Page 43 of A Billionaire for Christmas

I ATTRACT LOVE AND POSITIVE ENERGY INTO MY LIFE

‘There’s a lot to unpack there,’ whispered Freda. ‘Does that mean Papa is divorcing Mother? And that’s why he thinks this is our last Christmas together?’

‘There’s no way he’s having an affair. Why does she have to self-sabotage all the time?’ Lucca snapped, shaking his head at Freda. ‘At least we know where you get it from.’

‘Never mind that. What the hell is she playing at inviting Clarice? I can’t fucking stand her. If she comes here, I’m leaving,’ Freda said to no one in particular.

‘And I’ll be coming with you. I hate that woman’s guts after what she did.’ Lucca gave Levi a hard look.

Levi frowned. ‘She won’t be coming anywhere near us. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll go and put a stop to it.’

Lucca put his hand out to stop him walking away. ‘Then they’ll know we’ve been eavesdropping,’ he complained.

‘Who cares? I’ll go if he doesn’t,’ said Freda.

Molly was taken aback at how angry Lucca sounded. She was desperate to ask what had happened with Clarice but as the two siblings began bickering against the backdrop of Valerie and Armand yelling at each other in the next room, Levi tugged on Molly’s arm.

He pulled her gently away to one side. ‘What did my mother mean? Did your business partner die?’ Levi asked softly. ‘Recently?’

Molly had to look away.

‘I’d never have threatened to take the restaurant from you if I knew,’ he said, taking her arms and gently twisting her to look at him. ‘Why didn’t you say?’

Because I was desperate.

‘Because that’s not everything. And every time I think about it, I start crying and never stop.’

It was a highly inappropriate moment to be dredging up such trauma. Lucca and Freda were now arguing loudly about their parents’ marriage. Armand was retaliating as Valerie accused him of all sorts.

‘The hot tub, the wedding,’ Levi said as though pieces of a puzzle were falling into place. ‘So the bucket list was something you were doing together?’

‘No, not together. I’m way too socially awkward to do even half of what was on there.

But Ava was almost finished when she suddenly took an unexpected turn for the worse.

We had to move her out of our home into a hospice.

’ Molly heard her voice shaking. ‘It wasn’t until after she died that I found out she’d left me everything in her will.

She wanted me to have her half of the apartment.

’ Molly sniffed. ‘Anyway, it turns out that the way the will was written…’

‘It included the restaurant as well.’

Molly nodded sadly, appreciating that Levi was a trained lawyer when he wanted to be. It didn’t take him long to realise that the condition of the will was the completion of Ava’s bucket list.

‘And I’m guessing all the assets were frozen? Essentially locking you out of your own business?’

‘But that is not why I wanted to sleep with you,’ Molly whispered. She was staring up at him, every fibre in her body pleading him to have faith in her. ‘You have to believe me. That was a genuine connection. I never meant to deceive you. I’d never do that to you. I’m not like that.’

Levi gave her an intense look, causing tears to prick at her eyes. Then he swept her into a hug. He cradled her head in one hand and pulled her in tight with the other. She sagged against him, taking immediate comfort from his warm, strong embrace.

Lucca stopped arguing with Freda to throw them a lopsided grin. ‘Get a room, you two.’

Molly managed to stifle a giggle.

‘We need to try and salvage this disaster.’ Lucca gestured to them. ‘We as in all of us.’

‘Give us a minute,’ Levi said. Molly thought she would explode with joy as Levi leaned towards her. He cupped her face with his hands.

Freda’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked. ‘Wait. Is there something going on between you two?’

Molly instinctively stood back from Levi and shook her head. She didn’t want Levi to be embarrassed. His mother had already done enough of that.

Levi reached for her hand and pulled her back to him. ‘Yes. There’s something going on.’

Molly’s head jerked up in surprise. ‘You don’t need to say that.’

‘It’s true, isn’t it?’

Levi kept a tight hold of her. Her skin was on fire where he held her.

His eyes, full of promise, caused her heart to melt.

Valerie’s words about Molly not being ‘good enough’ rang round her brain.

Common sense was telling her to run a mile but the more time she spent with Levi, the more attracted to him she was becoming.

Even if he did behave like a pompous, judgemental workaholic most of the time.

This news was not going to go down at all well.

‘Now you have no excuse not to teach me how to cook.’ Freda beamed at Molly. ‘We can hang out together.’

‘Listen,’ hissed Lucca. They stopped talking. ‘I can’t hear anything.’

‘Did they leave while we were yelling at each other?’ Freda whispered just as her mother let out an agonising howl.

