The Billionaire’s Desires Vol.12-13 (7 page)

Camille and Virgile come to join us in the pool, followed by Celeste and Barthelemy, and finally Gabriel and Silas. Once again, the contrast between the twins is astonishing. My billionaire comes back with his cheeks pink, smiling from ear to ear and as perfect as usual. His twin is lobster-red, his hair dishevelled, and he tells us that when it was time to jump out, he almost puked up his breakfast. His sister makes him stop talking by dunking him several times, which makes us all laugh crazily.

After a long swim, I go back to my deckchair and fall half asleep. I'm woken up by a cold sensation. Gabriel, who's in a mischievous mood, has come to lie down next to me. I try to push him away, but he resists and starts tickling me. I scream like a banshee then, seeing that doesn't help anything, beg him to stop. Marion and Camille come to my aid, but they're attacked, in turn, by Tristan and Silas. We're all giggling like happy fools when Jane appears, bringing us large glasses of iced tea, which we sip while enjoying the radiant sun. I'm afraid it's too good to be true. But at that instant, our little group is closer than ever. It almost feels like a family.

In a few minutes, about two hundred guests are coming to celebrate the birthday of the man I love. These guests, each one more important and influential than the next, remind me once again that I'm living a waking dream. That Gabriel and I have succeeded in going beyond the codes of high society, beyond differences and prejudices. I leave the bathroom in my underwear and before putting on my regal outfit, I put on my diamond necklace and observe my reflection. Lining my forehead and descending down to my neck, my braided crown makes me look like a modern vestal priestess. After a little mascara, eyeshadow, and peach-coloured lip gloss, it's time to get dressed. My long and low-cut empire dress should make my beloved's eyes shine. Its cream tones perfectly contrast with my bronzed skin. I slide this haute couture piece over my body and marvel at how the fluid fabric sensuously falls down to the groumd

At that very moment, my lover, handsome as a god, appears. He looks splendid in his light coloured Givenchy suit. His blue eyes contemplate me, linger on my hair, my necklace, my cleavage, my waist.

“Bloody hell, Amandine. You've never looked so gorgeous and so... angelic.”

When we get to the large, decorated terrace, which looks over the gardens that are also decorated for the occasion, I have a hard time believing my eyes. Each of the trees and bushes are draped in white. The fountains spray their crystalline water into infinity. A pyramid of glasses full of champagne towers over part of the perfectly draped buffet. The rest of the tables are full of plates of canapés, porcelain spoons, transparent glasses and other colourful bites. An army of waiters, also wearing white from head to toe, get ready to anticipate the whims and desires of our guests. Kids wearing designer outfits run every which way, winding in between the adults, climbing the white designer cubes that light the party and trying to grab the big transparent bubbles that seem to be floating across the pool.

A canopy of fresh flowers hangs very high above our heads and I notice Tristan and Marion, heads tilted back and mouths wide open, taking in this decorative tour de force. My friends don't seem out of place in this crowd full of fancy people. I'm proud to admire their elegance and simplicity, even as they don't try to hide their amazement. Celeste and Barthelemy arrive, arm in arm, a big smile on their lips and a sense of complicity I've rarely seen between them. My sister finally appears, as beautiful as day on the arm of Silas, who's laughing heartily. The tall blond-haired man amuses himself by shouting 'I'm the king of the world!' left and right, as if anyone had forgotten it was his birthday. A little further away, Prudence and George seem at peace, happy. The ambience is overflowing with luxury, with splendour, modernity and money, but not just that: there's a radiant happiness that sees to have taken hold of all of my loved ones, as well as my lover.

I don't ever remember being as happy as I am right now.

The party is going strong when Gabriel decides to interrupt the orchestra and ask for everyone's attention. He heads towards me, a smile frozen on his handsome face, his brilliant eyes locked with mine.

Why is my heart beating faster?

People start murmuring all around. I feel everyone's eyes are glued on me. My breath becomes chaotic. Chills run through my entire body. Diamonds comes towards me, places a tender kiss on my lips, then gets down on one knee. I almost faint.

What? No, he's not going to...

Gabriel pulls a little box out of his pocket and takes my left hand.

I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming.

