The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 53

“He’s lost his goddamned mind,” Levi was hissing at Meri as Bobbie descended the stairs.

“Levi, this is his family and his life. Trust, he knows what he is doing.”

“What if it backfires?” Levi ran a frustrated hand through his thick hair. “What if he loses everything again?”

“What’s going on?” Bobbie interrupted what she expected was a private conversation.

“Good morning, Bobbie,” Levi nodded at her. “We found out a few minutes ago about his plan for the day. You’re okay with this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bobbie looked between them, “what is going on?”

“He didn’t run it past you?” Meri asked.

“No, he told me he had a plan and told me to trust in him. I trust in him.” She looked up to see the front door open and Fiona and Walt walk in with the kids.

“Is he nuts?” Fiona asked her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bobbie looked at her in confusion.

“Fiona, you’ve gotten yourself worked up. It’s not good for the baby. Why don’t you go sit down?” Walt spoke softly to her.

“Why don’t you go do something useful like,” she flapped her hands at him frantically. “I don’t know what but go do something other than hovering over me like a mother hen.”

“Auntie Fiona!” Ollie screamed from the solarium. “You’re here too! Is Sera and Shiloh here?”

Fiona hugged them tight as the two kids almost bowled her over, “yes, they’re outside fighting over who is going to give who the welcome home presents.”

“Presents?” Max asked excitedly.

“Go replace them,” she waved at the door. Once they were out of earshot. “Bobbie, are you telling me he didn’t ask your permission first?”

“Permission for what?” Bobbie was thoroughly confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. He called me last night. Said he had the support of his board members behind him. Told me he was handling everything and to trust him.”

“I blame you,” Meri pointed to Fiona. “You were the one who suggested he give a statement.”

“I said a statement!” Fiona shrieked back. “I swear it’s like he’s a teenager again. You give him a f*****g idea and he turns it into a three-ring circus. Olivier, help me with my science project. I want to build a volcano. Let’s make it a three-D re-enactment of Vesuvius and Pompeii down to the ash covered dead people!” Fiona screamed the last part. “He’s such a stupid nerd!”

The door flung open again and this time Elise came in followed by Timon, “the kids are going to look at the horses in the paddock. Also, what is wrong with your son!” Elise looked to Levi. “He’s lost his goddamned mind.”

“Don’t ask me! He didn’t run any of this by me. He didn’t even ask Bobbie.” Levi paced back in forth in the foyer. “Bobbie, did you talk to him yet this morning?”

“No, he said he had early morning appointments, and he would be unreachable most of the morning, but he’d call me as soon as he could.” She stared at the group surrounding her, “can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“He’s giving an interview.”

“An interview?”

“A tell-all interview.” Fiona clarified Elise’s statement.

“Wait, what?”

“Uh-huh,” Fiona saw Bobbie blanch. “There’s asking someone to trust you and then there’s literally throwing someone under a bus, running her over with it and then saying hey, you said you trusted me.” She was furiously flinging her hands in every direction

Bobbie stumbled at her words and immediately Levi was at her side before anyone could reach her.

“Come,” he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her through the house outside to the backyard patio. “Fresh air Bobbie. You need to breathe.”

“The kids,” she whispered.

“They’re fine. Lucie is stable hand and she’s out there right now with them,” Elise commented as she took a seat not far from where Levi was gently easing Bobbie. “Maybe you should call him.”

“I’ve been trying for an hour,” Meri gave an impatient snip. “He knew we’d replace out and be pissed.”

“How did you replace out?” Bobbie swallowed the panic in her chest. Olivier was going to tell their story to the entire world. What the hell was he thinking?

“It’s advertised. The morning show advertised the billionaire banking mogul was going to do a sit-down interview to discuss the ramifications of media in the personal lives of children. He agreed to discuss one-time his personal life in exchange for detailing the impact paparazzi has on innocent people. The clip said he’s ready to take this matter to congress.”

“Jesus Christ, what the f**k is wrong with him?” Bobbie blurted out suddenly as Elise’s words penetrated her ears. “Levi, he talks to you about everything. Did he say nothing to you?”

“Not a word, Bobbie. I would have told him no and I would have told you to tell him no. This is exposing personal matters.”

“How the f**k is he going to spin I thought he bought my services?” she rubbed her hand frantically over her face trying to soothe the weirdly numb feeling it had. “We talked about this. He thought it was a prenup. I thought I was making cash for Rosamunde. Did I fall in love with the guy? Hell yes. I mean who wouldn’t. He’s incredible. It doesn’t change the fact I thought what I thought, and Bernard manipulated it.” She rocked in the chair, “oh my god. The kids are going to grow up and see on a news interview their mother thought she was a hooker.”

