Page 34 of A Billionaire for Christmas

‘Levi, you’re the nearest. Help Molly bring the plates in.’ Armand turned back to Toby. ‘I’m thinking of a golfing residential next year. The four-month one. Which professionals have you got lined up?’

This was clearly news to Valerie, who immediately began squawking at her husband.

Levi gave a resigned-sounding groan and stood up to follow Molly into the kitchen.

It was very dark except for a large torch that Toby had put on the bench.

The atmosphere was tense, and Molly’s nerves were on end at Levi standing so close to her.

‘Can you put these warm plates on the bench while I take out the roast pork for you to slice as thinly as you can, please?’

Molly noticed he was avoiding eye contact.

‘The sharp knives are?—’

‘I know where my own knives are.’ Levi yanked open the cutlery draw and let out a monumental sigh.

‘If you’d let me finish a sentence for once, I could explain that I’ve put the block over there.’

‘You’ve put the block of sharp knives over there in the dark where I can’t see it? Genius.’

‘It wasn’t dark when I reorganised the kitchen, was it?’ Molly said through gritted teeth.

‘Nobody asked you to reorganise the kitchen, did they?’ Levi gave her a determined look. ‘Or was hiding things another box to tick off on your bucket list?’

‘Forget it, I’ll find it myself. And the salt and the garnish. I need to get them from the pantry.’ Molly felt her way in the dark to the other side of the kitchen. Within seconds, Levi was right behind her with the torch. She felt her body tingle. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘Give me the knife,’ Levi said, taking it from her as he shone the way to the pantry. ‘After all, I couldn’t help but notice you were more than a little psycho this morning. Plus, I’d hate to get stabbed in the back again.’

Molly swung round to face him. ‘How dare you! You deserved that drink in the face, and I did not stab you in the back. If anything, you’re the one who is at fault here,’ she snapped. She pulled open the pantry door and stepped into a wall of darkness. ‘Not giving me a chance to explain.’

Levi followed her in, almost standing on top of her in the tiny space. He placed the torch and the knife down on the shelf. ‘Do it now then.’

‘Do what now?’

‘Explain. Explain how you led me to believe you were a guest when we first met.’

Flashbacks to them making out in the lift sprung to her mind.

‘Explain how you waited for me in the sauna like a Venus flytrap.’

None of this was painting her in a great light.

‘And finally, please do explain how you are only here as part of some elaborate game you are playing with your business partner. I’m some box to be ticked off for a bet.’ Levi’s voice was scarcely more than a whisper, his words as hard as ice. ‘I hope it was worth it.’

Molly stared up at him. She had no idea where to start.

She desperately wanted to tell him about Ava.

How all those events were linked. She put her hand on his arm and felt him bristle at her touch.

Sadness swept over her at the thought of how much she’d upset him.

Levi was not going to want to hear the truth, because all the accusations were true.

Everything he had just said was spot on. Everything except one detail.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Tears prickled the back of her eyes as she searched his for signs of forgiveness. ‘It’s complicated.’

Levi stared back at her. ‘Try me.’

Molly bit her lip. She could smell hints of sandalwood and lemon balm aftershave over his clean masculine scent. In the dim light, his hair fell across his forehead, casting shadows across his cheekbones. His full lips were drawn into a tight line. His eyes were dark and dangerous.

‘It isn’t what you think. I didn’t set out to deceive you.’

‘It looks very much like you set out to deceive me.’

‘I know. I know it does, but it’s not the way it happened. It isn’t even my bucket list.’

‘Whose is it?’

‘Ava’s.’ Saying her name pinched at Molly’s heart.

‘Then why did you go all out to seduce me in the hot tub?’

Because I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you.

‘Why didn’t Ava do it herself?’ he snapped.

Molly swallowed. ‘She’s not here.’ Saying it this way felt somehow easier than admitting she was dead and never coming back.

Her words hung in the air. She had to tell him. She drew in a sharp breath. Best to just blurt it out. ‘Last Christmas, she took an unexpected?—’

‘You’ve been ticking off boxes since we met, haven’t you?

’ Levi interrupted as though lost in a red mist of indignation.

‘Crashing a wedding? The sausage-meat face? Even the burlesque costume and the goddamn camel was on it! And sleeping with a billionaire? I bet that would have ticked a big one off the list. Too bad you didn’t manage it.

’ Levi was making imaginary ticking motions with his hand.

Molly flinched. He wasn’t wrong but that was no reason to be so rude. ‘If you’ll just get down from your high horse for a second and let me explain properly…’

He wasn’t listening. It was as though she had become invisible.

‘And don’t get me started on lying to me about your restaurant because, believe me, I always get what I want.

You certainly won’t be hired for my sister’s wedding, which I assume is why you manipulated your way here in the first place.

And I’ll make sure that you and your business partner never contract with my resort ever again.

In fact, I’ll make sure none of our associates work with you either. Let’s see how you like that game.’

Molly’s head jerked up. ‘This isn’t a game. That restaurant is my life. It’s my dream. You can’t take it away from me. It’s mine.’

‘Not according to that letter, it isn’t.’

‘You can’t take it.’

‘Watch me.’

Infuriating. Utterly infuriating.

‘What are you, twelve? Don’t be so bloody childish.’

Levi stopped talking. His mouth gaped slightly open as though no one had ever spoken back to him.

‘What’s taking so long?’ came a yell from Toby. They heard him making his way towards them. Molly dropped her hand from Levi’s arm just as Toby shone his phone light at them. ‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t realise you were… I just came to check if…’ He cleared his throat. ‘But I’ll leave you to it.’

Levi stepped away from Molly. ‘Wait,’ he instructed Toby. ‘You take over here.’

‘Sure,’ said Toby, stepping aside to let Levi stomp past.

