Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 76

I sighed as I looked into the front mirror of the car and saw the girls giggling; Windy and Little Lia. Thankfully she forgot about the prick on her forefinger covered by a unicorn Band-Aid.

Told my little trouble maker to leave that cactus alone. She had no business while the workers did their job in the greenhouse.

But Daddy and Princess never listened to me.

I had warned her one last time but she did poke at the 'fuffy thwing' and got her tiny finger pricked.

It was not a big deal but the sudden pain shocked her and the diva threw her head back and wailed.

"DWWWAVEEEY..."

There was a tiny bead of blood on the tip of her forefinger and she screamed harder.

I had a tough time trying to hold my laughter in.

It was funny, come on.

There was nothing to see or a wound per se. I wiped that bead off and she scowled not seeing the proof that the 'meanie thing' had indeed pricked her.

But she lied on my chest, still wailing and glaring at the fingertip.

"Pwicked me Davey... waaaaahhhhhhh... Pwicked me. MEANIEE"

I bit my lips hard, not to laugh out loud.

"Awww... baby, show Davey." I blew on her hand and gave a tiny lick on the finger before kissing it. "All gone now... no boo boo."

"Owiieeee.... Daveeeey... owwwiieeeee..." She opened her small mouth wider and started screaming again.

I stuck Band-Aid on the finger and the drama queen stopped ringing my ears. I gave her a small bowl of ice cream before going to the bathroom and laughed to my heart's content while slapping my thigh.

How did I live before she came into my life? She was so precious.

I did not know I was lost in thoughts until I heard my baby answering the phone.

Oh shoot!

She had scared away someone who had called us two days prior. I did not know what she told the person on the other side and Lia did not know what the other person told her.

But my Little Baby loved to attend the calls.

"Yooo... Benly resnance!" She screamed at the mouthpiece but I took it right away. "Nu... Davey... Baby taawking..." She jumped on her soles and yanked on my pants.

"Hello, Brantley's Residence... oh... hey... Uncle Andy... Wait a second... Lia, no, it is not Daddy, its Uncle Andy... Lia... stop..."

"Baby twaaak..."

I gave her a glare and she pouted but wandered off to the T.V while glaring back at me.

So spoiled.

I shook my head.

"I am sorry about that, Sir... Lia is just being a baby... no, she loves attending calls... she will be fine..." Lia could never be so mad at me for so long.

Mr. Anderson was calling for some serious matter; I could tell by his voice. He was my mom's good friend and used to be her personal assistant. But then she promoted him as the Senior Superintendent and he handled all the employees of Truscott. Co. With the merge of Truscott Co with Brantley Enterprises, he was posting both of our employees. It was not for idle chit-chat that he called me at office-hours.

My intuition was right, and that was why I was driving to Daddy's office with my girls- Windy and Lia- in tow. I smiled hearing them giggle from the back seat.

Such a small trouble maker could be so sweet if she wanted to.

"Davey... Winny say Lia gwood gal..." She giggled happily and proud of herself.

"Yes, sweetheart, you are a good girl, Lia."

She cackled again and started doing whatever Windy had told her to do.

But her Daddy was being a bad boy.

I sighed!

It was not entirely his fault either... I was accountable too.

I sighed... again.

"Everything will be fine, Davidson, Sir. He will be fine the second he sees your face." There was a slight teasing in her voice which she did not try to hide.

I narrowed my eyes and the girl giggled at my expense.

No wonder Lia and Windy got along just fine. They were both trouble makers. Adorable trouble makers but still trouble makers that made fun of me.

But she might be right.

Daddy and I had a huge fight... again... on subject of Janice. In my perspective my anger was warranted.

As usual the tabloids were on our back but this time they came as locusts because they saw me coming out of Uncle Fred's car.

Him being the big-shot film director of Hollywood and long term partner of Jack Kennedy, made all the film and music media after his back too.

Despite Robbie being a multibillionaire, he was not that famous outside the business world. He loved his privacy and all his scandals, issues and troubles that were known to public were related to his business. Honestly not many people cared about that.

But Kevin posting the 'cheating' stunt by Janice, live on Facebook and Janice crying and pleading on all known social media platforms, had taken the attention of a lot of people who were outside of business bubble.

Which was not good.

Now with Uncle Fred also involved, the dangerous kind of Paparazzi were also behind us.

So as usual I was going through some tabloid articles with our photos. The conspiracy theories were absolute bullshit and that made it even more funny.

But then an article had got almost everything correct.

'Robbie and I were in love for so long'.

There was a picture of us in an art gallery with the artist Sidney Croman, one of my favourite painters in the world. Robbie and I were standing on the either sides of him.

I remembered it, fondly. Robbie hated art but he came with me when I begged him to go.

Even bought me the painting I liked, too.

That was the next photo by the article; Robbie holding that painting while I was hugging his whole left hand with my body. It was before his marriage and the article did not forget to mention that.

