Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 257 I walked back into the apartment in silence, still trying to process what had just happened in the hallway. The image of Nate walking away was burned into my mind-his tense shoulders, the controlled steps, the way he'd looked at me in those last seconds before turning the corner. I headed straight to the kitchen, grabbed a glass vase from the cabinet, and filled it with water. The bouquet of red roses felt heavy in my hands. Trimming the stems and arranging the blooms seemed to magnify the storm of questions spinning in my head. Why had Nate chosen those flowers?

Why had they felt so familiar the moment I saw them? And why, for God's sake, had having him in my home shaken me the way it did? "Red roses definitely aren't 'the team misses you' flowers," Marcus said behind me, dripping sarcasm. I didn't look at him. I kept fussing with the roses, giving them more attention than they deserved. "And where's the card signed by everyone?" he pressed, clearly not planning to drop it. The question made me freeze. Slowly, I sifted through the stems, separating each rose, each leaf, each white filler flower. There really was no card or message.

Nothing that backed up Nate's story that these were from the office. And that bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Office bouquets always came with fancy HR-crafted cards like warm messages and long signatures from half the company. But these roses... these had nothing. No signature or explanation. They were too intimate and personal. They were too much like Nate. It was very strange, but I wasn't about to give Marcus the satisfaction of seeing me doubt it.

here?" I finally asked, setting the vase on the counter as I turned to face him, irritation barely concealed. Marcus leaned against the doorway, watching me with that calculated expression I knew too well. But there was something different now, something heavier, more serious than the casual provocations he'd been

the situation with the board and reinstate you in your position," he began, choosing his words carefully. "But... what if you came to the Imperial City with me instead?" I actually laughed. A short, bitter burst of disbelief. "You already have someone in my role," I said, shaking my head. "My own brother." "Matthew would do well in Euradia," Marcus replied immediately.

whatever he was about to say, I wasn't going to like it. "Because you won't want to stay somewhere where everyone's judging you," he said bluntly. "Saying you only got your position because you slept

ago, we were sleeping together too." Marcus didn't flinch. Didn't look the least bit embarrassed. Not even for a second. "The difference is that over there, no one

Nate protect me? By admitting publicly that there was something between us? There wasn't. It had been one moment- unexpected, intense, confusing, but still just a moment. Would he face the board for me? Risk his own career? "And how exactly do you