“Hey,” Levi cut her off, “no. I don’t want to hear this again. You loved him then. You love him now. He loved you then. He loves you now. The how it started is irrelevant. I never want to hear you talk like this. It would upset him.”

“Levi, he is going to tell the world.”

Timon spoke, “Bobbie, I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. You and I will have a talk later when the dust of today settles and hopefully clear the air, but I do trust Olivier. Unlike everyone else here who is freaking out, I know he wouldn’t do anything to put you in harm’s way. He loves you. It’s why we enjoyed picking on him so much in the past. You have been the woman who haunted his dreams for too long. He is not going to do anything to wreck it. If he asked you to trust him and you said you would, then trust him. Trust in his love for you. Ignore this group who are all panicking. Trust, he loves you and is doing what he needs to do to protect you.”

His words silenced the group and Bobbie looked up at him. She swallowed and then nodded. “You’re right. He asked me to trust him, and I trust him. I love him and I trust him.” She took a breath, “when is this interview releasing?”

“In twenty minutes,” Levi rubbed her shoulder.

“I want to watch it.” She looked up at him pleadingly.

“We all do.” Elise grunted. “I swear I’m going to kick his a*s for this s**t, but we will watch with you.”

“The kids.” She argued.

“I’m sure between Lucie and Mireille, someone will keep them occupied.” Fiona patted her knee.

Soon they were all settled in a home theatre and Levi had managed to get his television to replace the station of the interview and had it projected to a huge screen. The kids were all making cookies in the kitchen with Mireille with promises to save some for the adults.

Bobbie was tucked between Levi and Meri on a sofa, and she had her head resting on Meri’s shoulder. Elise was pacing back and forth at the back of the room ignoring her sister’s call to sit the hell down.

A woman’s face came on the screen with a huge blonde updo and far too much make-up for morning television, in Bobbie’s opinion, but she was about to get her big break, so she was dressed for it.

The woman looked directly into the camera her brown eyes earnest and sincere, “what is the gauge to determine when the line of too far has been crossed. At what point does a person stop what they are doing and realize they have stepped beyond the boundaries of rational human behaviour and have crossed into dangerous and disturbing actions. As a journalist, I am compelled to seek truth, to replace answers to questions and to do what it takes to get to the bottom of a story. As a mother, as a parent, as a woman who has had her children photographed against their will, I cannot help but be horrified at putting an innocent child into the frenzied need to feed our pop culture hunger. With me today is Olivier Villeneuve, financial wizard, and CEO of the Villeneuve Group. Welcome Olivier.”

“Did they put lipstick on him?” Fiona leaned over Bobbie’s shoulder. She giggled when Meri slapped at her. “Does he wear your panties too?”

Bobbie giggled at Fiona’s questions, but her eyes were focused on Olivier on the screen.

“Good morning, Sunny. Thank you for having me.” He was unsmiling but seemed relaxed and at ease where he was seated.

“In the act of transparency, you agreed to come to the show with the agreement I could ask you questions about your newfound family and in exchange you could provide your insight on the way the media has affected the lives of your children.” Sunny spoke to him clearly.

“Absolutely. I have nothing to hide and have nothing to be ashamed of. While I feel strongly my personal life is exactly this, my personal life, I understand with my wealth and my lifestyle there will be cameras around and people who want the inside scoop. It is a price to pay to have the life I want. What is unfortunate is expecting a child, a person who never asked for any of this to be victimized as a result of someone’s need for a story. In our family the children are so accustomed to this invasion of their privacy my niece recently reassured my daughter it was normal and sometime people just try to take their photos. It’s not normal. It is not okay for a child to grow up thinking they need to duck and hide from a photographer’s lens.”

“You just mentioned your daughter Olivier,” Sunny’s segue was smooth. “Tell me how you came to learn about her. What is your story?”

“Our story,” he gave a small smile and a shake of his head, “the story is I met a beautiful woman and invited her to work for me. I told her I worked too hard and as my PA it would be her job to tell me when to shut down. Within a day of being with her, I knew she was going to be so much more. My grandmothers, my mother, my sisters, all had spousal allowances and since I’d taken her away from her job with the promise of another one, I called my grandfather and asked him how to navigate this. My girl is independent, and she was not going to like having an allowance and he said to do a prenup and reassure her this is a standard practice in our family and not to take no for an answer. He also told me to make sure there was a non-disclosure agreement in the document just in case things didn’t work out.”