Molly, Levi, Lucca and Freda scrambled back through the kitchen and into the lounge area at great speed. They saw Armand slumped over the table. His glass knocked to the floor. His face drained of colour. Valerie stood staring at him as though none of it was real.

‘Papa!’ yelled Levi, sprinting towards him.

While the family panicked, Molly raced to Armand and rifled through his pockets. ‘What are you doing?’ screeched Valerie. ‘Leave him alone. I don’t care about the bloody phone!’

‘His tablets. His spray. Where are they?’ Molly asked her calmly.

Valerie responded with a bewildered look. ‘Tablets? I have no idea what you are talking about. Leave him alone, I tell you.’

Molly ignored her and tapped Armand on the shoulder.

‘Monsieur LeRoux, can you hear me? Monsieur LeRoux?’ She put her ear to his mouth to check his breathing.

‘Shit, he’s not breathing. Ring an ambulance,’ Molly told Levi.

‘Freda, go to the bedroom and search for your father’s heart medication.

There should be tablets and a GTN spray.

Lucca, help me get him flat on the floor. ’

While Levi shouted into his phone for an air ambulance, Lucca leapt into action as they eased Armand from the chair.

‘He needs CPR.’ Molly glanced at each family member.

‘He’s gone into cardiac arrest. He needs CPR,’ she repeated.

Valerie immediately burst into tears. Lucca looked like a frightened child.

‘Sorry. I don’t know how to…’ Lucca gasped helplessly. ‘Papa! Papa! Please don’t die.’

Seriously? No one knew CPR?

Molly got to work opening Armand’s airways and doing compressions as an eerie silence fell. Levi dropped to his knees. ‘How can I help?’

‘Do you know CPR?’

Levi shook his head. He looked desperate. ‘I did a course a million years ago. I’m not sure exactly…’

‘Keep his airways open for me. The rest of you stand back. Give us some room,’ Molly instructed. ‘How long until the ambulance gets here?’

‘Twenty minutes, maybe more.’

‘Do you keep a defibrillator in the house?’ Molly asked Levi calmly.

Levi shook his head.

‘Are you sure? Lucca, go to the boot room. There’s a shelf with first aid kits. See if there’s a portable defib machine.’

‘What will it look like?’ Lucca shrieked. ‘I don’t know what it’ll look like!’

‘Stay calm. Either a large unit with defibrillator written on it or a small pack with AED on it. Hurry.’

Molly continued compressions but Armand remained unresponsive.

Time seemed to stand still as she worked harder and harder on him.

She bent at regular intervals to blow air into his lungs only for it to seep back out.

If he didn’t start breathing again quickly, his brain would be starved of oxygen and the consequences too awful to imagine.

‘Found it!’ Lucca yelled, tearing through the room towards them just as Freda came running back into the room with an armful of medicine boxes.

‘Levi, take over compressions,’ Molly ordered. ‘Freda, give me the medicines.’ Molly scanned the boxes for confirmation that Armand had a heart condition and tore the AED pack open, deftly switching it on and taking out the electrode pads.

Without being told, Levi ripped Armand’s shirt open, exposing his unmoving chest. Molly grabbed a napkin from the table and gave it to Levi. ‘Dry him.’ They watched her take the razor from the pack.

‘What are you doing?’ squealed Valerie. ‘Someone get her away from him. Levi, for crying out loud, tell her!’

Molly ignored her and quickly shaved two patches on Armand’s unusually hairy chest, one on the upper right side and the other on the lower left side.

She peeled off the plastic backing of the electrodes and stuck the pads to the shaved areas, then plugged in the cables and was relieved when the machine automatically began analysing his heart rhythm.

She sat back, her eyes glued to the monitor’s screen.

Valerie raced round the table and dropped to the floor, elbowing Molly out of the way. ‘Armand, can you hear me? Armand!’ She went to slap his face.

‘No. Don’t touch him!’ yelled Molly, knowing it would interfere with the reading.

Levi, fast as lightning, grabbed his mother just as she reached for her husband. ‘Mother. Molly knows what she’s doing. Trust her.’

Valerie’s eyes widened. ‘But she’s just a chalet chef, for God’s sake.’

Taking no notice, Molly threw her arms wide.

‘Everyone, stand clear. We need to shock him.’ She pressed the button, and they watched as Armand’s chest jumped.

Molly swallowed. Seconds seemed to drag by as Armand showed no sign of breathing.

She restarted compressions immediately. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she counted. ‘Come on. Come on.’

Molly heard Freda crying, which seemed to set off Valerie, who howled into Levi’s shoulder. Molly made brief eye contact with Lucca’s tear-filled, disbelieving eyes. She sent a silent prayer up to Ava. Help me save him.