The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 51

“What if I don’t want to stay there?” Max asked his question for the hundredth time since they had landed in New Orleans.

The kids had been angry to learn they were leaving the beach ahead of schedule. Then when Olivier and Bobbie explained how Daddy had emergency work to do and the safest place for them to be where the photographers couldn’t reach them was at Levi’s estate in Louisiana, both kids had balked. Their reluctance amplified a hundred-fold when Olivier mentioned in their presence, he would be leaving within an hour of them arriving to the estate.

The flight home had been fraught with fights, kickoffs, and timeouts. Olivier, for the first time, was truly experiencing what it meant to disappoint a pair of twins with bad tempers. Bobbie was ready to pull patches of her own hair out as he offered bribe after bribe to make them less angry at cutting their family holiday short. Then she and Olivier had argued over when it was the appropriate time to offer grandiose gifts like a Disney vacation.

Now they were in the back of a limo which had met the jet and Bobbie was fuming. Olivier was unsure how to proceed and both kids were holding him hostage in an emotional blackmail caper and at this point, Bobbie was leaving him to it. If he wanted to promise all the riches on the planet for having to go do his job, it was on him.

“Max, I promise, you will learn to like my Papa. He is not a bad man. He made a mistake, and he is going to apologize. Then he is going to take care of you and Ollie and your maman, while I try to deal with emergencies at my work. I am sorry our vacation got cut short. I will make it up to you. I promise you.”

“We were supposed to go looking for lizards today,” Ollie threw her two cents back into the pile.

“I know and I am sorry. This trip back home could not wait.”

“I –”

Bobbie closed her eyes and tried counting to ten but made it to three before she snapped, “enough. The three of you. It’s enough. This is not a negotiation. This,” she wiggled her fingers around the car, “is not a democracy. You are disappointed and you are entitled to be disappointed but as the adults of this family, we make choices and decisions on your behalf. Decisions about your health, your wellness and your safety are our decisions and not up for debate. You may not like them. You may not agree with them. I don’t care. I am your mom, and he is your dad, and we make the rules. Acting like a pair of spoiled children is not endearing and it is not going to end well for either of you. We are going to your grandpapa Levi’s house. It is the safest place for us to go while your dad sorts out this mess. It is a safety decision. Suck it up buttercups because we’re going. End of discussion.”

“But- “Max started to speak.

She held up a finger, “not another word Max. You will do as instructed or when we get to grandpapa Levi’s house, I will take your tablet away from you and you can spend the rest of the day sitting quietly to think about the level of disrespect I’m seeing from you right now.”

Olivier opened his mouth to add to the conversation and she whirled on him, “not another word.”

His phone rang and he held it up, “May I?”

She flipped him off and looked out the window as he answered his phone and let his father know they were minutes away.

Max leaned closer to her and put his head against her shoulder. “You’re not going to leave us alone, right?”

“Nope,” she wrapped her arm over his shoulder. “We can even all sleep in the same room if you like.”

“Okay,” he snuggled against her.

They were all quiet as the car pulled up a long tree-lined driveway which seemed like it went on forever. When the road turned slightly and the trees appeared to be thicker around them, Ollie sat up and peered into the woods.

“Are there wolves here?” she asked curiously.

“No,” Olivier shook his head.

“It’s like a jungle.” Max said as he leaned over Bobbie’s legs to look out the window.

The car slowed and a large pair of metal gates swung open. Ollie and Max both let their mouths drop open in surprise at the extravagance of the gates.

“Dad, dad, they had a huge V on the gates.”

“For Villeneuve,” he chuckled as they drove through more wooded areas.

“Are we in the middle of nowhere?” Bobbie asked suddenly. “I feel we’ve been driving for a long time.”

“Almost there,” Olivier said, “but this is why Papa suggested we come here. It’s out of the way and it’s a bit of a jaunt. What you didn’t notice is where the gates met us, they connect to twenty-foot walls with barbed wire at the top.”