‘I’ve got an important call to make.’ He shot Molly a dark look. ‘To my acquisitions team.’

Molly tutted loudly. ‘You’re being ridiculous. And unbelievably annoying!’

* * *

By the time a slightly taken-aback Molly had served the third of the five courses, the conversation had moved on from golf and weddings to plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Since his late return from making calls, Levi had missed two of the courses and not made eye contact with her once.

She would find time after the meal to resume their conversation and tell him about Ava.

She had never seen him so riled, but she hoped that if he knew the truth, he would understand and take back his ludicrous threats to ruin her business.

His words had lit a fire in her belly. Something about him brought out a feisty side to her she was unfamiliar with.

As though he’d woken a sleeping dragon. The more he purposefully ignored her, the more determined she became.

She wouldn’t be backing down without a fight.

‘Rooby should be here by Christmas Eve. He’ll want to go skiing both mornings,’ Freda informed everyone. ‘Then he’ll want to chill in the spa. Then he’ll want to eat a late lunch.’

‘Well, that’s settled then. We’ll structure the two days around what Reuben wants.’ Lucca was grinning at Freda. ‘How does that sound for everyone?’

‘Absolutely not,’ said Valerie. ‘I’m not skiing. I’ve got far too much to do. We haven’t even gone through fabric samples for the wedding. Freda, darling, wouldn’t you rather leave the boys to it and help me plan? It is your wedding, after all.’

‘No way. I won’t have seen Rooby for two weeks. We’ll need to reconnect and spend every second together. Who cares about the bloody wedding? I’m sick to death of it. It can wait.’

This appeared to inflame Valerie. Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline, and her contorted face remained frozen.

‘I’m not even sure why you’re bothering to get married,’ said Lucca. ‘The two of you are never in the same country for more than a week at a time anyway. Is that why you drink so much?’

‘That’s enough, Lucca,’ barked Levi. ‘You’re hardly the one to dish out marital advice. How many fiancées have you been through? Two?’

‘Two and a half actually.’

Verbal fireworks ensued.

Toby gallantly waded in to try to keep the peace as the LeRoux family indiscriminately shrieked and yelled at one another.

Glad of something to take her mind off Levi’s threats to ruin her business, Molly had never been so distracted in all her life.

She was used to quiet, respectful evenings with her parents spent chatting amiably and playing games.

She watched enthralled as this family screamed accusations and hurled insults.

She’d never seen a spectacle like it. It would be thrilling if Levi wasn’t sitting opposite emitting an aura of furious energy.

It was while Lucca was reminding his mother what a terrible parent she was, and how she had missed every single one of his ‘spoken-word political poetry satire’ recitals at school when he was younger, that Molly noticed Armand remaining very passive throughout the arguing as though he was having an out-of-body experience.

She then noticed a film of sweat forming on his brow and the colour drain from his cheeks.

She flicked her eyes around the table. They were all animatedly engaged in yelling at each other.

She sought Toby, only to find that he was just as bad, agreeing with each of them in turn, trying to prevent the conflict escalating.

Armand was quite a large gentleman who looked as though he had enjoyed more than a few decades of avoiding lettuce in favour of eating cheese and drinking fine wines.

He looked as though he was on the verge of some sort of angina attack.

Molly watched him mop his brow with his napkin, wondering if she should intervene.

Nobody noticed her rise from her seat to collect the plates, as knives and forks clattered down.

Not one person had commented on how delicious and well-assembled this third gravity-defying, molecular gastronomic feat of engineering had been, so absorbed in bickering and arguing they all were.

Valerie looked as though she had simply pushed her food around her plate while she bickered with her offspring.

Molly made her way round to Armand and crouched down beside him. ‘Are you okay, sir? Can I get you anything?’

Armand gave her a sharp look, his already small eyes narrowing. ‘I’m fine,’ he hissed out of the side of his mouth. ‘It’s nothing.’

Molly regarded him. He could be very dismissive. Like his son and his wife. ‘Do you need aspirin? Are you on medication?’ she murmured quietly. She poured him a glass of water. ‘Drink this slowly.’

He looked incensed at the intrusion. A redness replaced the pallor in his cheeks. Before he could answer her, she rose quickly. ‘Sorry.’

Molly scuttled into the kitchen, observing the family from afar.

What a shitshow. At least Armand was now sipping at his water and seemed less agitated.

Valerie decided to regale the family with tales of how many people she knew who had recently died and was disappointed to find that none of them had a clue who she was talking about.

‘…and that was the fourth husband she’d lost in as many years. ’

‘How careless. I wonder how many husbands you’ll get through, Freeds.

We could start a new family tradition.’ Lucca picked up a stuffed bell pepper and threw it at Freda.

Freda retaliated by laughing heartily and throwing a whole breadbasket at him.

The rolls of crusty bread spewed everywhere, knocking his glass of red wine all over Toby.

He was drenched. Lucca found it hilarious.

Molly’s own troubles aside, it was the best family dinner she’d ever been to.

‘What a waste. That was a very expensive glass of wine,’ Armand moaned as colour came back to his cheeks. He mopped his brow again and threw the napkin down on the table.

‘Not the Chateau Lafite,’ groaned Valerie, picking up the bottle. ‘Who opened that? I was keeping it for the wedding. I bought it at auction. It cost me over twenty thousand euros.’

‘You mean it cost me over twenty thousand euros,’ said Levi drily. ‘How many times have I said those auctions are a waste of time? They can see you coming a mile off.’

‘Who brought it up from the cellar in the first place?’ Valerie asked sharply. ‘I deliberately ordered these crates to be kept separate from the others.’

‘Don’t look at me,’ Freda snapped.

‘Nor me,’ said Lucca, holding up his hands.

Suddenly the arguing stopped. Everybody was staring over at Molly.