Chapter 5
It was a brutal change from the spacious duplex Brigitte and Xavier de Bonport had sold on the Champ de Mars in an impeccable building, at a prestigious address.
They got less than they should have for it, but it was at the height of the pandemic and they needed the money.
They’d sold most of their furniture, put the rest in storage, and furnished the apartment with the bare minimum, leaving their remaining silver and china in boxes stacked nearly to the ceiling.
It was a temporary move and they didn’t plan to stay there for long.
Moving during the worst of the pandemic, during the lockdown, was complicated and Brigitte and Xavier had to move quickly when they sold their apartment.
The couch they had moved with them had sagging springs and battered upholstery, the two big club chairs were handsome but mismatched.
It was depressing being there, but they were living at their second home in the Pays Basque at the time.
They considered the apartment more of a storage unit and a place to sleep when they were in Paris, and they were going to look for a small but decent apartment after the pandemic.
It was a rapid and easy solution at the time, and they rented month to month.
They had been there for more than two years now, much longer than expected.
They preferred having the money from their apartment sale in the bank than spending it on an expensive apartment to replace the one they’d sold.
The rental had two small bedrooms, one for them and one for their daughter, Victoire, who was working in Africa at a refugee center as a nurse practitioner.
She had no plans to move back to Paris, but they had a room for her when she came home.
And Brigitte de Bonport hardly ever stayed there.
She was an emergency doctor for Public Health, and ever since the pandemic began, she had worked long shifts and stayed at the hospital, which was easier than sleeping at home in the ongoing crisis.
Xavier was rarely in Paris once they’d sold the apartment, since he was no longer working.
He had no reason to be there, except when he came for interviews, most of which happened remotely by video now anyway, and not in person.
The apartment had become the symbol of the deterioration of their marriage, which had started under poor circumstances and had been on shaky ground for thirty years.
The apartment was no more unpleasant than the state of their union, which had worsened dramatically during the pandemic.
They had no plan to do anything about it, except to hang on, grit their teeth, and punish each other, which was what they had been doing more subtly for years.
Brigitte had turned into a bitter woman who loved her career and blamed her husband for their currently impoverished status, which was becoming increasingly acute.
Her career as a doctor was the only thing that gave her pleasure and satisfaction, but working for Public Health paid her a pittance.
She was from a dedicated medical family.
Her grandfather had been a greatly respected pulmonary specialist and a famous professor at the Faculté de Médecine.
Her father was a respected oncologist and researcher, her mother had been a nurse, and her brother was an extremely successful cardiac surgeon.
He was the only member of the family who had made money from his medical talents, as he was a clever businessman as well, and had made excellent investments.
Brigitte respected him deeply, and envied the choices he had made.
He and Xavier did not get along. Xavier thought him arrogant and pompous, which Brigitte conceded was true, but he had the success to justify it and back it up.
Xavier had next to nothing at the moment, except his half of what they’d gotten for the apartment, and that money was going fast, since they were living on it.
Three years before, his situation had been entirely different, which was why Brigitte had stayed married to him.
Being married to a very successful man, with the comforts and status that went with it, she had felt compensated for being trapped in a marriage that never should have happened in the first place, but that offered her benefits she wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Her lofty academic, intellectual medical family had never had money, except for her brother Guillaume, who had a Midas touch with his investments.
Once Xavier became successful after they married, he had been able to offer her a lifestyle she would never have had otherwise, and she enjoyed it more than she expected.
They both worked hard and rarely saw each other, so their ill-suited relationship had been tolerable.
But Xavier gave up his job and lost his money in the pandemic, and without the trappings he was previously able to offer her, it was a living hell for them both.
She never ceased to remind him of the mistakes he had made and what he’d lost, along with her respect.
Her brother Guillaume had said right from the beginning of his downfall, and before, that Xavier was insane for the risk he had taken, and he had warned him it would fail.
Xavier hadn’t listened, because he couldn’t stand Guillaume, and the worst had happened.
He lost everything. They’d been living in hell ever since.
Brigitte had nothing but contempt for him.
Until four years before, Xavier had the golden job everyone in Paris wanted, and even Brigitte had admired his success.
It was the only thing she liked about him.
He was the CEO of the biggest, most successful ad agency in Paris, with all the perks that went with it.
They had the most important clients in the business, and for years, Xavier had an astronomical salary, and annual bonuses that were bigger than most people’s income.
He owned no part of the business, but was the highest paid, most respected high-end chief executive employee in France.
Everyone respected him, and he could do no wrong.
He was approached by two friends, also advertising executives, with a brilliant idea for a start-up in the global travel business, linking all aspects of travel, planes, trains, hotels, with heavy emphasis on the United States and Asia and a fortune to be made, which they thought was a hundred percent risk-free and a sure success.
They approached Xavier to consult for them, to show them through the shoals of launching a start-up, and his advice had been sound.
He invested in the business, and within a year, they had started to make an impressive amount of money, planned to go public, thought they would make billions, and were well on the road to an amazing success.
Xavier decided it no longer made sense to keep a highly paid job.
He didn’t need the money, and the time he spent running the ad agency cannibalized time he could use working on the start-up, which was much more fun than his staid, predictable job as CEO.
He’d done that for years. A year after they launched, Xavier made a bold decision to quit his job.
He was riding two horses with one ass, as he put it, and didn’t want to anymore.
He was working night and day, and wanted to work exclusively on his new business.
It was a liberation for Xavier when he quit his job.
He’d been a slave to his employers for long enough.
He tendered his resignation, and took off for bigger skies, a decision which at first seemed flawless.
The start-up had tremendous potential, and took off like a rocket.
He put all the money he had into the business.
Six months later, the world came to a dead stop and the bottom fell out of his investment.
Within months, the billions they would make evaporated, and Xavier lost every penny he’d invested, his entire savings.
Every country was locked down. No one could travel.
He had taken a huge risk on what he felt was sure success.
No one could have predicted the pandemic and the lethal blow it dealt their business.
The start-up closed less than two years after the launch that was so promising.
And with the pandemic, jobs like the one he had given up as CEO somewhat cavalierly were no longer available.
He had burned his bridges and hadn’t been able to find another job as CEO then or since.
The start-up was an ignominious defeat, and two years after the pandemic, at fifty-six, he hadn’t been able to secure another comparable position, in fact, he found none at all.
The pandemic had all but killed the economy, and he hadn’t hedged his bets.
He was essentially destitute. He and Brigitte sold their apartment to have money to live on.
The money was running out, and Brigitte was not amused by the sacrifices they had to make.
Their miserable apartment was an affront.
Xavier had been out of work for three and a half years, and doors weren’t opening to him.
All he had left was the chateau that had been in his family for three hundred years and he refused to sell, determined to pass it on to Victoire, as the only inheritance she could look forward to now.
He felt it his honor-bound duty to preserve it for her.
Brigitte wanted him to sell it. It had been a three-year bitter battle, which Xavier refused to lose to her.