The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

Lark was exiting her bedroom at her parent's home early Friday morning carrying a suitcase and her father met her in the hall pulling his own along.

"I don't want to go," she whispered nervously. "Doug has ruined Houston for me."

"I know honey but the sooner we get this done, the better. I need to meet with my investigators and get set up before Monday's meeting."

"I don't want to see Doug." She admitted as they made their way out of the house in the quiet of the dawn. She let her dad take her suitcase and put it in the trunk of the car.

"Is it because you're afraid of what he will do when he realizes you are already with someone else?" her father asked her curiously as he rounded the car to the driver's side. "Last night was the first night you slept home all week. It's a little late to hide it from me now."

She got into the passenger side and clipped her seatbelt, "actually Dad, I'm not going to deny it. Max set up his spare room for me and we've been really getting to know one another and catch up on the things we've missed over the last twelve years. He even stocked a closet for me. I mean, I'm sharing it with Johan's clothes, but he has really great taste. He has been very respectful."

"Are you being respectful?" his father teased her as he backed the car down the driveway. "Dad!"

"Are you?"

"Yes. I am." Indignancy coated her words.

"Good."

"Mom still mad at you?" Lark shot him a sideways glance.

"She's not mad, Lark. She is very protective of you and me and she was not appreciative of me asking her

to stay home for this trip. She wants to be there to make sure we're both safe but her mama bear

tendencies where you are concerned might make things worse. Right now, Doug hasn't mentioned the kick she took to his ribs when we all came outside. I don't want her named in this s**t. It's enough with you and Max in it."

11

Lark snickered, "I knew you would veto her going when she said she wanted to beat him in the head with a chair."

"I swear Lark," Grady eyed his daughter, "there are times I listen to the way she and Bobbie talk, and it scares the hell out of me. They were talking about the case for Mori on the weekend and your mother asked if Gael's criminal friends could simply make her disappear. Said it would save a bunch of money and time and they could go to the beach and relax instead of deal with all this s**t. Ollie and I were reviewing my retirement plan funds and I told him I'm probably not going to need it anyway because my wife was going to get us killed by the mob or thrown in prison long before I reach sixty-five.

She giggled and patted his leg, "Dad, you act like you wouldn't have wanted the exact same thing to happen to Doug." "That's different. You are my baby girl, and nobody f***s with my daughter and gets away with it.'

"Right. You and mom are so," she stretched the word out, "different."

He squeezed her knee and made eyes, "we are!"

She laughed as he tickled her and looked out the window. "How come Bobbie wasn't traveling to the airport with us this morning?"

"She had a therapy session with all her kids this morning. Olivier is frustrated as hell. He said he'd rather punch himself in the balls than sit in a room with his six kids and his wife paying money for a stranger to tell them the reason his kids are assholes is his fault."

She laughed, "Dad!"

"The thing is, I don't think the kids know but he has been going to therapy for years. Bobbie too. They've been butting heads for decades over the differences in their parenting styles but also because his family interferes a lot in their lives." "How so?" she asked.

"Well, imagine if you did something wrong and your mother and I grounded you and then Nana Prue turned around and ignored our punishment and gave you presents and money and vacations instead." "Nana Prue would have been the coolest grandmother ever," she snorted, "but Nana was tougher on me than you and Mom put together."

"Okay well, take the scenario I gave you and then I want you to think of all of Bobbie's in-laws. Each and every time one of the kids f****d up, Gael, Levi, Olivier's sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, his grandmother Veronique, all I jumped in to make excuses for them. Bobbie and Olivier would ground them to the house, Ollie would call Gael and suddenly Ollie and Max were in Paris eating truffles on a riverboat on the Seine. Or the time the triplets caused massive flooding in their school by backing up the septic system in an attempt to get an extra long spring break. Bobbie and Olivier cancelled their plans to go to the beach house as a punishment and suddenly three fifteen-year-olds were with their grandparents on a cruise ship out of New Orleans. Those kids were never held accountable for any of their actions because the more outrageous their s**t, the more the other people in their family laugh and make excuses and interfere. Bobbie and Olivier, almost separated after the New Orleans thing.

"No way," she was stunned by her father's words. "Really?"

"Yes. Marriage is a lot of hard work, Lark. I know your mom and I make it look easy, but I can tell you at least once a week she is looking at the shovel in the garage and wondering if she can dig a hole deep enough to bury me in the back yard. Now imagine a marriage with ten other people constantly in the middle of it. Olivier needed to make his family back off lest lose his wife. They did back off somewhat but really, it's only been the last couple of years where they listened." "I had no idea."