'Robbie, Lia and I were a family'.

There were three images of us cuddling together. Little Lia was only two months old and I was feeding her a bottle while Daddy was sitting next to me holding me close.

Who took these pictures! This was whole another level of creepy.

I would understand if they took our pictures now, given the situation... but this was ridiculous.

But the article was right to a certain extent.

They even told my whole name and I was the heir of Truscott Co and my Uncle Fred was my dad's best friend.

If we overlooked the fact that they had a creepy collection of Robbie and I being together even before 'we' admitted we were together, the article was in our favour.

They concluded stating I was no ordinary man and surely not just an eye candy... but... still creepy.

I shivered.

How the hell did they get the photo of Lia, Robbie and I, in a carnival?

The funny fact was they called Janice a surrogate who got greedy by our wealth and trying to dig up some gold on her way to pathetic life.

The rest of pictures were from my Little Baby's events, birthday parties and outings. And they asked where the mother was.

'Robbie and I are secretly married'.

The image of us coming out of a chapel holding a bouquet. That was not our marriage, but Rupert and Ned's. I was helping Ned, by holding his bouquet while he fixed his hair before they sailed off to their honeymoon.

But Robbie had his face on my neck and it was so romantic from a third person perspective.

So, in gist everything was okay... until...

Until...

Until...

Until...

I had to read it three times before the words made sense in my brain.

'If not for the contract, this overused overplayed plastic doll, would have been thrown to streets long before. If you ask us, someone would run to the hills seeing this face. Is that even a human face? People should sign a contract begging her not to show her face to anyone, to save the whole world. Maybe that was what the contract about. Lol. Just saying. No hate.'

It was a picture of Janice without any make up on, showing the plastic surgery mistakes clearly.

I gulped; not at the very poor quality of Janice's photo or at her boobs that are practically out of her party clothes or someone's hand was on her thighs but...

But...

What contract?

Daddy and the lawyers were discussing over his table when I walked into his home office. Jason was on the couch leafing through some magazine but froze seeing my expression.

"We didn't do anything." Isaac raised both of his hands, Weston looked scared and Simon narrowed his eyes.

"Robbie..." I loved the panic in his eyes. "Baby..."

"Yes, Angel."

I laughed, ignoring the tension in my heart. "A funny thing..."

"Y... Yeah?"

"What is this contract, the stupid article talking about?" He flinched when I threw the IPad over his desk.

So, it was true. He did not have to say anything. I could read him like a book; how his face closed off of any emotions and how he surreptitiously glanced at his lawyers without lifting his face up and most importantly... I heard Jason's muffled 'crap'.

Jason knew it too. "Slave..." I called and he tried chuckling to conceal his real emotions.

I would deal with him later.

"Big Baby, the article is stupid, right? Right? I mean you would tell me if you have signed something like that. I mean according to the article the contract should have been signed before the marriage... and the love of my life, the man who says I am his everything, would not hide something that important from me, right? Of course you wouldn't. I mean... I live with you... I sleep with you...hell, people say we are husbands... and not to know such a ridiculous big thing of your life, huff! Impossible. Right, Babe?"

I smiled with my frozen facial muscles.

Robbie rapidly gulped.

"I mean, we are fighting for this divorce together, right? That is what you told me. So, there is no way I would not know about a 'contract'... I mean it had been months and you had a lot of time in your hands, so you did not tell me about this silly contract that has the power to override the divorce petition, because there is no such contract, right? Right, Love?"

He was not looking at me. Why was he not looking at me?

"AM I RIGHT, SWEETHEART?"

Everyone jumped and I laughed because it was too damn funny.

I meant all these times, he was telling nothing was standing in his way to divorce. That it was easy peasy lemon squeasy.

A contract tying him to her was not at all a problem in divorce!

What did I know; I was a pathetic stupid fool in love but in my idiotic mind it could be a huge problem enough to drag this marriage for years to come, depending on what this jackass had signed.

"Tell me, this article is stupid; I will go back to my Little Baby and make her an apple pie or... you know, we are packing our stuff up and leaving. Tell me."

Robbie opened his mouth but a soft 'do not' from Jason stopped him.

And it pained me even more. He was going to lie, wasn't he?

Robbie wiped his face.

"Please sit down, Angel."

"I will rather stand, Demon. A small 'stupid' and I will go back to kitchen. It would not take much time." I blinked back my tears.

Robbie winced and... "It is true."

"Hahaha... I thought you said it is true."

"Please, Baby. Please listen."

Oh I was listening. I was listening, alright.

He gulped again, seeing me waiting and not interrupting him.

Oh, this was going to be so good.

Robbie squirmed and I pulled back a chair. "Would it make you talk if I sit? I am sitting now and listening." I sat down and crossed my legs.

He looked around for help but no one was going to save him this time.

"... Angel... I uh..."

I raised my left eyebrow.

