Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 692

Gwen's POV

Two months have a cruel way of looking short on a calendar and endless in your body.

The new routine settled like fine dust.

You don't see it at first, but you feel it in your throat.

I memorized visitation hours like medication instructions.

I learned not to ask questions that sounded like interrogations.

I learned to smile at Bella without asking for anything back.

And most of all, I learned the sound of Nick's car in the garage.

That afternoon, I heard the elevator and closed my laptop before finishing the email.

Automatic.

My body already knew.

Nick walked in without announcing himself.

Not because he was trying to be dramatic.

He just saved words when words were expensive.

He dropped his keys on the console, took off his coat slowly, and stood there for a second like the house had shifted in the last three days.

"She asked again," he said.

I didn't ask what, because I knew.

I just stepped close enough for him to see me without feeling cornered.

'Can I come back yet?" he finished.

His voice sounded like a door that creaks just slightly.

"I told her not yet." He ran a hand over his face.

"How did she say it?" I asked.

"Quiet.Like she didn't want her mom to hear." He exhaled.

"Then she pretended she didn't care.Showed me a new game.But...she was different." I nodded.

"Different how?" "Quieter.

" He looked at the window instead of me."She hugged me tighter when I left.

" What I wanted to say was this is manipulation.This is alienation.This is a child surviving in the middle of a tug-of-war.What I said was: "She's trying to adapt.The only way she knows how." Nick let out a short breath through his nose.

"and me? I'm trying to be a father by appointment." I stepped closer.

are being a father," I

with a judge, without one.You show

someone who accepts the

it doesn't change her house." He looked

hate imagining what she hears." I swallowed the urge to say Renee's name.I

practical.It was what I

eat?"

minutes without thinking."

have them." He

Kensington event had been looming

new

Partners.

Press.

Speeches.

Smiles.

existed before our chaos and

don't know..." Nick

to go

I think

"Gwen..."

for business," I cut in

two hours where no one decides anything for us.Two hours where you don't get in a car thinking about her gate." He went

he looked at the floor, then back

I went to the bedroom and picked a dress without overthinking

wore too much armor.I needed something that felt like

the woman getting hit by the

Just me.

drawers carefully, like the sound might break something. When he stepped into

Because his face stopped pretending to be

you okay?"

He shrugged.

I took that

lights were already blazing like it was daytime.There was a carpet at the entrance, photographers, guests

like expensive perfume and freshly

gets to be too

Nick nodded.

don't stay long enough,

your

name before I'd even crossed

I was a

shook hands, and accepted

the stage with a glass in hand, wearing the enthusiasm

said, taking my

be a successful

"Absolutely," I replied.

they called me up, I stepped onto

room quieted just enough.I spotted Nick near a column, like he was using it as an anchor.I delivered the speech the

Short.

Clear.

No miracles promised.