Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 722

Nick’s POV

The receptionist looked at the screen, then at me, and I saw that split second of assessment everyone makes when the urgency isn’t their own.

“One moment, sir,” she said.

I felt Gwen’s hand in mine, firm, like she was keeping me grounded.I didn’t look at her.If I did, I’d break in a way I couldn’t afford to. The receptionist motioned to a nurse in the hallway.The nurse came quickly.

“I’ll take you to her,” she said.

I didn’t ask where.I just went. The corridor felt too long.

Every door we passed was a reminder that life inside those walls could change in seconds. I tried to keep breathing.

The nurse stopped in front of a door.

Checked a clipboard.

“She’s in here.” I opened it before she could finish.

And for a moment, everything I’d been holding inside me hit the floor.

Bella was sitting on the bed with a tray in her lap and a small cup of gelatin trembling under the white light.

her, watching with the calm of someone who had seen a thousand desperate parents and knew that

She looked… fine.

back

An oversized hospital gown.

at the corner

Alert eyes.

No visible marks.

broken child look I had been imagining in the worst parts

Then she

Her face lit up like someone had

“Daddy!” She jumped off the bed before any adult could think to say

caught

Her weight against my chest was the most real thing in

I smelled her.

Cheap hospital shampoo.

Gelatin.

Childhood.

“Baby…” I managed.

voice broke

neck with more

you’d come,” she said into my shoulder, like it was

I opened them, I saw Gwen

Pale.