𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 | 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 | 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝

𝚄𝙽𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳

a couple of days later

billie's trying to shake off the confrontation with victoria as she folds her laundry.

'if I take the deal, I lose. if I don't take the deal, I still lose, and ana's life is ruined.'

she goes over her options over and over again, taking out her frustration on her clothes.

"what did those poor shirts ever do to you?"

"ana! hi, I didn't see you there."

"sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, I just haven't seen you much in the last few days and wanted to check in on you."

"oh uhm, I'm great. jason and jacob had a blast today, and I think I'm finally over my jet lag."

"glad to hear, and that's always nice."

anastasia crosses her arms, leaning against the doorframe. "I hate to burst your bubble, but you should know that victoria's family just arrived in town."

"paolo and tony? they aren't staying here are they?"

"no, thank god. they have their own place somewhere. but they do expect to have lunch with me, victoria, and the boys today. which means..."

"that I have to go too, to watch jason and jacob."

"only if you feel comfortable, I don't want you to feel like you have to be there, especially after what happened the last time with paolo."

"it's alright, it's part of my job, but I can't promise to hold my tongue if paolo says something out of line again."

"I wouldn't ask you to." anastasia said smiling at billie.

an hour later, they're all at the rousseau's other villa, billie is sitting with the boys for lunch.

"I can't believe we get a whole table to ourselves. isn't this cool billie?" jason said excitedly.

billie glances over at the 'grown-ups table', where all the other adults are seated.

"yep! I wouldn't want to sit anywhere else." billie said lying through her teeth.

"so, when do we get to pull our prank?" jacob asked.

"let's hold off on the pranks for now..." billie said nervously.

a server brings them their plates, while the boys immediately start digging in, billie leans over to try to hear the conversation at the other table.

"thanks again for letting us stay at your estate, mr.rousseau." anastasia said smiling.

"please, call me 'papa'" paolo said with a smile.

"you don't have to keep thanking us ana. you're practically family." victoria said.

"what about me?  I'm practically family too, but I still had to book a hotel room." jade said.

"you're practically ana's family, jade, not ours. don't tell me I have to explain the difference." victoria said with a snarky smile.

"jade has always been a little slow." tony said trying not to laugh.

"children please. let's focus on the business at hand. how have the merger meetings been going?"

"there have been doubters on both sides, but I'm relieved to say our due diligence reviews cleared." victoria said.

"now everyone can see that this merger is best for all of us." ana said.

anastasia glances over at billie, and they both lock eyes.