The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 49

Bobbie was surprised at how well she and Olivier had managed to make the day appear normal and sane to their children considering the chaos brewing behind the scenes. More than once when they had been on the yacht, he’d been pulled away to a phone call and she’d distracted the kids with snacks, views of dolphins and brightly colored fish.

Now, both kids were tucked into their beds, exhausted from the day on the water and the little bonfire Olivier had made in the sand for them when the sun had gone down. She kissed both of them and felt a wave of emotion hit her as she considered how impacted their lives would be from the turmoil of her previous relationship with Olivier.

If only she had understood in the past their agreement was an NDA and not an employment agreement, she would have been less likely to believe Bernard when he’d told her she had been traded to him. Their lives would have been significantly different if she’d stayed and had the security back then throw Bernard and Cleo out and had just called Olivier.

She walked down the hall to the direction of the study where he had gone while she had put the kids to bed after their showers. He was on the phone, sitting behind a desk with one elbow propped up and his face resting in his hand. She noted the exhaustion around his eyes and mouth as he ruffled his fingers in his hair.

She leaned against the door, aware he hadn’t noticed her yet and openly eavesdropped.

“Papa, I agree with you. This is a mess, and I am trying to deal with it.” He paused for a moment, “you’re right, hiding in the Bahamas while the name of the mother of my children gets dragged through the mud isn’t right but throwing her into the middle of the mess to let the vultures descend on her would be far worse.” He shook his head angrily and pulled at his hair, “no Papa, I don’t think it would be best if we brought Bobbie and the kids to stay with you on the plantation. Right now, she considers you as much a vulture as the halfwits reporting to the tabloids. I’d sooner send her to Gael and hell will freeze over before that happens.” He gave a dry chuckle as his father apparently agreed with him.

As if sensing her, he suddenly looked up and saw her watching from the doorway. He crooked a finger in her direction and sat back in his chair while he continued speaking to his parent. “What would you have us do?” he asked his father as he put the man on speaker while he motioned for Bobbie to sit on his knee.

“Bring Bobbie and the kids home. Our place has far more protection than the little gated community you have agreed to live in. She and the kids can stay here while you and your grandfather continue whatever illicit things, you’re doing to sort this mess out. There’s no way a reporter is getting on our property and if a drone flies over, I’ll personally shoot it down if it can make it past the trees.”

“It’s not a good idea,” Olivier shook his head.

“It’s the only idea. While you are holed up in the Bahamas, her name is being torn to shreds. I would rather you leave her there alone with the kids and come back and deal with this than for the four of you to stay there. This is your mess, Ollie. I raised you better than this. You are supposed to man up and deal with your mistakes. You messed up making a girlfriend sign a prenup. I still can’t believe of all the people to ask relationship to advise from, it was your grandfather all those years ago.” Levi’s voice was terse.

Bobbie twisted her lips at the words of the man. He himself had called her a w***e not long ago. Now he was wanting to protect her. She tried to push the bitterness away, but it still rose to the top.

“You know, you should be more worried about your wife than my little family.” Olivier threw out as if desperate to escape the wrath of his father.

“I am worried about my wife. I am worried about my son and his family as well. One does not outweigh the other. I would very much like a chance to talk to Bobbie myself and apologize. When will you permit me to do so?”

“When she’s ready.” Olivier grinned at Bobbie as if he were enjoying his father’s frustration.

“Have you told her I want to talk to her? To tell her there are no excuses for my behaviour and how I promise to treat her with the same love and respect I would Fiona and Elise? I promise to love her as if she is my own, Olivier but I cannot make amends if you keep her away from us.”

“Us?” Olivier gave a chuckle, “there’s no us. Just you.”

“Every day you become more and more like Gael, Olivier. It frightens me.” Levi chastised. “You were always a spiteful and willful child but this path you are on will end up badly. I feel it.”

“What would you have me do? Roll over and let people take advantage? Would you prefer I let those who take from me go unpunished?”

“You need to reread your bible.” Levi said quietly.

Olivier shook his head, “There is no being who has killed more in the name of vengeance than the heroes of your storybook, Papa.”

“There is also none who has saved more,” he retorted. “You will replace darkness if you are seeking darkness Olivier. Try replaceing the light.”

“I found the light,” he looked up and smiled at Bobbie, “and my purpose is clear. I will protect her and our babies until my death.”

“Then let us help you. Come home. We will keep them safe while you do what you need to do.”

“Who is we?” he asked. “Are you expecting if I bring Bobbie and the twins there, maman will miraculously show up with them?”

“We, as in myself, my security team here at the house. I will keep her safe.”

“She is safest with me.” Olivier retorted with some frustration.

“No, my son, you are hiding with her. There is a difference. Escaping the press for a few days was one thing but this story has now blown out of proportion. Olivier, your own stocks got hit today. You need to mitigate the story before you lose everything, including your new family. Olivier, they deserve better than a man shirking his responsibilities. The longer you are away, the longer it appears you are hiding and the worse it is going to be. Handle your shit.”

