Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 71

Little Lia was standing on a rock over a volcano, on her big toe; her white and red wings supporting her without making her fall to the molten lava beneath.

"Careful, sweetie." I called out from the sky as I picked ripe strawberries for dinner. I told my mate several times; strawberries this up high, would take more time to ripe. Look at those coconuts. They were thriving as bushes in our garden.

Where was Robbie anyways? Our other kids might have eaten him for lunch.

Oh well!

"DAVEY, LOOOOOK!!!"

She did a weird somersault on air and I growled. "Careful!"

"Daddy tot me!" She growled back, showing her growing sharp teeth. They would need a trim in few days.

I hoped my kids ate Daddy for lunch. How could he teach our kids such things? It was as dangerous as it could get already without him giving them any new ways!

"Davey..." I heard a whimper next to me and saw Lia's feathers ruffled up, and smoke coming out of her shoulders.

"What did I tell you? Daddy and Hellions never listen to me."

My hands morphed to water and soothed her hurt, slowly whimpers turned to giggles and she flew up the sky to her siblings.

I shook my head.

I heard thunders rolling around and streaks of red lightening angrily flew past me. I called out a deep shrill for my kids, as their father was coming home.

"Angel!"

A deep huff and growl reverberated behind me, before an angry claw hurt my stomach deliciously.

"Demon! Oh! You still alive? I thought kids had you for lunch."

His eyes flashed in anger and annoyance. "You asked them to bite me!"

"You asked them to burn my wings!"

"Hell Fire can't hurt you, but their bites can."

"Not my problem." I shrilled again when my children refused to come home.

"I missed you." His voice lost it bite and our mate marks glowed together.

"Did you, now? Before or after hunting souls?"

"All the times. Kiss me." His long tongue intertwined with mine before I could say anything.

I was still angry at him for teaching our kids to spit fire this early in their lives. My favourite night gown was in ashes before I could even blink.

Wait an eon!

I forcefully broke our kiss, pushing him away.

"You did not ask them to burn my wings. You asked them to burn my night gown!"

His eyes turned black in horror and he jumped away from me. "Haha! I will draw a bath for our Hellions. They might have ashes on them. You are right, they are too young to handle magi..."

"DEMON!!!" I roared and my bright white wings spread in anger.

"That thing was hideous, Love. I will be in our chambers. You look beautiful, have I told you that, mate?" He jumped just in time to our balcony and my feather embedded to the ground he was standing. I heard a dramatic gasp from above. "That would have killed me!"

I narrowed my eyes.

He chuckled sheepishly with his horns bent backwards in submission. "My Mate." He bowed and went inside.

My favourite gown could not resurrect unlike his horny dick!

I shrilled once more. "Where are the Hellions I gave birth to! Come home now, or you can lick ashes for dinner."

I saw Lia being thrown as a ball from one of her brothers to other. I couldn't see that far up high. Why couldn't they stay close to the ground?

"Hellions!"

My body shook as one after one tiny weights landed on my body from all the sides.

"Stop calling us Hellions, Birthgiver. We are your babies."

I snorted as I petted their horns, tails and wings, to check for injuries and magic; also counting if all of them had reached home safely. "You are what I call you. Who do you think gave you names?"

"Wh... what? We came with names. Wait! Where did we come from?"

They started pushing and pulling, tucking themselves under me for comfort and heat.

"Angel..."

I tried to calm them down. Poor babies. I was joking. They were not Hellions. The Demon King was currently drawing their bath. That was enough to know who they were.

"Angel! Wake up, please."

"um... staw... bries... for dinner... Robbie... bath kids... Coconut grow... ground."

"Angel... Ace!"

I tried my best to expand my wings, so they would not get cramped under my stomach. They always hid under me even when they were hatchlings.

"Is... okay... I was joking... Not hellions... babies"

"Angel!"

"Robbie, get your kids, they are whining."

"Ace."

I gently opened my eyes and saw him hovering over me. My hands stretched to his head wanting to feel his horns that only submitted to me... horns?

What horns?

God, that was a weird dream. Dream?

"Angel..."

"Robbie?" I felt his hand under my night shirt, shaking. "What is wrong? What time is it?"

1.24 a.m on the digital clock of Lia's nightstand.

It was a beautiful dream, but to save my life I could not pull it up from the void they disappeared to.

"You were not next to me and I... panicked."

"Aww! It is okay Big Baby. Come here." His hand was rubbing my torso and I saw a light sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Lia had a long nap in the evening and she rolled around her bed at night without letting me go. So, we had decided it would be best if I slept with her. But looked like my Big Baby had trouble sleeping himself.

