The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 41

If Bobbie had considered how rough it would have been to get them out of the house and the number of screaming people smacking at the SUV bellowing questions at them, as if it were their right to know his personal details while Olivier’s team got them through the gates of their community, she likely would have rethought her plan to leave her home.

The paparazzi had been insane and even now, as they drove down the highway, she knew there were at least eight cars following them. Henri was doing an impeccable job maintaining the speed limit while they were protected.

Ollie and Max had clung to each other nestled between Olivier and Bobbie in the back seat of the oversized luxury vehicle, but their fear was nothing compared to Bobbie’s, and she was certain of it. They might have been frightened of the noise and the tense curt commands of their father and his team, but Bobbie had seen the lives of her children flash before their eyes. It was taking every ounce of her to not crumple to the floor of the car and sob her heart out in a trembling, quivering mess of terror. She hadn’t been prepared. No matter how much Riggs had told her it would be awful, she hadn’t realized it would be this bad.

Even now, a car was racing past them to try to get photos of the vehicle, regardless of the fact it had blacked out windows. She closed her eyes against the rush of panic in her chest as the car throttling past them tried to cut them off and get between their car and the car of the security team immediately ahead of them. Henri and the car containing their security tightened their ranks and the journalist had to swerve back into his own lane to avoid being crushed. He sped off again as if waiting for another opening.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sedan weaving in and out of traffic, “they’re going to kill someone.”

“Local PD is coming up behind us now,” Riggs commented quietly. “They’ll get rid of this guy. Take a breath Bobbie.”

True to his word, the police cruise threw his lights on and chased the car down an off-ramp.

“One down, a hundred to go,” she muttered angrily.

“Why are they doing this?” Ollie asked quietly with a whimper in her voice.

“Your dad is a very important man,” Riggs responded, “and since he just met you the whole world wants to know you too. It will settle down.”

“My dad is important?” Max asked looking at Olivier who was staring out the window, his lips in a straight line. “Papa, are you the president of the world?”

Olivier heard the question and couldn’t help but chuckle, “no, Max. I am not the president of anything. I’m just a man who owns a lot of companies.”

Henri called out, “your papa, is a very smart man and many people like to come to him for advice.”

“What kind of advice?” Ollie was curious as she stared up at the man she was snuggled against.

“People ask me how to make themselves more money,” he shrugged.

“You teach people how to get rich?” Max latched onto the tidbit of information.

“Yes. I guess you could say this.”

“Papa, would you teach them to be richer than you?”

Bobbie couldn’t help the smile tugging her lips as Olivier and his team kept the kids distracted and the funny questions they were asking.

“No. I don’t want anyone having more than me.” Olivier winked at Max. “I like having the most.”

“Daddy,” Ollie interrupted, “mamaw said we’re going on a plane, and we’ll be the only people on the plane. Is that true?”

“It is.” He twisted one of her curls around his fingers. “We’re going to get into Daddy’s jet and then fly to the Caribbean and then we’ll take a boat ride to our island. When we get there, it will be late, and you won’t see much but, in the morning, we will explore the beach and the house. Would you like to do this?”

“And there won’t be anyone trying to take our pictures?” Ollie queried looking at her fingertips.

“No. It will just be the four of us.”

“Who will drive the boat?” Max asked

“I will,” Olivier told him, and his smile widened as Max’s eyes grew wider.

“Even in the dark?”

“Even in the dark,” he reassured him.

“Will there be pirates?” Max’s expression was one of curiosity and fear.

Bobbie couldn’t help her giggle, “there are no pirates, Max.”

“How do you know? Did you go there before?”

“No, I’ve never been there before but your dad wouldn’t take us to pirate infested waters.”

“What about sharks?”

“Olivier,” Henri cut into the conversation, “we are three minutes away from the airport. We will need to move quickly once we get to the plane.”

Riggs looked to Bobbie. “Olivier will carry Max. I will carry Ollie. You stick close to Henri. The jet is ready to go. You’ll be in the air in an hour but until then, you stick close to Henri.”

“Okay.” She nodded at Riggs’ quiet instruction.

“Hey boss, don’t kill me for hugging your girl. I’m going to keep her good and close,” Henri teased Olivier and the twins giggled.

“Just keep your lips off her. She’s mine. Only I get to k**s her.” Olivier teased back making the twins cackle merrily.

