The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max) novel Chapter 50

Lark slowly walked to the phone and picked it up gingerly, hitting the speaker button. “Hello?”

“Miss Hoffman. Where is Olivia?”

“I don’t know Mr. Laredo. I only now arrived back at the hotel. My visit to Houston was to settle a lawsuit with my ex because I wrecked his car and ruined his employment opportunities when I exposed his tiny p***s to the entire office we worked at together.” She prayed her voice was as confident as she tried to portray.

“I’m aware of the reason you’re here. I’m furious with you both. Leading me on a wild goose chase through my city and then hiding like a pair of cowards. Neither of you strike me as cowards, Miss Hoffman. Now, I don’t usually stay in hotels however this one is quite luxurious. I can absolutely work from this hotel room with ease, however I have a low tolerance for noisy neighbors. The gentleman on the other side of my wall threw something, my guess is a chair from the way it thudded against the wall. It would be a shame if I were forced to educate him on who is in the room next to his to let him know to keep the noise to a minimum. Do you think it would upset him to know why I am here?”

The two women exchanged a glance, both paling at his words. Before she could speak though the man continued. “Now, it seems to me, Maximilian Villeneuve is highly protective of his twin sister. I imagine if he knows I am here with a small army for my protection given how her lawyer likes to pull firearms, my guess is he might come out swinging.” Lark’s heart rate accelerated at the truth of the man’s statement. Max would definitely not be amenable to Santiago Laredo insisting Ollie go with him.

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Olivia, however you will do for now. You can be my messenger. Heriberto and I are going to quietly cross the hall, and you, are going to let us in. Otherwise, I will go to Max and insist on his sister’s whereabouts which will make him angry, and I may be forced to retaliate against his boorish behavior.”

“Boorish behavior? Rich coming from a man threatening me.”

“I have not threatened you, Miss Hoffman. Not a single threat towards you personally has escaped my lips. Now, are you going to open the door, or no?”

“If I say no, you’ll go to Max’s?”

“Yes.”

Tears coated Ollie’s cheeks.

“I’ll open it.”

Ollie made wide eyes.

“Can you give me a couple of minutes though? I came straight to my room and rinsed off in the shower. I’m in a towel.” “Heriberto won’t mind.”

“But I will,” she shot down the man with the laugh as dark as the deepest chocolate.

“Three minutes.”

She hung up the phone and looked to Ollie as Lark began ripping off her own clothes. “Here’s what we are going to do. He’s going to come in here and he’s going to search the room, right? Lark grabbed her giant suitcase and unzipped it. “Get in.”

“Your suitcase? I won’t fit in there.”

“Ollie, I swear to god, crunch your skinny body into this suitcase or he’s going to come in here and carry you out over his shoulder and my dead body in this case.”

“This is absurd,” she looked around the room. “Why not under the bed?” She wiggled the top of it as she lay it off to the side of the room. Ollie barely fit and complained about not being this flexible.

“First place he’ll look is under the bed and before you say the shower it will be the second place. If murderers and serial killers can take bodies out of hotels in oversized suitcases you can hide in one for the few minutes he’s going to be here and I’m fairly sure you’ve been bent in far more awkward positions by the man coming into this room than this.” Lark was grateful she bought the biggest suitcase in the shop because she disliked carrying multiple bags as she threw the clothes which she hung up only the day before around the room to make it untidy. Not leaving a single item hanging in the wardrobe she threw them everywhere. Leaving the suitcase unzipped with Ollie curled up inside of it, she loaded clothes on top of it, she grabbed the ironing board from the wardrobe and opened it over the suitcase and set the iron on top of it. She threw a blouse on it and then as the man gave a single knock on the other side of the door, quickly shimmied into shorts and a t-shirt.

She wondered if Ollie’s heart was beating as hard as hers was as she pulled the door open and ushered him in quickly, shooting a worried glance in the direction of Max’s room.

The door closed behind them as both men entered. Heriberto gave her a long look and she blushed as she realized how short her shorts were. She should have grabbed track pants.

“I did not take you for someone so disorganized.” Santiago Laredo looked around the room as his brother immediately got on his knees to look under the bed.

“I’m not. I had an existential crisis this morning. I wanted to appear professional but make Doug regret every single decision he’s made over the last few months. I might have had a meltdown in the process,” she kicked a pair of dress pants out of the way and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Now how will this repair my relationship with her if I hurt you?” Santiago leaned backwards in his chair, his legs kicked outwards. “I want you to tell me about her.”

“What exactly do you want to know?”

“Why she is so reluctant to be involved with me? You are her closest friend, closer than a sister I imagine. What is her deal? How do I get through to her?”

Lark was stunned. Was he here for relationship advice? As she regarded the man who studied her seriously, she realized he well and truly was asking her for information on Ollie. Heriberto was still snooping around the room, but she felt it was more him digging through her things than looking for Ollie. She forced herself not to look in the direction of her suitcase.

“Look, here’s the thing. My parents and Ollie’s parents are the Disney movie equivalents to happily ever afters. They have it all. Successful careers, families who are connected and close, and relationships which are deep and meaningful. All of our lives, all we both ever wanted was to have what they have.” She blinked a tear, “right now, down the hall, my father is calling my mother to tell her he thinks he got his ex-wife pregnant thirty-three years ago before he even met my mom.

His ex-wife hid the pregnancy, lied to her new husband about who the father was, fudged some DNA and today my Dad found out the truth. His very first thought was to call my mom. Not because he has guilty or because he’s scared, she’ll freak out but because she is his other half. I know without even having to be in the room with him while he tells her, my mom’s response is to tell him this woman who is not her biological daughter is now her daughter and she is family, and we will do right by her.

My mother will welcome her with open arms, and she will hold my dad while he weeps for all he has lost in not knowing of his child for thirty-two years of her life. There will be no dramatic showdown and my father will not be in the doghouse. My mother will support him unconditionally. They don’t keep secrets from one another. They don’t lie to one another.

They give the truth even when it hurts so much it feels like it’s breaking you in two. Ollie’s parents are the same. They love each other deeply and unreservedly and despite having assholes for children and a family in their face, they still love each other unwaveringly. Jesus, just last weekend they were sneaking off to the treehouse to f**k around,” she gave a giggle as she wiped tears off her cheeks. ”

The thing is Mr. Laredo, you can’t give Ollie these things. You can’t give her the promise of unconditional love. You can’t give her the truth even when it hurts. You’ve lied. You’ve manipulated your words to make her feel secure and then you ripped it out from under her. Ollie deserves a man who will love her the way her daddy loves her mama and the way my dad loves my mom. We both do. She will never settle for less from someone she wants to be a life partner.

If it means she has countless affairs from now until the day she dies while she waits for the person to give her all of their heart, then so be it. You can’t offer her what she needs, Mr. Laredo. If you care for her at all, if in the heart she once believed you to have you care for her, you will stop your mindless pursuit. She deserves better than you.”

He opened his mouth to speak but then a knock on the door interrupted the conversation.

“Lark, chère, I know you are in there. Please open up.”

…