“How did she react to you asking her to sign the document?”

“She trusted me.” He said simply.

“You paid her a large amount of money as spousal support. The agreement I saw was sixty thousand dollars a month. There’s a lot of people who would say she didn’t trust you, she saw a sucker and signed before you could change your mind.”

Bobbie shifted in her seat at the comment.

Olivier smiled, “they could but they don’t know her.”

“And you did? You gave her a huge chunk of money and she vanished out of your life for nine years, taking your babies with her. She took her payday and ran.”

“If this were true, if she were only after the cash, Sunny, why not come back for more? As you said, she took my babies with her.”

“So why did she run Olivier?”

“A series of very horrible and traumatic events. I got called away to a family situation back home. I wasn’t aware of it but not long after I left, my fiancés sister passed away. As I mentioned before, she is a fiercely independent woman and decided she could handle things on her own and didn’t reach out since I was at home dealing with family matters.”

“Jesus Christ, he can twist the truth just enough, can’t he?” Elise was now leaned over beside Fiona on either side of Bobbie’s head. “You better watch him, Bobbie, he’s tricky.”

“When he’s telling half-truths like he is right now,” she whispered, “his speech is slower. He’s focused.”

“You can tell?”

“I learned his tell when he taught me to play poker years ago.” She grinned but her eyes were still on the screen.

Sunny interrupted his story, “so you had a family emergency, but her sister died, and she didn’t think you needed to be there for that?”

He gave a half shrug, “when someone is dealing with grief, oftentimes we behave oddly. Some people crave comfort. Others need to be alone. She had been taking care of her sister for some time on her own. She needed the time to process on her own.”

Sunny gave a nod, “when my mom died, I locked myself in a room for a full day and wouldn’t let anyone in. Not even my husband. I get it.” She looked at him curiously, “then what happened? What would make a grieving woman leave the safety and security of,” she waved at him, “well of you?”

“Every family has that one guy who loves to stir the pot.” Olivier gave a shake of his head, “in our case, our family has a few but one of them, a cousin on my grandmother’s side of the family, goes to extremes. At the time he was working for my grandfather and my grandfather sent him to see me about a job offer. It’s no secret Gael has been after me to take his company over for years. He had sent him over with an offer he thought I couldn’t refuse.”

“Did Gael Moreno scare your fiancé off?”

“No.” Olivier was firm in his words. “My cousin was granted access to the hotel room in error by the hotel staff. He should never have been permitted entry. He rifled through my belongings and found the only copy of the agreement I’d had us sign.”

“There was only one copy?”

“Yes. He messed with it. Thought it would be funny to pull a prank.” Olivier gave a sad shake of his head. “His actions cost me my girl and our kids for years.”

“How do you mean?”

“When she came back to our hotel suite after arranging for her sister’s funeral, she was greeted by my cousin who told her the agreement was an employment contract and not a prenup.”

“An employment contract?” Sunny’s voice rose.

“Yes, as in, he insinuated I was paying her for s*x.”

It was clear to everyone around Bobby that this part of the story had not been given to Sunny ahead of time as they could see her mind reeling on screen.

“How did she take this information?” Sunny asked breathlessly.

“Well, when he told her it was an employment contract and I had left early, and I had transferred the rest of the contract to him, she was considerably upset. He forged my signature on the document. He told her she was now bound to fulfil the requirements of the contract with him.” He stared right at the camera, “essentially he told her I trafficked her.”

“Holy f**k,” Timon whispered behind them.

Sunny’s voice was shaking, “what did she do?”

“What would you do Sunny? A billionaire with ties all over the world has supposedly just traded you as a s*x slave. She got the hell out of there and she ran, and she hid.”

“Surely you looked for her?”

He twisted his head sadly, “my cousin wasn’t done with his games and told me he found her in bed with his security guard. I thought I’d been played. I had just come home from telling my parents I found the girl I wanted to marry to replaceing my room tossed and her gone.”

“For nine years, she hid in another city away from you. She must have been terrified.”

“I can tell you, several weeks ago, I came across her in a hotel lobby and when I approached her, she was scared. I didn’t know how to make her believe I would never hurt her.”

“Then you found out you had kids.”

“Yes. Then I saw the twins. We’ve been trying to sort things out, replace ourselves and our footing after all this time. I can tell you, in my opinion, she is still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and I am grateful every single moment of my life for second chances. For a short while things have been good but then the press got wind of the kids when we were photographed at a soccer game. It’s gone sideways since then.”

“How so?”