Bobbie made a face at the trio of men and grimaced. “Ha, ha, very funny.”

“This part of the airport is strictly secure, and nobody will get through the gates here from the cars which had been following us right up until we got onto the private road.”

Bobbie noticed for the first time their four cars were the only cars on the path. The guys had done well to distract them during the frightening ride.

“I didn’t even realize where we were. Don’t we need to go through customs and stuff?”

“And stuff,” Riggs said with a smirk. He patted his pocket, “it’s why I have all your passports. I’ll sort everything out while you’re getting on the plane. I’ll pass them back to Olivier before I leave.”

“You’re not coming with us, Uncle Riggs?”

“Nope kiddo. I need to stay here and work. We have a guy on the island with a team who will meet the airplane.” His words were for Bobbie’s benefit as he met her gaze as if reassuring her, they would be safe there. “This place is off the beaten path Bobbie. The people who live on nearby islands are loyal to Olivier or they value their privacy as much as Olivier. You have nothing to worry about while you’re there.”

The car came to a standstill and faster than she could have blinked, she and the kids were hauled out of the and Henri was reminding her to keep her head down and he had his hand over her shoulder and her face covered with his hand. She heard Henri mutter something about a long-distance lens and she wondered how far such a thing could reach.

She was almost dragged up the metal stairs into the aircraft and then pushed into a seat. When she looked up Henri was gone back out the door. The sound of him yelling outside the aircraft carried in and his language was foul, and his temper was fouler.

Ollie’s eyes were huge as Riggs set her in the seat opposite her. “Uncle Henri said a really bad word.”

Olivier sat Max down beside Bobbie and moved to the back of the plane while Riggs jogged back out of the tiny entrance. The sound of Olivier cursing furiously into his phone in French made Bobbie look over her shoulder. It was apparent to her someone had been in the building just outside the aircraft they hadn’t wanted to be there.

When he came back to the area where they were seated quietly, Bobbie now hugging both kids on her lap he stopped and pressed a k**s to the top of her head. “I am sorry for my temper.”

She looked up and noted the redness on his cheeks and his flared nostrils and knew he was barely controlled. “It’s okay.”

“A custom’s official will be coming into the plane in a minute to verify I’m not kidnapping you and the kids. It seems one of our security agents punching a customs officer in the face after stomping on his phone and destroying it, has made them a little irritated and uncooperative.”

“A customs guy was the one taking our photo?”

“Yes. He was in the building waiting. If it weren’t enough, he allowed a photographer access to the far end of the field with a telephoto lens. It too has been confiscated. I have a call into the CEO of the airport and my contact with Border Patrol. He will be unemployed within the hour.” He looked to Bobbie, “try to relax now but until we’re in the air, stay away from the windows, please.”

“Of course,” she nodded as Riggs boarded the aircraft again followed by a customs agent.

Olivier stood glowering at the supervisor on duty, his eyes glittering dangerously. “Your guy would risk his job for a photo of a couple of kids. I’ve already called your supervisor’s boss. My legal team will be in touch. He was under your command.”

“Mr. Villeneuve, I’m just here to do my job and make sure everyone on this plane is here of their own freewill.”

“What a load of horseshit,” Bobbie spat at him furiously.

“Ms. Caron,” he looked at the passport Riggs’ passed him, “you’ve never flown from here before so perhaps you don’t know how things work.”

“Oh, enlighten me,” she set the kids down, standing up and getting in his face, folding her arms over her chest angrily, “tell me, how it works. Your guys can decide to boost their salary by taking photos of innocent children and nobody is supposed to respond? Is that how it works? Or perhaps the way it works is you take photos and then commit extortion. You know blackmail a federal crime, right?”

Riggs leaned over the guy’s shoulder, “did I fail to mention Ms. Caron is a lawyer?”

Olivier pulled Bobbie back two steps, but his chuckle told her he found her fury comical.

The man blanched and then paled further when his cell phone rang. He muttered an “excuse me” and then stepped away from the group.

Olivier jutted his chin and smirked at Riggs, “twenty bucks says it’s my guy.”

“Fifty bucks says it’s my father,” Riggs grinned at him, and Olivier’s eyebrows jutted up.

“You called your father?”

“Who is your father?” Bobbie leaned against Riggs’ arm.

“Head of border security.”

“For the airport?”

