Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 715

Gwen’s POV

Lunch with Mia was exactly what I promised Nick it would be.

A controlled break.

A public place.

A conversation that looked normal to anyone watching from the outside.

Mia talked about the chaos at headquarters.

The sideways glances.

How certain members of the board had already settled on their version before any investigation had even begun.

I listened, responded, sorted priorities in my head the way I always did.

But under the table, my leg wouldn’t stop bouncing.

Every sentence from Mia was a reminder that time had become the enemy.

That I was fighting two wars at once.

The one making headlines and the one happening inside a house in Montelira, behind a locked door.

Matthew’s plan was still there, spinning, fitting pieces together on its own, like my brain didn’t know how to shut off.

He was right about one thing.

We could still catch her.

Just not today.

Not right now.

plan in a mental drawer and locking

was going to be a wife

I was going to be

to find out if I was having

I got to the hospital, Nick was at reception, standing there with the kind of elegance that came naturally to him and still somehow required

an effort

He didn’t need that.

to truly be

results in his hand, and when he saw me, his

smile, like something

for a second in the middle of the hallway, like that gesture was a silent way

I caught his scent.

smell I associated with our apartment when he had just gotten out of the shower and hadn’t yet been swallowed by messages, lawsuits,

to freeze that moment, because I knew how rare

okay?”

was the question of a man who was breaking on the

“I’m here,”

went up to the obstetrics floor, and the waiting room felt like a scene from another

a TV on with

and laced my fingers through his, feeling his thumb

straight ahead, but I could see his mind

Always working.

he or she is feeling shy…”

I cut

at me, and I felt my own body

been a

A wish slipping out.

Nick raised an eyebrow.

“Did you just decide that on your own?” he asked, with the barest hint of

took a breath and squeezed his

didn’t

I had already loved a little