“We had paparazzi making offers in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for an image of the kids’ faces. We had neighbors of the gated community where we live, taking money from photojournalists and bringing them into the community so they can photograph our home from their yards. On one afternoon, one man flew his drone into our yard to take photos of the kids playing in the back yard. He demanded a million-dollar payout for the destruction of his drone. I’ve refused. I will not negotiate with a terrorist holding my children hostage in their home.”

“I understand he was asking for money for his broken nose,” Sunny pushed him

“He tripped and fell into a security agent, and it’s clearly documented. We’ll go to court on it. In fact, I already started proceedings against him for his actions.”

“It seems excessive to fly a drone into your private space.”

“It does, doesn’t it? To capture the face of an eight-year-old?” Olivier gave a twist of his lips. “A child who never once asked for a famous dad or to be born into this kind of thing. They just want to exist, just want to play and be a kid. Yet, someone felt it was within their rights to put a camera and a recording device on a drone and fly it into our yard.” He gave a sad shake of his head, “we made the decision to go away to a private location. Time to be together as a family and to forget the cameras for a while. On the ride to the airport, we had a convoy of twenty cars one of which tried to force us off the road. The police chased them down and an arrest was made. In the airport, a journalist had bribed a custom’s officer to allow him to use his lens on the field in a restricted area, to get a glimpse of the children. Both he and the officer were also arrested. Let me remind you Sunny. Nobody is trying to get a photo of me. It’s the kids. They are going to this length to get a photo of a pair of kids.”

“And you think the public doesn’t have a right to their images.”

“I’m saying when they are old enough, if they want to be in the public eye, they can decide for themselves. They didn’t ask to be born into a world where their every movement is begged to be captured. The fact the press is putting their lives at risk, going to the lengths they go to, speaks to the level of depravity many of these people are taking. They are not isolated incidents. It’s sickening to me. It’s sickening to my fiancé. It’s sickening to our families. I love my children and my fiancé, and their safety comes first.”

“You’ve mentioned your fiancé a few times. You and the mother of your children have reconnected and are getting married.”

“Yes. I knew back then how special she was, I wasn’t letting it slip away now.”

“And what about the cousin who created all this chaos in your life?”

“He was recently murdered by another one of our cousins. My family is reeling from the situation.”

“Do you know who released the documents to the press? The ones your cousin had altered?”

“Yes.” Olivier steepled his fingers on his chest.

Bobbie sat up at this news. “He didn’t tell me this.”

“Nor me,” Levi said leaning forward with her.

“He had mailed the information to his mother who released it to the press when she found out he’d been murdered. Somehow, she thought we were implicated in his death.”

“I knew it,” Bobbie hissed.

“But you weren’t?” Sunny latched onto the juicy bit.

“No. We were actually very concerned for his safety. Once we found out about his involvement in my situation, many other of his schemes came to light. We assigned protection to him, but he waved the protection off when his cousin came to visit and that was that.”

“And the cousin, Cleo Swinton, accused of murdering your cousin, you recently took over her company and fired her. Could she have done this for retaliation against you?”

“As I said earlier, my cousin was a bit of a scoundrel and Cleo’s involvement with him is hers to share and I won’t discuss her private matters, but yes, I did purchase the company. Our family frequently jumps up to help one another in financial matters. The company needed an overhaul and when I looked at the records there was a pattern of behaviour I couldn’t let slide. Her replacement is doing well and I’m confident the company will see a profit by the end of this year.”

“Last question, Olivier, and I do appreciate how candid you’ve been through this entire interview. You and your grandfather Gael Moreno don’t often see eye to eye. Your skirmishes are often captured on camera and yet, you mentioned earlier he was the person you asked for advise. Is your feud a publicity stunt?”

He gave a laugh at her question, “Sunny. Gael Moreno shot my dog when I was ten years old, and I’ve never forgiven him for it. He says it bit him. I say he shouldn’t have antagonized it. He is my grandfather, and we fight tooth and nail and I’d never run his business no matter how much he begs,” he was grinning now knowing the old man was probably watching, “but I love him because he is my grandfather and I know there isn’t much he wouldn’t do for his family. He has been by my side this entire situation and as much as we butt heads, I know he has my back.”

“He shot Olivier’s dog?” Bobbie hissed incredulously.

“Right in the head,” Meri nodded, “and right in front of him. Levi punched him out.”

“Hasn’t been allowed on our property since,” Levi said with a grin. “I’m over it but it brings me joy to poke the beast.”

Bobbie considered this family by far was the craziest one she’d ever met. She was so glad to be part of it.