These people didn't see Madeline as a human being with rights and autonomy. They

now?" Olivia repeated instantly, catching the dark implication. "This won't last much longer," Vivian replied with a venomous smile. "With the special emergency psychiatric process Dominic managed to activate, the annulment of the marriage should be approved very soon. It's much faster when

in her voice made my blood run cold. "Honestly, it's for the best," Vivian went on, taking another calculated step toward me. She was close enough now that I could smell her perfume. Sickeningly sweet.