“Riggs, –”

“Riggs is the closest thing to a brother you have, and I love him like a son but for the love of God, please do not expect him to give statements to the press. He’s more brawn than brain and he’ll make it worse.”

At Olivier’s silence Levi sighed, “look, my son, I love you. From the day you were born I didn’t think it capable I could love another human being like I do you and yet, every day I love you even more. You are my son. Talk to Bobbie. It’s time to come home.” He paused, “if she does not want to come here because I am here, then tell her I will have your maman stay here with her and I will go to Elise’s until she is ready for me to see her but you and I both know the safest place on the planet for her, while you are going to be busy putting out these damn fires and saving your companies now, is at our family home.”

“I will talk to her,” Olivier finally acquiesced and sighed, “it’s late. I’m going to go to bed. Good night, Papa.”

“Good night, my son. Je t’aime.”

The phone call ended, and Olivier let out a long breath as if he’d been holding it for hours. “f**k he’s relentless when he has an idea.”

“Does your family home have twenty-foot walls, a moat and a dragon?” Bobbie asked sarcastically. “What makes him think it’s safer than anywhere else and what did he mean your stocks took a hit?”

He scratched the side of his jaw uncomfortably, “the press is making out I’ve been a victim of an extortion scheme for the last nine years and you were the mastermind. It casts doubt onto my ability to run my companies if I’m susceptible to extortion.”

“Jesus,” she mumbled and then looked at him, “then your stocks took a hit? You’ve lost a lot of money.”

He shrugged, “a chunk but I’m still filthy rich,” he joked.

“Not funny, Olivier.”

“I’m not joking. I could literally roll in it.”

“This is bad. Your business is suffering because of me.”

“I will sort it out.” He played with his phone on the desk, “and to answer your question, twenty-foot walls surrounding the entire compound, which is the size of your entire gated community, a full security team on site at all times and electric fencing along with some state-of-the-art security details at my family home. When you have the combined wealth of my father and I and we’re associated with Gael, kidnapping threats are common.”

“Kidnapping?” she swallowed the bile rising from her stomach, “as in someone would want to take Ollie and Max?”

“And Sera, Shiloh, Terra, me, my parents. Why do you think I go everywhere with a security team?”

“We don’t have security here!” she jumped off his lap and started pacing. “What if someone comes here?”

“Bobbie, we are alone on the island. However, the island is manned by a security team on a smaller island and if a crab walks over the shore, they get notified. Have you not noticed all the cameras in the house?”

“No,” she looked around in surprise. “Not in our bedroom though?”

“No,” he chuckled at the terror on her face, “and anywhere we’ve messed around, I’ve made sure to be out of view of a camera.”

“Oh, thank god,” she clutched her chest as if she were pondering the idea a random guy in a booth had been watching them be intimate. She began pacing in front of the desk again aware he was watching her movements carefully. “I don’t like any of this, Olivier.”

“It’s not exactly my idea of a fun time either.” He didn’t back away from her angry glance.

“Your father said the longer you’re away, the worse it will be.”

“The release of the NDA changed the narrative Bobbie.” He gave a sad smile as she stopped pacing, “Going on vacation to escape the press was a great idea when the news of the kids hit. The extortion and hired mistress thing,” he gave a shrug, “it makes me look like I’m hiding something I’m ashamed of.”

She twisted her face in irritation, “what does Riggs’ say?”

“This afternoon he was telling me to just lay low. This evening he’s changed his mind.”

“He wants you to go home.”

“I need to sit with my board of directors and have a frank conversation. I can’t do this from here. The problem is, you aren’t safe out there,” he pointed to the ocean in the distance. “I can keep you safe here but until we sort out security at the house, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“So, it’s all of us hunkering down here, or all of us on lockdown at the house with drones flying overhead.”

His smile said it all and Bobbie wanted to scream with her frustration.

“We don’t have to decide anything tonight,” whatever he was about to say was cut off as his phone rang. “Riggs.” He saw the number and Bobbie flung herself dramatically into a chair opposite the desk kicking her feet in the air in frustration and a twisted grin pulled his lips at her antics. He answered the call, “Riggs, you have me and Bobbie.”

“Was I interrupting sexy time?” Riggs teased.

“No. You interrupted a conversation we were having on how best to keep Bobbie and the kids safe and for me to stop hemorrhaging money.”

“There’s a buzz killer if I’ve ever heard one. You’ll need a blue pill after this kind of conversation.”

Bobbie chuckled at Riggs’ words. “Very funny Riggs.”

Olivier winked at her, “I had a conversation with my father.”

“Let me guess,” Riggs drawled sarcastically, “you need to get your a*s home and deal with your s**t because I’m not equipped to deal with it.”

“And I’d be safer at the Villeneuve house than here,” Bobbie added with an eyeroll.

Riggs was silent and Bobbie almost g*****d at he absorbed what she was saying.

“I hadn’t considered it,” Riggs said quietly, “mostly because I figured Bobbie would not be willing, but it would get you back in the country to deal with your s**t and short of an army nothing is getting through his fortress.”

