Page 38 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 9
I squinted to try to see him through the snow. At first I didn’t see anything either. But the glass atrium up the mountain had some lights out front that illuminated the white fur trim on Santa’s suit as his chairlift approached the top.
Then he disappeared inside. And a second later his empty chairlift came out the other side.
“Okay,” said Ash. “He’s somewhere in that building. And we’re gonna find him.” She turned to me. “Any ideas about where he might be?”
“Well…” I said, picturing the layout in my mind.
“The lift will drop us off in the main atrium near the front desk. Something tells me that he probably won’t just be standing there checking in for the evening. So we’ll need to go past that and down Wiener Boulevard.”
“Wiener Boulevard?” asked Ash.
“Yeah. They have like five different world class restaurants each with their own take on wiener schnitzel.”
“Oh wow, okay. That was not what I was picturing.”
“What were you picturing?”
“Um…uh…” She shifted in the ski lift and then pointed at the slopes below us. “Wow. I didn’t realize how high up this ski lift was.”
“Girl, don’t try to change the topic.”
“She picture glory hole street,” said Slavanka.
“Right?” I said. “She was definitely picturing tons of dicks.” I knew she’d be all horned up on Christmas!
“Can we just get back to the layout of the hotel?” asked Ash. “We’re almost there.”
If byalmost thereshe meant three feet away, then she was correct.
Another pair of sliding doors opened and we were greeted by a refreshing blast of hot air as our ski lift slid into the dark atrium. We all jumped off.
“Should we split up?” asked Ash.
“Yeah,” I said. But then a thought hit me. Or more of an image, really. It was Isabella in a Santa suit with a butcher knife in one hand and a bag full of body parts in the other. That crazy bitch probably lured us up here so that she could chop us into tiny bits and serve us in the wiener schnitzel tomorrow. “Actually,let’s stick together for now. I don’t want you guys to get lost.”Or chopped up by Isabella.
I know, I sounded like Ash right now. But Crazy Isabella was called Crazy Isabella for a reason. That bitch gave me the creeps.
“So where do you think he is?” asked Ash as we walked into the dark atrium. The snow falling on the glass roof dampened the howling wind, bathing the atrium in an eerie silence broken only by the click of Slavanka’s heels on the marble floor.
“Well...he could be at the ski shop getting his sleigh repaired.” I walked over and tried to open the glass doors of the ski shop, but the handle wouldn’t budge.
Ash checked the snow-suit-clad mannequins by the door to make sure Santa wasn’t hiding in any of them, and then she tried to peer into the pitch-black shop. “I don’t think he’s in there. What about up there?” She pointed up at the three stories of balconies surrounding the atrium.
“Yeah, he could be delivering presents to the soldiers staying in those rooms. But legend has it that he has his sexy elves do that for him.” Although I started that legend, so it probably wasn’t an accurate portrayal of Santa’s actions on Christmas Eve. “If I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably made a stop at his old toy factory.”
“Uh, yes. That’s definitely where he is,” said Ash. “Why did we not run straight there?!” She started running in completely the wrong direction and then stopped. “I don’t know where I’m going. Please lead the way. Quickly!”
“This way,” I said and we all started running down Wiener Boulevard towards the giant glass doors on the far end of the atrium.
“This doesn’t look like a toy factory,” said Ash as she pushed through the glass doors. “It’s just a big empty room.”
“Look up,” I said.
“Ooooh,” her eyes got big as she looked up at the snow falling on the glass roof.
“Not at the roof,” I said. “Look a little lower.”
She squinted to see in the dark. “Is that a conveyor belt suspended from the ceiling? Why is it so high up? And why does it just end like that?”
