Angel

Chapter 17

Axel

I watched her eyes as she scanned the chat. She'd seen every word but refused to answer. She finally relented when I begged her to let me stop Brandon from freaking out her grandmother. Sitting here, holding her in my arms with her sniffles and puffy eyes I was still thankful she had changed her mind and come to me. I looked up and met Marc's eyes when he walked in. I could see the anger and hurt in his expression as he looked at her.

"Hey Angel," he whispered as he put his arms around both of us, pressing kisses to our heads.

"I...I'm so...sorry, Nova," she sniffled, "I d...didn't me...mean to scare...anyone."

"Oh, baby, no, you have nothing to apologize for, Angel. Thank you for coming to Axel," he told her and she gave us both a small smile as she leaned her head against my chest. "How about I take us home and you can relax for a while, yeah?" She nodded and I gently stood, still cradling her in my arms.

She dozed off and on all the way home. Marc kept one hand on the wheel, and one on her thigh as I held her in my lap. When we arrived at the house, he unlocked the door and I carried her into the bedroom, gently laying her on the bed. I started to leave, but she whimpered, "Please stay," as her hand outstretched toward me. I climbed in next to her and watched as Marc climbed in behind her back. We wrapped our arms around her and kept watch as she fell asleep.

"I really want to deck Corey for this," I whispered.

"Me too," Marc agreed as he pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "What the fuck was he thinking? After the way that woman talked to her, I wouldn't let her within a hundred yards of the fucking building."

He was right. Corey better have a damn good explanation when they get home. Hell, I'm not even sure if Raven or Brandon knew the woman was in the building. "It sounds like they need to do some house cleaning as well. Apparently, the receptionist was part of the problem. She made Mattie believe Trish was telling the truth as well."

Marc groaned and shook his head. He gently slid out of the bed and headed to the door, pausing to give me a kiss. "I need to make a phone call. Holler if either of you needs me, okay?" I nodded, then snuggled closer to my Dove, letting myself fall lightly asleep as well.

Marc

"Hello?" the voice of Owen Blackbourne answered.

"Hey, Owen. It's Marc Weiland. Do you have a few moments?" I asked him as I closed the door to my home office.

"It's good to hear from you, Marc. What can I do for your family?"

"Actually, it's, um, well are you sitting down?" I stumbled.

"Yeah, is everything okay? You sound a bit off," he replied.

I snorted, "Well, my life just took a rather unexpected turn - amazing, but unexpected, nonetheless. I found Angel, and um, I have a six-year-old daughter, Owen. I'm a fucking father and I'm scared shitless. I, well, we want to put my name on her birth certificate and add my last name to hers as well." It all just tumbled out of my mouth once I'd started talking.

"Okay, first take a breath, Marc. All of this is good, no great news - congratulations! I know you've been searching for a long time, and I'm glad you finally found her. But I have to ask, why are you calling me when you have three qualified attorneys in your own family?" Owen said in his calm demeanor.

I sighed, "Because I want to create a living trust for her and Violet. You know as well as I do that my shitty family would try to challenge anything they did based on our romantic involvement. Not to mention they do mostly corporate and contract law, whereas this is your area of expertise. So would you be willing to help?"