"She... she did not believe I would not leave her... or the baby... you know... I was not... very welcoming to her and... she thought I would not take the responsibility of the baby after it was born... so..."

"Oh, that baby that was not all in her tummy, right?"

Robbie flinched and I heard Jason saying 'low blow' under his breath.

I DID NOT GIVE A FUCK!

"Yeah... that baby... but I did not know about that then, Angel..." I ignored his attempt to appease me. "Sigh! She wanted me to sign a contract... Terry, my ex-lawyer pulled up a contract stating I would look after Janice and the baby for one whole year after the kid was born and..."

"Your fucking stupid ass did not read that sentence properly and since the kid was not 'born' the contract dragged your fucking life."

I scoffed at the surprised look from Robbie. What, even a stupid idiot like me could see that trap from a mile away.

"Yeah..."

I narrowed my eyes.

"It had been well over a year after our Lia is born. Why are you afraid now, Daddy?"

He winced and rubbed the back of his neck.

Nervous; he was nervous.

I almost wanted to pull his head to my chest but... it was high time he learnt the lesson.

"She brought up the contract, last session. The contract had been signed for five years. I swear, Angel, it was only one year. I would not sign a five-year agreement, you know me. But... then the fucking Terry, my ex-lawyer, he also claims that I signed five years."

How much I wanted jump across the desk and rub his head until he stopped worrying.

"When was this session where she brought this five-year contract?"

He had the audacity to scratch his head.

You feel, so itchy now? I want to pound your head to the wall.

I closed my eyes when the bastard told me that it was two sessions back. I glared at him.

"And you did not tell me about this... because?"

"I did not want to worry you."

"Aw! How cute! Always the same excuse. So, Big Baby, look at me and tell... do I look worried?"

He mumbled a yes.

"I cannot hear you!"

"Yes. You look worried, Angel."

"Damn right! I look worried because I am fucking worried." Then I started screaming and I could not stop. "When will you learn that hiding things from me will only bring me a thousand times more pain later? Huh? You hid the reason you married her and do you know how much you suffered? Do you know how much pain it brought me? What kind of nightmares I had? "

He nodded.

"Well it was not hundredth of what I told you."

His eyes filled with guilt and I wanted to poke those off his skull.

"Then this too. I had to fucking learn about this contract... a fucking huge incident of your life... the life of the man I love... the life of the man I want to spent all my lives with... from a dirty cheap article with no moral grounds whatsoever. And you have the audacity... the fucking audacity... to tell me that it was to save me from pain and worry? Are you kidding me, Asshole Brantley, are you kidding me?"

"I am sorry, Angel."

"No, you fucking are not. You know what? Lia and I are leaving. And don't bother about divorce anymore, because we don't give a fuck anymore."

I stood up and turned to leave.

"BABY! No... I really am sorry. I swear to god; I will never hide anything from you... Anything... Please... Angel... I am so sorry... Please."

He hugged me from my back and I had to resist the urge to melt and cry.

But dammit! This asshole was one mean fucking bastard.

I pushed him away.

I rubbed my itchy teary eyes.

Dammit!

"I am so sorry." He hugged me again.

This time at least he sounded genuinely sorry.

"YOU!" I pointed to the lawyers and they jumped.

"We did not know that he did not tell you. We did not advice it. We had nothing to do with it..." Isaac started rambling and Weston started nodding like a doll.

"No... not that." I sighed. I was tired and sleepy and... tired and... just tired... "You work for me. I want to know what happens in the court. I want to know what your next steps are... I want to know every fucking thing. Do you understand?" They looked and Robert Brantley. "...or Lia and I can just leave... you guys do your stuff and we want nothing to do with it."

"Agree! I agree. You guys work for my Angel now." Robbie wholeheartedly agreed and that was enough for the lawyers.

I rubbed my face.

"Simon, you guys are going silent."

He was confused.

"Whatever Janice says do not bring up any strong defence. Just let her. Let her bring out all her shit; big guns, small guns... If anything let her win for next sessions... I want to know what she has got. Get me?"

"We can do that."

"Robbie relieve Jason of all his duties in France. You can leave for classes, Slave, but I want you all other times here, with Lia. I am going to attend all the proceedings from now on. So, I want you here."

"You got it, Goose." He gave me thumps up.

"A contract should be put up in a legal format, right, Simon?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Al righty then."

So, she forged a document with that fucker Terry and trapping my man again.

I got a stupid man as a lover. I glared at him.

"Sorry, Angel."

"Stop being stupid and then say sorry. MEN!" I spat.

"Uuuhhh, Goose, technically, you are also a man." Jason oh-so-kindly reminded me.

"Nope. I AM FUCKING ANGEL!" I was. I was a fucking angel for not shoving his figurative sorry up his ass!

"Thank God, my Annie is no angel." I heard Weston saying, as I stormed out of Robbie's home office to my kitchen to make these stupid asshats, apple pie.