Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 397 Vivian's POV My phone screen glowed with dozens of notifications as I had breakfast in a discreet corner of a small café in dov Town Belmonte. Every gossip profile, every society column, every celebrity blog was covering the same explosive story: Madeline Sullivan's whirlwind wedding to Marcus Kensington, the heir to one of the most influential and powerful families in the world. I scrolled obsessively, devouring every sordid detail, every paparazzi photo, every malicious, venomous comment. There were images of the ceremony on the family's estate in Highridge Valley.

Photos of the lavish reception in the mansion's gardens. Close-ups of the simple yet elegant dress Madeline wore. She was smiling in every picture, as if she were the happiest woman alive. "Kensington..." I muttered under my breath, the name tasting like a bitter curse. How was this even possible? How had that dull, insignificant girl not only escaped the consequences of her reckless behavior, but gone on to marry one of the country's most desired and most untouchable bachelors? And so quickly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The last I'd heard of Madeline, she'd been fleeing a medical clinic like a criminal. And now, less than a week later, she was posing for wedding photos like a fairy-tale princess, shielded by the name and influence of one of the most powerful families on the planet. It was infuriating and unfair. I couldn't comprehend it. I was so completely absorbed in the compulsive reading that I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone violently dragged the chair opposite me across the floor. The harsh scrape of metal against tile echoed like a gunshot, making me flinch and almost knock over my coffee.

and yellow stretching from my cheek to my temple, impossible to fully hide no matter how much foundation or concealer I used. But when I forced my eyes up from the phone, Dominic was... calm. There

trusting my voice not to sound shaky and pathetic. "Why aren't you furious?" I finally managed to ask, curiosity overpowering my instinctive fear. It was the very last reaction I'd expected from him. Dominic leaned back calmly in his chair, a cold, calculating smile playing at the corners of his mouth, as if he

unsettling composure. "Is she?" he asked rhetorically, lifting an eyebrow in a way that made it clear he knew something crucial I did. "Because

of light, illuminating possibilities I hadn't even considered. "I think I know exactly where you're headed," I said, my voice tinged with genuine admiration for his diabolical cunning. "I want you to dig up everything on that family," Dominic said, leaning forward slightly, his voice low but