All Chapters of One Week to be Loved by a Billionaire : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Elodie’s POVThe red notice trembles in my hand like it’s alive. I fold it once, twice, until it’s small enough to shove into the drawer with the others. My fingers won’t stop shaking. I stare at the closed drawer as if it might disappear if I look away long enough.The bakery is silent now. Just the hum of the fridge in the back and the faint drip from the sink I never fixed. I should clean up, lock up, and go home. Instead, I sit there, numb, counting how many days are left until Christmas Eve turns into Christmas morning and everything my grandmother built gets taken.Twenty-one days.I press my palms to my eyes until spots dance behind my lids. Twenty-four days to find almost two hundred thousand euros. Twenty-four days to fix the allergy mess that just cost me my most loyal customer and probably half the town. Twenty-four days to prove I’m not the failure everyone already thinks I am.A soft knock on the office door makes me jump.“Elodie?” Mara’s voice is careful, like she’s tes

Elodie’s POVThe words land like ice water. A cold, sharp pain pierced my chest, making it impossible to take a full breathI blink. “You… what?” The waiter brings in the food. They’d ordered before I arrived. When I look at the food I lose the little appetite left from the news they dumped on me. So this was the important thing my mother had to discuss.“He’s a good man,” my father says, not looking at me. “Stable. Reliable. You’re not getting any younger, Elodie. It’s time to settle down.” “Father, I have important things to settle before I think of marriage and also to Luca. How can you agree with this dad?” He looks at me startled i called him dad. Since the year after Selena joined our family, I stopped calling him Dad always Father. Tears burn my throat. I pick at my fingers under the table.“You know what i went through with luca, i know you don't care what happens with me but there is a reason he is my ex-boyfriend, what were you all thinking” my father doesn't say a word and