"I... I could not find you..." He was not over that yet. Where would I go; without him, without Lia?

"Shh..."

He started lowering himself to my chest.

"Dada?" Lia woke up too and asked in adorable sleepy voice.

Robbie froze and sat up straight. "Hey, baby, what are you doing up?"

"Dada."

"I am sorry Princess; I was... uh... Daddy couldn't sleep." His hand slowly dragged out of my body and I knew he needed to hold me.

Lia climbed over me and sat on Robbie's bent thighs. "Daddy okay?"

I caught Robbie's hand at my stomach and kept it there. Whatever he saw in his dream affected him a lot.

"I am fine, baby, go back to sleep."

"Nuuu... Dada sad." She hugged his stomach and laid her tiny head on his chest, patting his back.

I beamed seeing them cute and cuddly.

Robbie leaned down and kissed her head.

"Lub you Dada." She yawned big but she was fighting her sleep, to comfort her father.

"You two sleep. I... uh... I am going to get some sleep too."

He was not. He was still shaken from his dream. So, I sat up, still holding his hand on my stomach and asked if they wanted to have a sleep over.

I picked Little Baby up, held my Big Baby's hand and we went to our living room, taking out our inflatable bed. Robbie fixed it on the floor and I bundled us under the blanket.

We decided to watch an animation movie and to sleep here once it was over.

Lia giggled happily switching our laps to sit ever so often; so none of us felt left out. My Little Baby was considerate like that. She gave Daddy extra kisses and extra pats so he would cheer up.

I sat closer and closer to him until my left butt was situated on his thigh and felt his hand crawling under my nightshirt.

He wanted to touch me; no doubt to calm his erratic mind that I was indeed with him. I occasionally squeezed his thigh and rubbed it.

Lia was out like light half an hour later, so I gently laid her on the couch and covered her in a blanket. I adjusted the side beams so she would not accidently roll off to the floor.

I then lied next to my man who was busy staring at me.

"What happened, Daddy?"

"Just... stupid dreams."

Well that stupid dream scared him because his heart had not calmed down yet. I could feel it smashing to his rib cage. I pulled and pulled on his elbow until he turned to my side and I threw my leg over his hip to cuddle.

"What was the dream about?" I pouted on his face; making him smile and peck my lips.

"I walked around in this house and could not find you. Then when I woke up you were really not there."

I kissed his forehead, cheeks and lips to take away the residual feeling of abandonment. "Is okay. I am here."

"Hmm..."

There was more to his dream because his heart was still thrumming and Robbie kept on taking my palm and put it on his chest for me to rub.

The past days were a nightmare for him.

I had to tell him about Janice's lie about their 'first child'. I had to; my man had the right to know. He was carrying around a huge weight of guilt. It was a figurative punch to his heart. Then of course there was no will from Aunt Marie stating Robbie should let go of Lia.

He did not want to believe it, and told me that he had seen it with his own eyes. I had to take him to her advocate and we went through everything again. The only mention of Lia was when she had left her gold chain which was gifted by her own grandmother to Lia.

The lawyer had not ever seen or heard of such a will from Aunt Marie; if anything, she was happy that Lia had me and Robbie as parents.

Robbie still refused to believe. I knew my man. Deep down he knew it was all a scam but he was not ready to let everything go, yet.

But it was okay. His mental and emotional health was my priority than my being right. I only wanted to clear my Aunt's name. She would never do such a thing. Whatever Janice wanted to do with the 'baby', Aunt Marie would have supported.

Abortion or being a single parent or putting her to adoption whatever it was, Aunt Marie would have left the final decision to Janice. She would never blackmail anyone, much less Robbie to a marriage he did not want. After all, Aunt Marie had suffered a great deal when she got pregnant with Janice and her husband took off.

"I love you, Robbie." His hand was still rubbing up and down my back under my shirt. But then I saw his smile.

I had set my mind to teach Robbie what love is. It was not an easy task; he had very bad experiences with 'love' and a few consoling words would not take away years of those pain.

We took Lia for vaccinations because we needed her, but why did we take blood tests along with her?

Love. Her happiness meant the world to us.

I cooked for Robbie all the times without fail because he needed to eat but why did I focus on his favourite foods?

Love. His happiness meant the world to me.

Robbie could come home without getting me anything but why did he always come with flowers or bouquets or gifts?

Love. My happiness was his priority too.

It was a gradual process but it was getting to him. Nowadays he would smile when I say those words instead of freezing up.

Robbie was a very mysterious man. He was okay with casually adding the word 'love' and called me his love all the times. But when it really mattered and to say that in that sentence he would clam up.

