Page 83 of A Billionaire for Christmas
With wide eyes, Molly redialled. The line was crackled and patchy. ‘Monsieur Fournier. It’s Molly Johnson. I have all the evidence you need, but the Wi-Fi isn’t working. Can you hear me?’ Molly strained to hear the reply. ‘No. No, Idohave everything, it’s just that… Yes, I know that the deadline is in less than two hours. I have witnesses. I can put them on the phone. What do you mean email the proof? How many times do I have to tell you? The Wi-Fi isn’t working! I know it’s Christmas Eve. Can’t you keep the office open a little longer? The signal will…’
Infuriating, insufferable man.
‘He hung up,’ Molly said miserably. ‘I couldn’t get a word in edgeways. He’s not a relative of yours by any chance?’
Levi sprang up and raced into the kitchen with his phone clamped to his ear. He darted back to the lounge several minutes later, just as Molly was explaining that Monsieur Fournier insisted the legal requirements rested on her signature. Her signature on the forms she hadn’t emailed back to him. The forms he’d been asking for repeatedly, for months.
‘Shit. I’m going to lose everything and it’s all my own stupid fault.’ Tears sprang to Molly’s eyes as she stared out of the window. The snow was coming down. Toby had just received word that the pass was still blocked. How could she stumble like this, at the last hurdle? ‘I’m so sorry, Ava,’ she whispered.
‘What about me? I was looking forward to starting my new job!’ moaned Freda. ‘I manifested it. I put it out into the universe. The universe responded. I have the launch outfits picked out and everything.’
‘Think. Think,’ murmured Molly. ‘We need internet. And mobile signal. I know! The roof!’
‘Great idea!’ squealed Freda.
‘I’ll get the ladders and some rope,’ barked Lucca. ‘Molly, you climb up there, I’ll hold the ladders, secure the rope to something and Freda can climb up and hold on to you while you send the email.’ He beamed. ‘What a team! Come on, girls, we’ve got this.’
Levi shook his head slowly, frowning. ‘Fascinating. Truly fascinating.’
They stopped chattering.
‘What?’ Molly asked. ‘What’s fascinating?’
Levi was struggling to hide his amusement. ‘The three of you have put your heads together, and that’s the plan you’ve come up with? To climb on the roof, in this treacherous weather, and wave a phone about in the hopes you can get a signal?’ He folded his arms and looked at the three of them like they were naughty children. ‘Do any of you even know the rudimentary elements of how mobile signals or the router or the wired ethernet connections work?’
It sounded very much like a rhetorical question and so Molly didn’t feel the need to answer it. If her life ever depended on explaining exactly what 5G was, she wasn’t sure she’d make it out alive.
‘There’s a good reason he’s the billionaire and we’re not.’ Freda giggled. ‘I wish I’d had the foresight to invest my inheritance in Bitcoin the way he did.’
‘Molly, grab your coat and your phone,’ said Levi, rolling his eyes at Freda while he picked up his laptop. His phone was still glued to his ear. He was barking out orders with military precision. ‘Toby, get my coat, radio the helipad at the resort and clear us for landing please, and ready the jet for immediate take off. Molly, where’s the solicitor’s office?’
Christ, she loved watching him be bossy and capable.
Molly took out the letter. ‘It’s just outside of Paris.’
‘Toby, tell the Civil Aviation Authority we need to land in Le Bourget within the hour.’
‘You can’t be serious?’ Molly asked. It was more of a squeak. It didn’t seem real, but she grabbed her coat anyway. ‘I’m still soaking wet.’
Levi gave her an exasperated look. ‘Then get changed. We literally have no time to lose.’
‘And there’s something else.’
They all looked at Molly.
‘I have a fear of sharp, pointy objects, in particular, rotating blades. I can’t possibly get in a helicopter with you.’
‘But you’re a chef,’ he said, trying not to snigger. ‘Isn’t handling pointy objects and whizzing things up in blenders half the job?’
Molly shrugged, nodding. It was almost as though Ava was doing this on purpose.
25
‘YOUR TIME IS LIMITED, SO DON’T WASTE IT LIVING SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE.’ STEVE JOBS
Molly glanced at her phone. There were less than two hours to go. Within fifteen minutes, she was dressed in thermal leggings, an oversized sweatshirt, snow boots and padded coat, hat, scarf and gloves and was racing through the lodge, hand-in-hand with Levi, out into the freezing cold. The snow had eased off, and the helicopter was only just visible in the fading light. Its gigantic rotor blades glinted menacingly in the torchlight. It was nothing compared to the ice-cold fear that was gripping her chest.
‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ she yelled at him as he swung open the door and helped her into a tiny cockpit. He slammed it firmly shut behind her, raced round, and jumped in next to her. She watched, dumbstruck, as he flicked switches, checked the fuel, checked the engine. She jumped a mile as the blades rotated forcefully to life, shaking the craft to its core as Levi radioed in that he was taking off. It looked very much like he was just flicking any old random switches for show. Levi stopped what he was doing to take her face in his hands.