The trees started to thin and then the area opened up wide. Bobbie gasped at the views surrounding her. The estate was gorgeous with gardens and a huge barn with horses in a paddock.

“Is this a park?” Max asked

Olivier chuckled at the question, “no, this is my home. This is where I grew up as a little boy.”

“This is huge,” Ollie’s face was pressed against the glass. “Dad, there are horses here.”

“Yes. My maman loves to ride.”

“Will she be here?” Max wrinkled his brow.

“I am not sure,” Olivier shrugged as the car came to a halt.

“Holy!” Ollie blinked at the house, “Dad, this place looks like the White House.”

Bobbie knew exactly what her daughter was seeing, as they climbed out of the car and stood in the driveway of the house. It was immense. The place gave her a crick in the neck looking up to the roofline.

“Ollie!” Levi’s voice carried down as he quickly descended the stairs and wrapped Olivier in a tight hug rocking him in his arms. The man was emotional as he whispered to his son how much he’d missed him.

Bobbie felt as if she was intruding on a private moment as the two men hugged and spoke in quiet whispers in French.

Levi finally released Olivier and they stepped apart both wiping tears off their faces.

He turned to Bobbie, “Bobbie, thank you for agreeing to come.” He reached out and squeezed her hand quickly and then turned to the kids, “come on then. Let’s go in the house and get out of the heat. Mireille has lunch almost ready on the patio. I’m hoping we have time for a chat before we eat though.”

They followed him into the house and Bobbie could sense the nervous energy of him. He was very much a man who was exhibiting he had everything to lose and would do anything to save it.

They walked in and Bobbie wondered if this was what Little Orphan Annie felt like walking into Daddy Warbucks’ house. The place was palatial, and she was dumbfounded.

“Monsieur Ollie, welcome home,” a woman’s voice rang out.

Bobbie noted the large woman barrelling at Olivier. She barely came to his waist, but she hugged him so tight he was almost lifted off the floor making the kids giggle.

“Ooh, who do we have here?” the woman turned to the twins. “Don’t you look the image of your papa!” She eyed Bobbie, “and you look like you’re too good for the likes of this boy.” She pinched Olivier’s cheek.

“Bobbie, Max, Ollie, this is Mireille. She has been part of our family since I was a very little boy, even younger than you Max. She is a good friend to have. If you get into trouble and get to your room without dinner, she will bring you snacks when nobody is looking,” he winked at the kids who giggled at his words.

She pointed through a door, “I put sweet tea and cookies out for you.”

“You’ll ruin their lunch,” Olivier chastised as he led the charge to the treats.

“So, they have dessert before their meal. Everyone should do it sometime.” She shrugged unapologetically waving him off before blowing a k**s to the kids with a wink.

Bobbie immediately loved the woman as she bounced her way back to where Bobbie assumed the kitchen must be, disappearing into the back of the house.

She followed through where Olivier had disappeared with the kids in tow and felt Levi right on her heels. She gave him a tight smile and tried to force herself to relax. To say she felt uncomfortable was an understatement. The desire to flee permeated every cell in her body but she forced one foot in front of the other and followed into the large room.

“This is the solarium,” Olivier told the kids. “It is maman favorite room in the house with all the windows and a view of the paddock and all the greenery. There’s probably a cat hidden somewhere among her knitting if you look close enough, though I wouldn’t touch them. They’re barn cats and they’re mean.”

“They aren’t mean, they just don’t like you,” Levi reached out and mussed Olivier’s hair and laughed as the man slapped at him like a child. “Still just a boy.”

He motioned to a chair, “have a seat wherever you feel comfortable Bobbie. There’s no assigned seating.”

She noticed Olivier had sprawled right out on a loveseat, had a cookie in his hand, another in his mouth and was behaving as an oversized child. She stared at him as the two kids looked at him equally in shock.