But it was okay. I had all this life and several more to come; so I could always teach him all about need, love and whatnot.

I left small bites and nibbles across his torso giving him some pain to focus on. I was going nowhere and he needed to know that. "Whatever you saw in your dream, it is not real." I tucked his head under my chin, my hand still trapped between us and slowly his heartbeats became normal and he fell asleep.

I kept on kissing him for some more time; finally slipping myself to the dreamland.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, a tiny ball wiggled its way between us and I groaned. I was comfy under Robbie but now I was getting pushed and pulled.

Ow!

I curved my stomach so it would stop kicking me. I finally had enough and moved a bit aside and the wiggling stopped before something warm and soft settled on my stomach, then a heavy hand trapped me where I was and I fell back asleep again.

When a flash of bright light fell on my eyes I woke up to see Little Baby sleeping with her head on my stomach and her legs on Robbie.

I chuckled.

How could she sleep like that?

I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, to see Robbie sleeping peacefully with his hand on his chest. The other was my pillow throughout my sleep. Was that hand numb?

I gently rubbed it, before moving to his chest.

I loved his chest hair.

How many times had I wished if I could touch it like he was mine? But now he was.

I leaned down kissing his chest, up to his neck and cheeks, lips and then on his forehead.

"Good morning, Daddy." He mumbled and turned his face away, making me smile. He loved his morning sleep. I brushed the hair of his forehead and kissed him again.

Then I lifted Little Lia onto my lap and showered her with kisses too, just enough to pull her out of deep sleep and she would be up in an hour.

"Hey, Little Baby. Davey is up. Are you awake now?"

She wiggled, and huffed in annoyance, trying to cuddle up my chest.

"It is time for Davey to wake up."

She whined, pressing her face closer. I sat like that for some time, so she could fall back to sleep. It was early. I rubbed her head while rocking her lightly. "Little Lia will wake up when Davey comes back after a shower, won't she?"

I asked and my baby tightened her hug. "I love you, Baby."

I placed her on Robbie's stomach and I smiled when his hand secured her tight.

How could he think he was not an amazing father? He was.

Robbie was lost in many ways and he needed to learn how to put emotions to words. Especially with Lia growing up, she would soon start noticing his words or lack thereof. But he would anything for her and I would help him.

I kissed Robbie and Lia one more time before getting up.

They would sleep for another hour and a half or so, giving me some 'me time'.

I stretched on my toes as I walked to the stairs but stopped right there when I saw the person sitting on the chair looking through his phone.

"JACE!!!"

He stood up annoyingly. "Took you long enough."

I missed the pain in my nose too much to be sassy. I ran to him hugging him tight. "Today is a good day." I announced to his neck.

"Saw it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. You are bad for my health. Do you know that, Goose? You stress me out."

"What did I do? It was not my fault."

"I don't want to hear it. You stress me out, so it is your fault, you annoying little shoot."

Whatever. God! I missed him so much. Video calls were not the same as hugging him. "Where is Gabe?"

Did Jason jerk a little?

"Photoshoot. I could not wait any longer. He will come here after."

I nodded. "You must be hungry. I will quickly whip up something."

"Nah. I am tired. I want to sleep."

"Go ahead, then. I will wake you up for food." I picked up his suitcases by the door and followed him. I watched as he called Gabe to tell him that he saw me and I indeed had ten toes and ten fingers.

Jason got our mom's dramatic genes.

"I am not dramatic." He glared after hanging up his phone.

"I did not say anything."

"That is your 'Slave-is-dramatic face'."

I rolled my eyes, pushed him to the shower handing him the towel, before fixing his bed. I plugged his phone to the charger seeing it in the last ten percent.

I went to the greenhouse, touching, loving and caring my plant babies. Did my yoga and dance stretches before taking a long warm bath. My family could be really demanding, I remembered fondly. I could not take a break from their constant need for affection.

Wait until they are up, and they would be literally on my body. I hoped Lia never grow out of it. I loved her monkey hugs so much.

When I came back down, my babies were not on the floor. Robbie might have taken Lia with him to freshen her up. The bed was deflated but that was it. Robbie was so messy.

Big Baby.

Lia knew I would be angry if she did not pick up her toys but Robbie still refused to grow up.

I folded the blankets and put it in the ottoman, before taking the bed and placed it with the trekking equipment.

Robbie's friend, Matthew had been bugging us to go to trekking with him and his girlfriend. Had to check on Daddy's schedule before planning.

He had been so stressed lately, my poor baby; I had seen him smoke three days before. We had cut short on all of our bad habits when Lia came to our lives. Robbie must have gotten a new packet because there was none in our home.