Don't wake up!

His low voice penetrates through me, blowing me away as my eyes fill with tears... of joy.

“Amandine Baumann, love of my life, would you do me the honour of becoming...”

“NO! I forbid you to do this, Gabriel!”

Eleanor shouts this sentence out exactly as a viper spits its venom. Everyone's eyes suddenly change direction. The intruder should be satisfied with her majestic entrance, she's beautiful as all hell in a blood red sheath dress. She's just a few yards away from me, but I can feel her presence burning my skin. Behind her, I see the anguished face of her sister Violette. I want to scream at her in rage, in pain, to pounce upon my sworn enemy and strangle her, to tear her head off. But I don't do anything. I stay there, frozen, watching my radiant future go up in smoke. I'm horribly wounded, humiliated. Gabriel takes action. I see him frenetically scan the faces around us, looking for someone in the crowd.

Virgile.

The boy is nowhere to be found, luckily. He wasn't there when his supposed mother made her grand entrance. Seeing her for the first time under these circumstances would have traumatised him. As this thought crosses my mind, Gabriel grabs my hand (the right one this time) and takes me to the side, signalling for his ex-fiancée to follow us. I'm completely lost, in shock, with no idea where all of this is going to take us.

We hurry through the house and stop in the adjacent garden, away from the eyes and ears of curious spectators. Diamonds and I are standing side-by-side. Eleanor is facing us. I see her for the first time. Really, I mean. Not in a photo or on a screen. In flesh and blood. I'm both upset and disgusted by our resemblance. How could this be possible? Our features are almost the same! Our expressions, too. She stares at me, impassive, her cold eyes bearing no trace of compassion or humanity.

“Violette was right. Our resemblance is striking. And a little disturbing, don't you think, Gabriel?” she says in an acidic voice, shooting him daggers with her eyes.

“What's disturbing is your presence here,” he growls, refraining from anything violent. “I don't believe you were invited! Nor do you have permission to screw up one of the most important moments of my life! How did you get past security?”

“I pretended to be – her!” she responds, pointing a finger at me and flashing a Machiavellian smile. “And I don't need an invitation. I'm a member of the family. My son has your surname, Gabriel.”

“Your son? And if he had seen you? You don't give a damn about him, Eleanor. You only think about yourself – your pathetic and selfish little self!”

“I'm the one you should marry, Gabriel!” she screams hysterically. “Not this girl, this bad copy of me! This poor little thing that would never fight for you! I'm here now, you don't need her anymore!”

My hand takes off on its own. I don't try to control it. It lands in the middle of her face. Eleanor is stunned. It takes her a while to recover and I admit I felt proud of that.

“You can speak directly to me, Eleanor,” I say, coldly. “Contrary to what you may think, I know how to take a few hits. You don't scare me.”

“Little Amandine wants to pretend to be a big girl? How charming. I get what you see in her, Gabriel!” she crows, sarcastically.

“Leave him out of this! All of this needs to stop, now. You need to go back to your hole and leave us alone! You abandoned him, you left, you gave up your life together, your family. Whatever you do, you'll always be a coward!”

“You don't know anything, you don't know anything about my life!” she screams, aggressive and threatening. “Stay in your place! You have no business here with him. You're not a Diamonds and you'll never be one! Do you think you've found your Prince Charming? You're fooling yourself. The man you love is just as tortured as I am. That's why we were made for one another. Open your eyes! Think about everything he's put you through since the beginning! Gabriel isn't who you think he is. I'm the only one who knows him. I'm the only one who accepts him for who he is!”

“Eleanor!” he explodes, pouncing upon her and shaking her. “Stop! Don't say another word, or I can't be held responsible for what I'll do!”

“Remember, Gabriel! Remember us, everything we went through! In this house, everywhere else! You swore that this would never end, that you'd love me and protect me until I died!”

“You are dead to me, Eleanor. You died the day you let someone else decide your destiny for you. And mine.”

“No, I'm here! We can start over again! Nothing is lost! Look at me, I'm still the same! I love you!” she screams before kissing him as if her life depended on it.

