Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 370 Madeline's POV A laugh escaped my lips. Not a laugh of amusement, but something hysterical and shaky, born from the complete shock of everything that had happened in the last few minutes. The sound echoed through the room in a way that was almost unsettling, and when I finally managed to stop, the words spilled out without any filter. "You're insane," I said, shaking my head hard. "This is the most absurd idea I've ever heard in my life." Apollo kept looking at me with that seriousness that didn't match the utterly unhinged situation he was proposing.

As if asking a stranger to marry him were the most natural thing in the world. "How can you propose to someone whose name you don't even know?" I went on, feeling a mix of disbelief and something dangerously close to hysteria. "This is... this is complete madness." "And is it necessary?" he asked calmly, as if we were discussing a dinner menu. "Knowing your name? I may not know your name, but I know who you are." "No, you don't," I shot back immediately. "You have no idea who I really am.' But he continued as if he hadn't heard me.

11 "I know you laugh even when you're hurting, because you'd rather use irony as a shield than let people see how vulnerable you are. I know you're afraid of deep water, but you still dive in because you don't want to miss the experience. I know you always look for lightness in the heaviest moments, like it's your responsibility to make everyone else feel okay." Each word hit me like a punch to the gut-because it was true. All of it. "I know you blame yourself for things that were never your fault, and that you'd rather carry the weight alone than ask for help," he continued.

get these two beautiful dimples. I know your eyes turn golden in the sun. And I know you were brave enough to run from a wedding at the altar, but you still feel like a coward for leaving people behind." "Stop," I whispered, because his words were dismantling every

you truly are than most people show in years." "You've only met the version of me I chose to show you during these six days," I managed to say, trying to regain some sense of logic. "You don't know anything about my real life, my real problems, the complications that come with me." "And does that matter?" "Of course it matters!" I burst out. "Marriage

personal information," I cut in sharply, lifting my hand between us like a barrier. "I don't want to know 1/3 about your family. I don't want to know your last name. I don't want to know anything." I made a wide gesture, taking in the room, the view beyond

we get on that flight back to Verdania, and this..." My voice faltered slightly, but I forced the words out. "This ends." The silence that followed was deafening. Apollo watched me for a long moment, and I could see frustration building in his eyes, tangled with something that looked dangerously like hurt. "And what are you going to do?" he asked at last, his voice lower, tightly controlled. "What are you

a tense, uncomfortable silence. We ordered room service, but everything felt different from the other nights-there was no teasing, no laughter, none of the guessing game that had become our private language. It felt like two strangers sharing the same space, polite but distant. When we finally went to bed, we lay side by side without touching,