Was getting this divorce worth his stress? Who was I kidding? I could not let that woman torture my family ever again. I had turned blind eyes to my own family for long.

Enough was enough.

I was making gravy for biscuits when cold water was flicked to my neck.

"Hey there, Pretty." The water was from my hot man's wet hair.

"Hey, Daddy." I knocked our heads together. "Did you not exercise?"

"Didn't feel like it. I will do it in the evening." He mumbled, peppering kisses on the back of my neck.

"Shh... stop hurting me." His hands had squeezed my waist hard.

"I love hurting you." He purred. His wet hair should be illegal. I quickly stirred the contents of the pan to take my mind away from dirty thoughts.

"I can't believe you are getting horny the first thing in the morning." I pushed him away with my butt but he simply yanked it to rub his crotch.

"Mmm..." He smiled cutely and I bit back a smile.

"Jason is here."

"Uggh!" He swatted my bum before moving away in annoyance, making me giggle.

"What is with 'uggh'?" I mimicked his whine and he glared at me.

"Why the f... heck is here?" He plopped his yummy muscular ass on the stool and pout... brooded.

"No one asked you to sell your house to him, Robbie."

"Uggh!"

"When are you going to admit that you love him?" I handed him his coffee, business paper and IPad before pecking his lips.

Robbie really loved my brother like that annoying little pet you could not bring up your mind to put down, because they were too cute though they were terror to humanity.

"Have you knocked your pretty head on the cupboard? I could not wait to drive my Ferrari he stole, right on his knees. Huff! Now he is going to rub 'it is my house' on my face... babyyyy..." He whined.

I shook my head. "Where is our kid?"

"Something about waking her own kid up. I don't know. Hell, I did not know she had a kid."

Father of the year.

I gave him a stink eye.

"Joke, Angel. It is a joke. She is too young to have a kid."

"Are you for real, now?"

Really? Lia did not have a kid? Oh my god! For a second I thought it was true. Jesus, Robbie!

The day barely started and the breakfast was still on stove but I was already done with him.

Robbie cleared his throat. "I will go get her."

"Thank you!"

I shook my head.

I gave Lia all the attention she missed before handing her over to 'Dada' to hold while I cooked. She played with her daddy's chin while he went through news.

I made Jason's favourite breakfast dishes and noticed Big Baby getting annoyed minute by minute noticing it.

"Why don't you wake your nemesis up, Robbie?"

"Sure, Baby!" I felt bad for Jason, seeing his sinister smile. Less than a minute I heard a colourful non-English- I thought it was Spanish- curse flew downstairs and Robbie came back alone with a smug smile.

"What did you do?"

"What? Nothing, Angel. What could I possibly do?" He gave me an innocent smile. I must say that smile did not belong to that face.

Jason came down after ten minutes or so, his body as rigid as ice. "Oh, my house came with a pest. A fly swatter must be enough."

That successfully wiped down Robbie's smile.

"I am thinking about changing the wall colour to poop brown. To remind me of the previous owner."

Wow!

Robbie was bristling.

"Jace we are going to have breakfast. Do you have to?"

"JJ!" Lia scrambled off Robbie's lap and ran to him. "JJ JJ JJ JJ JJ JJ... JJ home. JJ home. Whes Unca Gay?"

We all laughed, including Robbie. It was funny how she called him Unca Gay. Gabe being the Sassy King went with it without a beat but it was still funny.

"Uncle Gabe is getting new curtains for my new home. He will be here next week with pest control."

"Nu home? Pes canto?"

"Yup!"

"Jason..." I warned. They could take their petty fights out of the dining table.

Jason did rub 'my house' on Robbie all through the breakfast but Robbie still looked smug enough. So whatever he did to Jason must be goo... I meant bad.

But as the time came for him to leave for office, Big Baby was stalling. I had to button up his shirt, had to put on his suit, had to tie his shoes and even had to comb his hair... it was like getting Lia ready for her playschool and she actively participated more than him.

Thankfully it was Lia's off day.

Should bow down to single parents with more than one kid.

"Daddy." He really did not want to go but he had to. The merging was on full roll and he needed to be there.

"Going." He pou... brooded.

He turned around to me at the door and I kissed his lips on tippy toes. "Go."

"Do I have to?"

Office was a stress bomb for him with Janice's visit and not everyone was taking Truscott-Brantley merge nicely. The employees were worried about their promotion and seniority. Robbie had a very mean stoic face, but I knew my man and his hurts.

"Yes. I am your boss. Remember? Do your work, Mr. Brantley."

There. His precious smile.

"I love working for you, Mr. Truscott." He purred, making me giggle.