I watch this harrowing kiss as if I was part of the scenery. As if these former lovers were already alone in the world. Gabriel still loves her. He admitted that to me yesterday. “In a completely different way.” Now this expression makes sense. He loves her in a way he'll never love me. I can't fight anymore. I have no more strength, no more desire. When he violently breaks free from this embrace and looks at me, guilty and blown apart, I've already made my decision.

“You belong to one another. I understand,” I murmur, walking away with my eyes full of tears.

“Amande, NO! Amande, don't do this!” Gabriel cries, trying to hold me back.

I push him back with my last bit of strength and look at him one last time, my eyes dull.

“It's over, Gabriel. We lost before we began. Let me go and forget you. Let me have the life I deserve. I don't want any more pain. I want all of this to stop.”

The tears fall down his handsome face. His eyes beg me but nothing comes out of his mouth, twisted in pain. I start running like a madwoman, without turning back, without really knowing where I'm going. My mind is on automatic pilot, I go back to our room, grab my purse and head to Silas and Camille's room. I find the keys for the rental car, grab them and rush down the staircase. I get to the parking lot and then jump behind the wheel. I know I don't have my licence, that I'm taking a big risk, but my forty hours of driving lessons are finally going to pay off. I start the car, go past the gate and the security booth, then hit the road.

I drive without thinking, without asking questions. I cry silently on the almost deserted expressway. I don't see the heavenly landscapes anymore as it passes by my window. I'm on a mission to survive. To escape, to leave this house full of crazy people and that broken man, to renounce our love – our present and our future. To prevent myself from thinking I turn on the radio. I turn up the volume. The speakers crackle, saturated, but I don't care. The radio station DJ announces the next song: Diamonds by Rihanna.

A SIGN?

I turn the wheel 180 degrees, making a U-turn that risks my life as well as those of the other drivers. What am I doing? I'm crazy! Leaving the man I love more than anything else in this world! Letting him stay in the arms of his ex-fiancée! The mansion is only a few miles away. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. I'm going to tell him... tell him...

YES!

Yes, I want to marry you!

Live with you, die with you!

I finally get to the top of the hill, where I can finally see the Diamonds residence again. But I'm forced to stop. I hit the brakes right in front of a police barricade. Flames, all I can see are flames! I leap out of the car and grab one of the officers, who tells me to go stand further back.

“Sorry, Miss, but you can't pass for safety reasons. A serious fire has broken out at the bottom of the hill – see it over there, at that house?”

I don't know what I'm looking at. Fear and anguish consume me. I rub my eyes, full of tears and dust. I moan, I yell. I refuse to accept this tragedy, this cataclysmic spectacle. It feels like a sharp knife is carving me up from inside. The east wing of the mansion is on fire, it's literally consumed by flames. The firefighters' sirens wail in every direction. I'm too far away to see Gabriel, Camille, Marion. And all the others. All of a sudden, an enormous explosion rings out. The earth trembles and a thick cloud of black smoke prevents me from seeing anything clearly. My heart beats wildly. But does his still beat at all?

I stay standing there for what feels like an eternity. Then, guided by my devastating grief, I rush forward, hoping to force my way through. A police officer intercepts me and picks me off of the ground, and I try to kick and punch my way out of his grip. Finally, the man in uniform places me on the roadside, telling me to calm down immediately. That's precisely when I hear a scrambled voice in his walkie-talkie report the estimated damage of this catastrophe. "A large number of people were present. A dozen wounded. One confirmed death." These cold and robotic words destroy me. I don't have any more strength left. I fall down to the ground, praying that it's not him. Time slips by, like my tears, which are burning, blinding.

In the general chaos, I don't immediately see the 4X4 BMW that slams on the brakes before the barricade, its tires squealing. The front door opens and when it closes I see Gabriel – alive. He hasn't seen me. My heart ignites and swells, but I'm frozen. My legs refuse to carry me anywhere. No sound comes out of my open mouth, though I feel like I'm shouting. My love, my relief, my gratitude.

Just like me a few minutes earlier, my handsome survivor makes a beeline for the police officers and grabs one violently by the neck.

“I'm Gabriel Diamonds, and that's my mansion! My son, my brother and my sister are down there. And perhaps the woman I love is also there! Tell me everything you know!” he roars.