“What?” he asked over a mouthful of cookie. “Fine,” he sat up straight and patted the seat next to him. Both kids raced to sit with him, and he laughed and let them each grab two cookies.

“No more after that. You have to eat lunch.”

She sat on the edge of a chair and Levi took the seat next to her. She accepted a glass of the sweet tea Olivier poured her and sipped it carefully.

“Bobbie, Max, Ollie,” Levi began, “I owe you all an apology. I am so very sorry for what happened when we were in Houston. I can give you a thousand reasons for my behaviour but not one of them are good ones and none of them come reasonably close to excusing what I’ve done.” he turned to look directly at Bobbie, “I am sorry, Bobbie. I am sorry for what I said. I am sorry for the words I used which were intended to make you feel badly about yourself when you have nothing to feel badly for. I am deeply sorry for thinking you were trying to use Olivier and for even considering you would keep his children from him. I acted irrationally and poorly. I will not belittle you with excuses, but I will beg your forgiveness. From now until I take my last breath, you and your children will always be treated with love and respect, and I will never take for granted the gift of having the three of you as part of my family. I hope you can forgive a silly old man.”

“Did you practice that in the mirror, papa?” Olivier taunted him.

“Olivier,” Bobbie turned to look at him, “that was rude.”

“I heard words, blah blah blah.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Money talks.” Olivier smirked.

“No!” Bobbie cut him off. “You stop right now. Levi, I accept your apology. Do not let this fool extort anything out of you.”

Levi patted her knee, “Bobbie, he’s right. Words are words. I wish I could prove to you the depths of how sorrowful I am.”

“There is something you can do,” Bobbie said suddenly. She noted Olivier leaned forward eagerly anticipating something nefarious or sinister to come from her mouth. “Meri mentioned to me there is a picture somewhere of Olivier wearing nothing but a pair of rubber boots holding a rubber ducky. I will take the photo as payment for my pain and suffering.”

Levi started laughing against Olivier’s protests, “done. I am fairly confident I know exactly where it is. We added it to the Christmas video last year where he cried during Seraphina’s baptism. We show it every year. It’s a good one. He ugly cried. Snot down his face and everything.”

“I want to see the video,” Bobbie giggled and then shrieked when a cookie hit her in the forehead. She looked to Olivier in shock, “did you just throw a cookie?”

“You were supposed to hold out longer!”

“He’s apologized and I could tell it was genuine,” she glared at him as she picked the cookie off her lap and shook her head at his antics.

“Throw it back, it was the last one and I want it,” he said with a grin.

She looked to the plate and saw the entire plate of cookies had disappeared while Levi had been speaking to her. She looked to the two kids. “I said only two.”

“We only had two,” Max protested his eyes wide. “Papa, put two in his mouth at the same time, more than once.”

“Your papa deals with stress by eating sweets. It’s why he was a pudgy pre-teen.” Levi said standing up with a grin. “Max, Ollie, would you like to come with grandpapa? I will show you where the play fort is, and I’ll show you where the pool is. Now, the only rule is you can’t go to the pool unless an adult is with you.”

“There’s a pool?” Ollie asked as she cautiously took his hand.

Max was slower, “do you promise never to make my maman cry ever again?”

He crouched down until he was eyelevel to Max and held out his pinky finger, “I pinky promise I will never, ever do anything to make your maman sad. I will love her just as I love you and Ollie and the way I love Sera, Shiloh, and Tera. Deal?” When Max hooked his pinky around Levi’s finger the older man grew weepy again and pulled him in for a hug.

Bobbie considered this was far better a meeting than their first one and she let the older man lead them through the house. Olivier tugged her backwards and pulled her into his arms. “What are you doing?”

“You caved too fast. You should have gotten him to give you a pony or something.”

“I don’t want a pony. I want my family to know peace. I want to be able to not have stress hanging over my every word.”

“Maman will be disappointed you didn’t make him beg.”