"Oh really? Then go. Chop, chop."

"I can work very well from here." He palmed my butt and gave a squeeze.

"Ah! No molesting your boss." I swatted his naughty hand. I had to turn him around and push his back but the bastard leaned back heavily. "You are a bag of muscles."

"Because I do all the work." He cheekily replied.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"

Robbie laughed and I laughed with him, pushing him to his car.

Nick was shaking his head and mumbling under his breath.

"Work well and come back home."

His smile vanished. So, I looped my hands on his neck and whispered the truth. "I love you." He sighed and nodded. I opened the door and pushed him in. "I am here, okay?" I fixed his hair once more, before closing the door.

My heart broke seeing him looking at me through the window door as the car sped away from our drive way. I waved my hand and even gave him a flying kiss before going back home.

If the situation persisted I was going to find the people who was stressing him out and fire them. He loved his job and if he was not happy there, I was not having it.

Lia ignored me in favour of her uncle and I took that time to go through some of my personal stuff and coding until it was lunch time.

He had gotten her new dresses and they were doing a fashion show in front of me.

"Davey, pwetty baby?"

"Yes, my baby is pwetty."

I smiled seeing her covered in feathers. She looked like a cute duck... not that I was going to tell her that.

Where did Jason get so many feathers?

She placed a feather behind my ear and a kiss on my cheek. "Pwetty Davey."

Awww.

"Come here, you." I discarded my laptop and gave her raspberries and kisses on her tummy.

I made some lunch, fed my brother and Little Baby before shooing them off to nap. Robbie came back home earlier than expected and I knew something was wrong seeing his tensed posture.

"Daddy?"

He smiled and plucked out the pink feather behind my ear. "Jason got Lia feathers from God knows where. Is everything okay?"

"Not really. No."

I helped him out of his jacket, taking his bag off his hand and pulled him to our bedroom; my mind going haywire.

"What is wrong?"

"Janice does not want a divorce. She wants a meeting."

"O... okay."

It was okay. Robbie would not back out on divorce. He loathed her.

"My lawyers think it is a good idea to have a meeting. If it was a combined petition from both sides the procedure apparently would not take too much time. Even if she does not want a divorce, this meeting will help them understand what we are going against."

I nodded. That made sense.

"She is bringing the people from beach party to the meeting. To have another perspective, she said."

She cheated and Robbie wanted a divorce. Uuuhh? Was there any other perspective?

Oh yes. He loved me and wanted a divorce but no one knew that, right?

"There are speculations going around about us... and it could be ugly." I bit my lip. "I know you don't want anyone to know about..."

"I am fine with it!" I rushed out.

"Baby..."

"I am fine with it, really. I don't care about who knows. It was before... before accepting that we are meant to be together and... being morally right is not always right way to live. I love you and I love our baby. Janice... she brought you pain... to both of you... I don't care what others say, I am not going to push you to her ever again."

"It could turn ugly."

"I know and it is okay. I am here with you. You will never let anyone harm me."

He smiled. "I won't."

I smiled back and dropped my head on his shoulder. I sighed when his hand pulled me closer to his warm body.

"Will you... will you come with me? I don't want go there alone. She is bringing people to stand by her side... and I... No pressure. If it is not... Lia is..."

"I will come. Of course, I will come. I want to come."

He chuckled at my overly enthusiastic reply. I blushed before chuckling myself and hit his chest.

Jason was here, so Lia would not miss us too much.

I served him lunch and we shared a plate. We had agreed to go after Lia was up from her nap. We had once slipped out when she was asleep and Little Baby almost had our home turned upside down ?C inside out, by the time we were back.

Getting her forgiveness took us days and that was more painful.

Robbie had changed his clothes to semi-formal, so I followed the suit and went with it.

"When should we be there?"

"Take all the time you want. They will wait."

I shook my head; it was not nice but I did not argue with him. He needed my support this day more than any other time. And it was not like the people who waited for him, had his best interest at heart. We bid our baby and Jason bye, promising them to bring treats as bribe to let us go.

So spoiled.

Robbie's shoulders were set in determination but there was some underlying stress in his eyes. All throughout the car journey, he squeezed my hand while looking outside.

"Do you believe Janice lied about her mom's will?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure, baby? What if I lose Lia? I do not understand why she wants to be in this marriage."

Money and possible scams she could do under his name.

But I did not comment. He was talking to himself. "I did not know people would side with her. One single tear and the whole world wants me to give my baby to the 'mother'. Some mother she is." He spat.

"People in social media do not know the truth. Even if they do and still side with Janice, they are not the one to decide. We have courts, attorneys and judges for that."