"Bobbie and Olivier have been going together for counselling to help them both set healthy boundaries with their family, but the kids remain a sticking point. He won't cut his parents out completely and they continue to stick their noses in their lives. Last week's fiasco with the triplets and the twins both upsetting her made Olivier agree to the group sessions but he's feeling the pressure."

"It's not his fault his kids are crazy. They aren't babies anymore. Aside from Mori who is only sixteen, the others are all adults. They need to stop blaming their shitty behavior on others. Yes, they're spoiled and have never taken an ounce of accountability for their actions, but they don't need to do the s**t they do. LJ go to frat parties and share women. Those are choices they make,

and Ronnie share women dad. They they get away with stuff because of their last name and the world

and it has nothing to do with Bobbie. hangs on their scandals but the truth is, they don't need to do what they do." "What about Max?" "Max too. Ollie too." She sighed, "I wish they would learn to think before they react. Both of them. They make rash decisions and then it's the family who is embarrassed by it. Gosh, look at the interview Max gave for the magazine. I'm sure his initial comment about finding Bobbie's dildo was a glib remark but he should have known they would ask such a question. He didn't need to divulge it was his mom's. He could have said he came across a torpedo shaped dildo, but he said it was his mom's. I can't fathom the thought process."

They arrived at the airport and once her father parked the car in the long-term parking they walked through the airport and through the private security and towards the hangar for where Olivier's private jet was housed.

She was surprised to see Ollie and Johan sitting with Max, Bobbie, and Olivier. She cast a side eye to her father, "Olivier is coming but mom wasn't allowed? You are in so much s**t when we get home."

"He's not supposed to be here," her father gritted through his teeth as if he knew how much his daughter was right. He walked up to the man scowling, "why are you here? I need Bobbie to be focused and she won't be if you're distracting her with your shenanigans.'

Olivier laughed, "shenanigans. You mean my co-" Bobbie covered his mouth and waved her hand at the four younger people watching their interactions. He pulled her hand away and kissed the back of it, "don't worry Grady. I'm only here to see her off. Therapy was a b***h, and she was sad," he gave an irritated glance at his eldest children, "and I wanted to make sure she was no longer crying before she got on the plane."

"You made your mom cry?" Lark spun and glared at Max and Ollie.

"Not me!" Ollie held her hands up defensively. "Stupid LJ made a comment about Mom being an absentee-mom because she was working on passing the bar. Dumbass LJ said it was clear she loved me and Max more than the other kids because she was actually around for us. Mom cried so Max punched him in the face for making her cry. Nobody makes his mama or his Larky-poo cry, so he gave LJ a smackdown. Dad and Ronnie pulled him back and then the therapist threw us out. Thankfully, we" she wriggled her thumb between herself and Max, "go to a different therapist and we still have a counsellor." "You punched your own brother?"

"He made Maman cry," Max rolled his shoulders and looked to his mother, "and you were never an absentee mother. You were and are the best maman in the world and he's a selfish t**t who needs his ass handed to him. He'll think twice before he shoots his mouth off again."

"He's entitled to his opinion," Bobbie said quietly fiddling with her rings.

"No, he's not," Lark shook her head decisively. "But Bobbie. I bet if Max hadn't jumped him, the therapist would have made him express more his thoughts and he would have concluded his behavior is his own perceived injustices for the fact he shares you with five other people. He is jealous and he still thinks the best way to get your attention is to make stupid comments to grab it. He loves you, Bobbie. I bet by the time we touch down in Houston, he's called you to apologize."

"If he's still alive," Ollie muttered darkly. When six sets of eyes all turned to look at her, she looked around in alarm, "that was supposed to be an internal thought not a voiced one." When they continued staring, she groaned, "fine, it pissed me off too how LJ is an entitled little prick who thinks he gets to blame his shortcomings on the best woman I ever knew. Nobody talks s**t about my mom, not even a punk ass little brother."

"Ollie, call off your henchmen," Olivier rolled his eyes at his daughter and then kissed his wife's forehead, "the attendant is coming to collect you all for the flight. I will go home and put some ice on our other son's nose and have a good conversation with him." When she opened her mouth to protest, Olivier simply kissed her silent.

Lark giggled and nudged Ollie in the ribs jilting her chin in their direction. "Your dad's still got it."