“Fortress?” Bobbie questioned

“Seriously Bobbie, there are walls, then a forest and then the house sits in the middle. I mean, there’s more to it than this but it would make far more sense than coming back here or hiding in a hotel.”

“When you say here,” Bobbie grasped his word, “are you still in my house?”

“Have to be,” Riggs said. “Until I figure out a way to keep your neighbors from bringing in paparazzi who try to break in every other hour since they know you’re out of the country, we have a full staff on standby.”

“My neighbors are doing what?”

“Money talks Bobbie and right now a recent photo of Max and Ollie’s faces is worth a mint.” Riggs was blunt. “One guy offered your neighbor ten grand to drive him through the gate. Unless the HOA restricts only residents and no visitors to the neighborhood, we can’t legally stop them. Your HOA knows it’s not legal to tell people they can’t have guests at their house. If your neighbor wants to set up a paparazzi pool party, they can do it.”

“How is this affecting my friends?” Bobbie asked quietly.

“Grady and Everly are understanding, Bobbie. You have good friends, and they would do anything for you.”

“Are people trying to get into their house? Are they being harassed?” she leaned forward towards the desk as she asked her question.

“It’s not a good situation, Bobbie. The press is desperate, especially after the release of the excerpt of the NDA today. What had started to calm down over the last couple of days went haywire today.”

“Riggs, she’s pregnant. You need to keep her safe.”

“Henri is stationed as her personal guard. He’s at the house right now. He’ll be driving her to and from work and he will keep her safe.”

“And Lark? How is an eight-year-old dealing with being confined to her house and being stalked by photographers?”

“She went to work with Grady today. Tomorrow she’ll go with Everly. They will figure it out.”

Bobbie wiped frustrated tears off her cheeks. “They didn’t ask for this, Olivier,” she pleaded with him. “We need to fix this.”

“You come first, Bobbie. You and the twins and I can keep you safe here. I can’t keep you safe at the house.”

“But to fix it you need to go there,” she spoke sadly already knowing the answer.

“I can work from here,” he waved around the office. “I can make it work.”

“This isn’t only about me and the kids, Olivier. My friends have sacrificed so much for me and being here while they’re dealing with my s**t is not fair. It was one thing when the press wasn’t really bothering them but the document being released, they’ve gone off the deep end. God, they called my cell!”

“Did we replace out how they got her personal number?” Olivier questioned Riggs.

“They got into the PTA office files and found it. Emile is taking care of it.” Riggs spoke bluntly.

“Unbelievable.” Bobbie threw her hands up, “so someone hacked the files?”

“It seems so, yes. The PTA didn’t have the most up-to-date security software, so it was an easy hack,” Riggs explained.

“Do you know who Bernard was working with? Who released the details of the NDA?” Bobbie suddenly wanted to know everything about everything.

“We’re working on it,” he spoke in measured in tones.

“There was nothing in the Florida house?”

“There was so much in the Florida house it would make the devil’s skin crawl,” Riggs was honest. “He had an entire room of taxidermy boar heads. Another room was porcelain dolls. He had a room completely wallpapered in red velvet. The entire room was red. Freaky as hell. Two rooms had trapdoors hidden in the floor and I don’t want to know who or what he kept down there. They’re still pulling it apart looking for any other hidden compartments or safes. I swear every other video the guys send me creeps me out more than the last one.”

“We’re sure it wasn’t Cleo helping him?”

“A hundred percent,” Riggs spoke confidently.

“What about a parent? Is his mom or dad still alive?” She considered if Max or Ollie asked her to avenge their potential death there isn’t much she wouldn’t do.

“His dad is dead. His mom’s in the pen.”

“The pen?”

“Penitentiary. Prison, she’s in prison Bobbie,” Olivier laughed at her. “You’re a paralegal. How did you not know the slang?”

“I know the slang. I’m just not thinking like a lawyer in this moment. I’m thinking as a mother who wants to protect her babies and I’m trying to figure out everything I can to keep them safe. I want Olivier to not be in this position. I want to not be called a gold-digging extortionist whore.” Her words cut off as emotion overwhelmed her. “I just want this to be over. I wish I’d never –” she pushed the chair back and ran out of the room.

She felt the coolness of the tiled floors slapping along her feet as she fought to escape the overwhelming emotions she was feeling. They were all coming at her at once. Helplessness. Anger. Terror. Sadness. Frustration. All of it swirling in her chest as she pushed the patio doors open and raced towards the beach and flung herself down on her knees.

She had no tears left. She had cried too many of them in the last few weeks. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, her chin atop her forearms and watched the waves crashing onto the shore. The stars were out now, and they were bright pinpricks against the navy sky now the sun was completely set. It was a beautiful evening, and it was likely her last night here.

She knew she had no choice. She would have to take the kids and go to Levi’s so Olivier could deal with his business matters and to enact whatever gameplan he had in store for their future. She heard the tread of his footsteps. She looked up at him ready to admit defeat and agree to take the kids and go to his family’s home and was met with glittering anger as he stared down at her.

“Care to explain?”