"I know. I just can't lose Lia."

"We won't, Daddy, we won't. If we have to fight ugly, we will."

We did not talk much but Robbie was still going through scenarios after scenarios in his mind. His face did not give anything away but I knew my man.

As expected we were the last to arrive. Robbie had warned me not to talk much. People with understanding smiles were the dangerous of all, he had said. I was not here to talk; I was here for him. When words hurt or scare him, I wanted him to look across the room and see me there. That was it.

I was not planning on talking. They were practically strangers. Why would I bother to answer them?

I almost scoffed at the conference room, where Janice was planning to do a PowerPoint presentation on how to work out their marriage.

I thought that world existed in memes.

Janice gulped seeing me and soon her eyes filled with hatred. She looked nothing like my Aunt Marie, so the guilt did not come and I stared right back. She hurt my family. A signed paper stating Janice and Robbie as wedded couple was not going to take me away from him ever again.

Fight me, Bitch!

The confidence and determination rushed through my veins. I glanced at the people gathered around. Allie and Leon gave me a wave. I acknowledged them with a nod. They looked as tried as Robbie was.

Sarah stared at me without much emotion but I had a feeling she was with us; but who would know.

Melvin and Alice were not looking at anyone but at the floor. Thankfully Kevin was not here or Robbie would have ripped him to pieces. He was the one who made this whole situation messier.

[Alice was Janice's friend, and Melvin, her fianc??, whom she had sex with during beach party.]

I busied myself with phone games when Janice pulled up videos and comments from Facebook about how she was right and things like that happened with marriage.

Wow!

That was her strategy?

Wow!

How did she manage to scam these many people with her pea sized brain? Robbie, no less! I thought there was a certain level of intelligence and self-respect we expect from people. When they lower their own status far down, people would be at loss and people like Janice would win.

I meant seriously some other cheater saying that it was a spur of a moment mistake was her moral ground? Then again, it might be enough; it was not like Robbie did not cheat on her with me.

I call a spade, a spade.

There was no point in overly explaining and sugar-coating the situation. He cheated on her, she cheated on him.

Why did everyone look like they were tired out of their mind?

Robbie sighed. "It was not about cheating. You know it. You can be with whoever you want. And I can be with whoever I want. We had agreed on this."

That... that was a news for me.

"Then why are you being a pussy?" She screamed.

"Because I am tired of your sh... stunts."

"I think you don't understand, Robert. You can't divorce me."

"Why not?"

"I am sure you know why." She grinned smugly.

"I think I will take my chances. Take that to court. I want a divorce. That is final."

Janice started spewing profanities before he could even finish.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY MEN ARE WILLING TO KILL FOR ME?"

"I don't but by all means, be with them. I do not want you. I never did."

Burn!

"I want my kid." She stated.

"She is not your kid. Let us take this to the court and we will see it from there."

"Look at them. They are doing it right way. Why can't we, honey? We are meant to be." Janice pleaded in her sickly sweet voice. She was talking about Alice and Melvin but they did not comment. "They are willing to work on their relationship, like how we should."

"We are not working on our relationship. We are working on ourselves. I am helping him with his rehabilitation and AA." Alice sounded defeated.

Melvin flinched.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP. No one asked you."

"Then what am I doing here? Divorce, reconcile... whatever. I don't care. You can have my... ex fianc?? too if you want. You called me here saying you wanted to help with Melvin's therapy. Looks like it was not the intention."

Alice walked away; Melvin running after her, calling her name.

"See, he is begging for her attention. Why are you not? Honey, come on. I am willing to forgive you. That is what real woman do."

Robbie laughed. "You are willing to forgive me? Oh God!"

"Everyone is against you. It is your fault I cheated." Did Janice really think social media had that power in front of court?

"Not that again. I don't care if you cheated or not. It is not even cheating, to be honest. You did it in front of kids, that is the problem... and I don't want you in my girl's or my life."

"I am sorry, if that is what you want to hear, okay? We can work..."

"No."

Robbie stood up but Janice's lawyer wanted to talk to Robbie in private. He went with him after staring at me for a few seconds.

"I should have fucking aborted that piece of slime."

Something crept along my spine.

Lia.

She was talking about my Lia. My hair stood up behind my neck.

"Can you believe that guy?" Janice asked everyone who had gathered around.

"Believing it or not. We are going to sue you for putting our kids at risk. Can we discuss on that?" Sarah pointed it out and Janice went crazy again.

"People's lives are getting played here and you want to discuss about that? I am getting divorced. Are you not hearing me? Why are you..."

Too much stupidity made my head ache. I stood up and went to the restroom nearby.