“No, all of it.” Riggs grinned, “for the state.”

“I thought you said your dad was a doctor?” Bobbie was confused.

“I have two dads,” he shrugged. “My mom got remarried when I was five. My biological dad is a border agent. My stepdad is a neurologist. I got lucky and have two dads who fight over me because I’m awesome.”

“It’s also why he got shipped away to boarding school. One dad was working all the time for customs and the other wanted him to be more refined because he has as much class as a toad,” Olivier mocked him.

The man came back just as Riggs held up his own phone, looked at a message and told Olivier he owed him fifty bucks.

“Mr. Villeneuve, you and your family are good to go.” The man nodded in their direction and stepped off the aircraft after passing the passports back to Riggs.

Riggs handed them to Olivier. “Right. The captains are already on board. Your flight attendant will be right along. She’s being vetted a third time by Henri himself even though she’s one of our security agents and could knock his block off if she opted to. He’s a little pissed off.”

Bobbie was glad. She was pissed off too. All of this felt too much. Her kids were eerily quiet, and her own emotions were all over the place. She’d yelled at a custom’s agent, an act she would never have done in a million years. She was absolutely out of sorts.

Thirty minutes later, Bobbie was seated with Max beside her buckled in and Ollie was across from him seated with Olivier. The flight attendant had introduced herself, reassured everyone about the take-off and the doors to the aircraft were sealed shut.

She closed her eyes and gripped the hand rests tightly.

“Do you not enjoy flying?” Olivier asked as he looked at her hands.

“I don’t mind.”

“You’re about ready to pop the armrest off.” He gave a nod to her white knuckles.

“I’m fine. I just need to get away from this shitstorm of a mess. I’m angry and I can’t blame anyone on the aircraft, so I have nobody to yell at.” She gave a rueful smile. “I wish I’d had ten minutes with the guy who was recording us from the hangar.”

Olivier gave a shake of his head at her words flicking a glance to Ollie, “and you say she gets her temper from me.”

“Hey, I didn’t want to come out swinging but after the events of the day, him coming in here was the straw to break the camel’s back.”

He looked to Max and Ollie, “and do you two enjoy flying?”

“I want to fly airplanes.” Ollie said with a wide grin.

“Do you? Well maybe once we’re in the air and things are settled and going along, we’ll go say hello to the captain and co-captain.”

“Can we?” both kids were excited with the prospect.

True to his word, once the flight was in the air and the seat belt sign was off, Olivier asked the flight attendant to check with the captain if they could take a peek into the cockpit during the three-hour flight.

Bobbie watched Ollie to make sure she wasn’t having any ill-effects from the head injury and flying but so far, she was in good spirits and chattering a million miles a minute at Olivier who was answering all her questions without hesitation. Her own head however was splitting, and she was regretting letting herself get so worked up. The stress was weighing on her.

Ollie’s eyes were huge as Riggs set her in the seat opposite her. “Uncle Henri said a really bad word.”

She looked up in surprise when the flight attendant passed her a drink, “I didn’t ask for this.”

“No,” the young woman smiled softly, “but Riggs told me the minute I was able to, I should put a glass of Mr. Villeneuve’s finest bourbon in your hand. He said you are on vacation after all.”

Bobbie caught Olivier’s wink and shook her head. His team were taking good care of her. “Thank you. I appreciate this.”

She nodded, “if you need anything else let me know. I’m going to go prepare the snacks for the kids.”

“We get snacks?” Max asked excitedly. “I love snacks.”

“Me too,” Olivier said with a smile, “you can undo your seatbelts and go explore the plane. Just stay out of the attendant’s way.”

The kids didn’t need to be told twice and they were unfastening their belts and running from window to window, opening cupboards and then Max screamed excitedly after opening a door at the rear of the plan. “It has a bed!”

“Do I want to know why you have a bed in your plane?” Bobbie raised an eyebrow at him. She sipped the bourbon. He really did stock the best.

“To sleep,” he shook his finger at her, “the only romantic interest who has been on this plane is you.”

“Thought maybe you had joined the mile high club.” She giggled as she began to relax the further away from Dallas they were.