“I don’t need him to beg. I’m not the one who has to sleep with him. He is my father-in-law. If he needs to get on his knees, its for her, not for me.”

“I love you,” he said tracing a finger over her cheek, “thank you for being the bigger person.”

“Speaking of bigger person, were you really a pudgy pre-teen?” she couldn’t help the grin on her face.

“I was,” he grinned. “Mireille makes the best sweets, and she would send me a care pack every week to my room at school. I told her I was sharing with all the boys. I lied. I came home at Christmas time in year six forty pounds heavier. My mother was furious with me. She said I was going to grow up and look like Gael.”

She giggled, “I saw a video of Gael not long ago when Grady searched you.”

“When we were kids, Fiona, Elise, and I called him Boss Hogg. Don’t ever call him this to his face. We almost got shot.” At her laugh he smiled, “though maman saying it to me as a kid got me into the gym and very much into physical fitness. I made Riggs come with me to the gym and the fucker beefed up so fast you’d think he was doing steroids. He’s just meant to be huge.”

“I love you,” she rested her head against his chest. “I’m glad we’re here. This place is huge though.”

“It is but you’ll be safer here than anywhere else. Papa has arranged for me to use his helicopter from the far end of the property to leave here and head to Houston so I can deal with the mess of the press, as he called it.” He hugged her rocking her gently in his arms. “I never thought I’d see the day you would be in my family home. It’s a dream come true.”

“This is adorable,” Mireille’s voice interrupted them. “Olivier actually has a girl. I was worried for awhile any of his offspring would be made in a dish in a lab.”

Bobbie giggled at the woman’s teasing as she flicked a towel in his direction.

“Lunch is ready on the patio,” she called out walking away, “though considering I put twelve cookies on a plate, and you ate eight of them, you might not be hungry.”

“What did you make?” he called after her.

“A crawfish boils!”

“I think I just came,” he whispered in Bobbie’s ear as she slapped frantically against his chest. He scooped her up in his arms and was running through the house. “I don’t have time to wait for your short little legs.”

She was laughing as he deposited her onto a covered patio overlooking the rear of the house.

“Dad! Why were you carrying mom?” Ollie was giggling.

“I didn’t want your grandpapa to steal all my lunch and your mom’s little legs take to long to move,” he ducked away from her slapping. He stooped and kissed Ollie’s head, “also, I like carrying maman around. It makes me feel big and strong.”

“You are big and strong,” Max said with a smile. “I hope I’m as big and strong as you when I grow up.”

Levi came onto the patio carrying the biggest bowl Bobbie had ever seen in her life.

“What the heck?” Bobbie’s were wide as he took the bowl and then dumped it in the middle of the giant paper covered dining table.

“Grandpapa, what are you doing?” Max asked as he raced to stand at the table.

“This is how you do a crawfish boil!” He winked at Max. “No plates, throw the bodies in the bowl and you can get as messy and dirty as you like. Eat with your hands.”

The kids found the entire idea hilarious, and they took great delight in watching Olivier and his father squabble over pieces of corn and potatoes. Bobbie couldn’t remember a time she had laughed harder as they shared the lunch. Levi telling tale after tale of the antics of Olivier growing up in the house.

Everyone was in great spirits and when the kids were filthy from head to toe, Levi, and Olivier each took one of them and jumped into the pool, clothes, and all.

It wasn’t long though and Olivier was kissing them all goodbye with a promise to call as soon as he could, and Bobbie’s happiness was replaced with nerves. The thought of being alone with Levi and wondering whether everything he’d done was an act for Olivier at the back of her mind.

As Olivier took a golf cart out to where he was meeting his helicopter, Levi came to stand beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Bobbie, relax. I meant what I said today. You are safe here. This,” he waved around, “is a house of love and happiness and is blessed by God. I gave you my word and I meant it. You are home and you are safe.”

When he pressed a gentle k**s to the top of her head Bobbie felt a single tear slide down her cheek. “Thanks papa.”