"Well, I am glad to meet to here." A balding stout man was standing near the door. Was he talking to me? Not that I cared. I fixed my sleeves and adjusted my collar. I checked if my nude lip balm had bled to the sides.

"I am Terry Harlow."

Terry Harlow.

Where had I... Oh, he was Robbie's ex-attorney. The one who wanted to 'fix' his marriage.

If I remained silent enough would he go away? Apparently not. He was waiting for my acknowledgement, but I was not going to give him that.

"How is Robert?" Why was he asking me that? Shouldn't he ask Robbie? I frowned at him before turning back to the mirror. "Look at you. You are young, handsome and we know that you have money. Why are you coming between their marriage?"

What the actual fuck?

"You, gays, don't care about marriage or kids. Please do not destroy his life. You are a passing fancy. Robert needs a woman; a real woman. His wife is perfect and can give him what he needs. Let them fix their relationship. Stop standing in their way."

I ruffled my hair, just for the heck of it.

I gave him a cursory glance and tried to move past him but he had the audacity to touch my hand and pull.

"If you love him or care about his happiness, let them be. He has a family and a family needs a mother. Whatever mistakes they made, stop taking advantage of that. Jesus is watching."

The man's beady eyes were desperate. He wanted me to talk. He was trying his best to get a raise out of me.

"You will rot in hell. Do not take them with you." He was fiddling with his collar and he was leaning closer. "Do you love Robert, Davidson? Do you think it is okay to meddle into his life?"

I patiently waited for him to end his rant, and with every second of my silence he desperately tried harder to make me slip.

The door of the restroom fiddled and I was not surprised to see my man standing there with unreadable expression on his face.

"Ah! Robert!" Terry was slowly losing his colour. "Davidson and I were chatting. He was telling me how perfect your lives are."

I shook my head in denial at Robbie and he nodded before stepping aside for me to pass. Our eyes locked, as I went past him and I smirked at how scared Big Baby looked.

Terry would have to pull out some heavy stunts than that to make me run, sweetheart.

I winked at Robbie before going back to conference room with a smile.

I felt sorry for Terry.

The meeting was a disaster, which was not surprising. What was surprising that Robbie did not let Janice know that he knew about the 'first child'. Well, it was Robbie, he would have a trick up his sleeve. Since he went on with 'not knowing' anything, I mimicked and pretended not to know either.

No one gathered there commented on their divorce. Turned out, they could not care less about the marriage, they wanted compensation for their kid's therapy. I didn't know it was possible to sue someone for that but what did I know about law!

Robbie was adamant on divorce and Janice showed clips after clips of people telling her that she needed to come clean to her husband and work their marriage out.

Janice was really stupid, wasn't she?

But when I was about to leave the conference room, she came for me. She snatched my hand that was about to open the door and her nails painfully dug into my flesh.

I hissed.

"How does it feel to have my waste?"

I froze.

"I am glad it is you. He has nothing, do you know? Nothing. That man is a sinking ship. Climb on it. I cannot wait to see you rot." Her smile was creepy and she did look unhinged.

Her nails were hurting me.

"You want them? You can have them. I don't give a shit. Whatever he has, it is going to be mine. He was my bitch, and I need that money. And that fucking pest, you know, she is my scum. Have it. You can have it. Pathetic!"

I yanked on my hand and she dug deeper. "He has a very limp dick." She laughed at me. "I cannot wait for you to suffer. I am going to come up the top. My time is coming. You are nothing and..." She laughed again. "... you will end up with nothing."

I shivered; feeling disgusted, like I had touched something rotten. My gag reflex was pushing my throat.

Someone pulled her hair and yanked her head back.

Sarah!

"Leave." She did not need to tell me twice. I rushed out of there. What the hell happened. Did it really happen? Or did I zone out and my mind came up with the most ridiculous scenario ever?

Someone touched my shoulder and I jumped a mile back.

Robbie?

I was shaking and we heard Janice scream again. "Don't think I am going to let you go that easily. I deserve more. I WILL HAVE MORE."

I saw Robbie fisting his palms. "Let us go."

He stormed past me and I followed without any questions, falling in steps with him. We were about to reach the parking lot when his hand curled around my neck and a deep kiss fell on the side of my forehead.

I wanted to cry.

He did not take his hand off even when we got on the car. He visibly shook seeing the angry red marks on my hand. "Who? Terry?"

I shook my head. "She."

I did not want to elaborate. Her name tasted rotten.

Robbie fisted his palm again and bit to it.

