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.

of someone who had seen a thousand desperate parents and knew that sometimes the

She looked… fine.

back

An oversized hospital gown.

smudge of gelatin at

Alert eyes.

No visible marks.

child look I had been imagining

Then she

lit up like someone

jumped off the bed before any adult could think to say careful and launched

I caught her

against my chest was the

I smelled her.

Cheap hospital shampoo.

Gelatin.

Childhood.

“Baby…” I managed.

voice broke halfway

around my neck with more force than a child

shoulder, like it was

I opened them, I saw

Pale.