“I would love to join the mile high club,” he leaned back in his seat and crossed his fingers over his chest. “Lacing the kids’ drinks with cough syrup is bad right?” His words made her sputter on her drink, and he laughed loudly, “I’m kidding. My sister actually joked just before we left the house, I should pack something to knock them out or I won’t get laid once. She said the only reason she’s pregnant now is because both girls had a bad cold a couple months back and she gave them cough syrup and it knocked them out for a solid six hours. Walt used the time wisely.”

Bobbie’s laugh made him smile wider. “Your sister is crazy.”

“She’s a Villeneuve. We’re all a little touched in the head.”

Bobbie had a thought and looked to him seriously, “is your mom going to be all right?”

“Definitely. She can’t hide forever, Bobbie. She can’t throw forty years of marriage away without at least having a conversation with the other party. He f****d up, we all agree, but it’s not like he had an affair or broke one of the vows he made to her during their wedding.” He got out of his seat and moved to take the one Ollie had vacated next to her, draping his arm over her shoulder, and stealing her glass.

She snuggled into him, mock frowning when he sipped her drink, “you could just get your own.”

“No, alas I will be driving the yacht in a couple of hours and so a taste is all I can afford right now. When we are settled in the villa, I will pour a deep glass.” He rested his cheek to the top of her head. “My father called me just before we left the house. He is very worried.”

“I know you say he’s a good man, Olivier but he put a target on me and pulled the trigger before even meeting me.”

“I agree and I will not argue with you over the matter. I’m simply saying, he called me to voice his concerns over the safety of you and the kids. He offered his own team up to assist with my team. Gael has as well.”

“Speaking of Gael, any news on the NDA?”

“No but,” he sighed, “it seems Cleo might be useful. I may need to speak with her a bit.”

“Why?”

“She approached Gael today after the news broke of the twins. She is realizing now why I’m so pissed off. Gael is her great uncle through marriage. She says she may have information but wants a payout and for us to get the IRS off her a*s, so she avoids prison for tax evasion.”

Bobbie was surprised by his words and sat up to look at him, “she could go to prison?”

“Why do you think I haven’t done more to her? I like the idea of her doing twenty to thirty for fraud and evasion. It gives me peace.” His smirk was cold.

“She’s your mother’s family.”

“Gael found out in his digging she was threw a party where Bernard assaulted a woman. Since she threw the party, the victim was a model for her magazine and Bernard was her cousin, Cleo covered it up. She paid the woman off and swept it under the rug. This happened about a month before she accompanied him to my hotel suite. She knew how bad he was. She protected him and covered up for him. We found one so far aside from what he threatened to do to you in our room. God only knows how many times they’ve pulled this. She mentioned to me he had dirt on her which made her do whatever he asked. Gael and I agree, we’re going to play her game for now. She’s going to prison, one way or the other, if and only if, Gael hasn’t killed her first. He’s very,” he paused searching the word, “irate at the present time. The only reason she hasn’t been dealt with by his security team is she lacks a p***s.”

“Ah, the protect a woman at all costs thing,” Bobbie made a face and then considered his words. “What kind of dirt could Bernard have on her which would make her cover up him being an abusive man?”

“He’s not an abusive man. He’s a rapist. Let’s call the jackoff what he is.” Olivier crooked his head over the back of the chair at the sound of a crash and Max yelling he was okay. The kids were jumping on the bed and had knocked something down. He shook his head with a grin, “they’re adjusting fine.”

She sighed and sipped her drink when he held it back to her, “you know, I loved my sister. I love Grady and Everly, but you know, there isn’t a secret so dark I would feel compelled to cover any of them for assaulting someone. It has to be bad.”

“Gael will replace out what it is and when he does, then he’ll have them both by the balls.”

“Olivier, I don’t like all this talk of retribution and punishment. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“I understand, chérie. Riggs’ felt strongly I should not leave you out of the loop. He was worried if things arise and you are put on the spot, for example if we end up in a situation where Cleo approaches us, then you are ill-informed and might not know better. If, however, you want to be left in the dark moving forward about how we are dealing with this situation, I will let the team know. It is your choice entirely.”

She nodded and exhaled loudly as yet another crash from the bedroom occurred, “let me think on it. I see Riggs’ point of view but it’s not good for my mind to ruminate on the darkness. In the meantime, we have two kids who are jumping on a bed and one of them has a concussion. I feel we are being slack-a*s parents letting it continue.” She rose from her seat and threw the rest of her liquor back. “Let’s go see if we can’t divert their attention to some less-risky play.”