I waited a few seconds before I took his fist away from his mouth and I slammed our lips together. He was mine. He was my whole world. Lia and he were my treasures. I wanted them. Janice did not know the happiness I feel every time seeing their faces first thing in the morning.

Or the relief when I kiss the life out of him like this.

I straddled his lap and deepened our kiss, trying to take away his anger and my anguish.

"Mine." I mumbled to his lips before kissing him again.

"Not to spoil your moment, but where are we going? Home?" Nick asked from driver's seat.

"Not yet. Somewhere else. Park." I answered before Robbie could.

"Got it."

I refused to leave his lap and we kept on kissing and kissing, until breathlessness made me cuddle to his chest.

We went to the park, fed some ducks and geese, until Daddy looked like he could breath properly. Then we went to a local market, where I bought some steak for dinner. I was going to pamper my man. He needed it.

Robbie could not bear seeing her nail marks on me. The skin had not broken but the crescent marks were still visible.

I did not care about anything or anyone. I cuddled closer to his chest, while Nick and Robbie carried everything I bought.

If we ended up in gossip magazines, so be it.

He was mine and I was proud of him. "I will give you a foot massage when we get home." I pecked his chest. I was clinging to his whole body with both of my hands circled around his waist.

Robbie hummed and pecked my head in return.

Thankfully our home was the way it was before we left and there were no peanut butter drawings on the floor. The kitchen was massacred and I found colourful feathers everywhere but Lia and Jason were alive.

So could not complain... much.

As I had expected there were some photos of us in the internet the next day but whatever. I looked hot with that hat and Robbie was even more hotter with his rolled up sleeves.

Janice made a huge mistake actually by going online. People who loved peeping into others' lives were not stupid as she was. They thoroughly went through her social media accounts and mine.

And what did they find... or more precisely, what did they not find?

Pictures of Lia in hers.

Mine and Robbie's accounts were private but all of it were filled with our family events. And thankfully they noticed me in all of them and lack of her in any of them. Questions popped and the online media slowly gyrated in favour of us which honestly we did not care.

At least they knew I did not barge into their life in the midst.

Thankfully there was one picture of Robbie and I before his marriage. Our first concert together.

For some reason, I could not take it down. Now that saved some of my public image. At least I was in his life far before he was married.

Speculations rose and I only went through our beautiful pictures together. Like I did not know I was that cute wearing my skin tight white ripped jeans, black T-shirt and Gucci sunglasses. Oh, or that pic with Lia gnawing the heck out of my gold pendant was that adorable.

Robbie did not tell me but there were now bodyguards roaming around our home. I did not call out on him or anything, but there were at least three people following me and Lia wherever we went.

Robbie was cute.

"David." Robbie called out from downstairs and I frowned.

I did not know we had guests. He only called me that when someone who was not family came home.

"Coming." I went down and saw three gentlemen standing next to Robbie.

"Gentlemen, this is Davidson and my child Lia is..."

"...in our bedroom, colouring." I finished his sentence.

"Love, they are our lawyers. They will come here frequently until we reach somewhere with the case."

Ah! That Robbie had told me. These attorneys worked at Liam's firm.

[This Liam is the partner of Dr. Adams ?C Lia's paediatrician. Not to be confused with dancer Liam who Ace had helped with his studies.]

They introduced themselves and insisted to be called by their first names. Simon, Isaac and Weston.

"Are you guys starting today?" I asked, already thinking of refreshments.

"If it is not a problem. We would very much like to start today."

"No problem at all. Please be seated."

They laughed good naturedly when I asked them if they had any allergies.

"When you have a little baby and her friends who love snacks, it is now a standard get-to-know-each-other question." I sheepishly added. Winston agreed with me. He was married and his wife, Annie, was same way, always asking about allergies to new people.

Isaac was married but they were not yet ready to be parents, with his wife working with Red Cross. Simon and his boyfriend were not interested in kids though they loved their nephews and nieces to death.

I introduced Jason to them as my brother, when he came down to pick up Gabe from airport.

Robbie followed me to kitchen to help me. "You don't have to cook for them, baby. Let Windy handle it."

"It is fine, Daddy. Are they optimistic?"

"Divorce is sure, baby. There is nothing Judge can say to change my mind. I am worried about Lia but they say it is alright. Let us see. They will have to drag her out of my dead body."

I nodded. And mine too. Lia was not going anywhere.

His hand squeezed my waist. "You know I will do anything to keep you two together."

I nodded, staring at his beautiful steel grey eyes. And the promise of 'doing anything' was not just words. He would literally do anything and that was why I was not that worried.

Lia was mine.

She was my whole word as I revolved around her.

"Whatever happens Lia comes first, Daddy."

"And you, my Angel."