“You need to calm down.” Denny rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You broke up with her, so it’s not like this is an admission of cheating. What’s the big deal? I mean, I’m sure that she assumes you’ve returned to your loose ways by now.”

Mark felt like his head was going to explode. He got to his feet and rounded his desk, intent on wringing the other man’s neck. “This would upset her!” he shouted, waving his hands in agitation. “And you know that’s Margot. We’ve never even kissed, much less slept together.”

“Um—looks kind of like you’re kissing in that picture,” Denny pointed out helpfully.

“I swear—” Mark began, only to be cut off when Denny suddenly snapped.

“I really don’t want to hear any more of this whining! I liked you when you were with Crystal. Hell, I even liked you okay when you were banging everything on the East Coast. Now you mope from one city to another because you’re miserable without her. But you’re too much of a pussy to do anything about it! So your dad’s a big asshole. Do you think you’ve got the market cornered on that or something? Big—fucking—deal. Crystal’s mom is a rabid bitch from what I’ve heard too, but at least she has some balls. How about you grow a pair and take charge of your life again. Or, at the very least, borrow Crystal’s for a while. Now, I’m taking the afternoon off because I’m at my limit with you for today. And you can call a cab when you’re ready to leave.” With those final parting words, Denny slammed the outer door impressively and left Mark in oppressive silence.

Without giving himself time to think about his actions, he called Declan and, after a fair amount of ass chewing, got the information that he needed. Then he looked up the number for a cab company and ordered one to arrive in fifteen minutes. If Denny’s fit had done nothing else, it had given Mark an idea—or really a plan. And fuck it all. When you had nothing, what was left to lose? It was time to find the balls that he’d obviously lost, and he knew where he wanted to look first.

• • •

“What are you doing here?” an angry voice demanded. Mark almost smiled. He was pissing off people everywhere he went today, it seemed.

“I’d like to speak with you for a moment, Mrs. Webber.”

Angel’s mother stood before him looking like an angry pit bull. He had a hard time figuring out where Angel and Ella got their looks, because there didn’t seem to be anything attractive about the bitter woman snarling at him. “First you put my daughter up to cutting me out of her life, and now you’re here to what? Give me one final kick?”

Mark couldn’t control his surprise. “Crystal’s been here?”

Giving him a hateful glare, she said, “Oh, like you didn’t know? She was a good girl before she met you. But ever since then, she’s been nothing but disrespectful to me. I’ve given those girls my whole life, and they don’t appreciate it. Instead, they both come here and tell me that unless I can turn over a new leaf, I’m not their mother anymore.”

As belligerent as she was trying to appear, Mark could see the cracks in her tough armor. Whatever had happened, the Webber sisters had struck a chord deep within their mother, and she was still reeling from it. He’d come here today to tell her to leave Angel alone, but it appeared to be rather anticlimactic now. She’d done it. She’d stood up to her mother and obviously not backed down. Shit, he was so proud of her. It looked like she possessed the balls, as Denny had suggested earlier, and this was one time that he was okay with letting her borrow them.

“Mrs. Webber, I can see that you’re upset, and I don’t want make it worse. But I want you to know that I love your daughter. I may not be the man that you envisioned her being with, but as of now, I’m going to dedicate myself to pulling my head out of my ass and being the only one she’ll ever want or need.”

He expected to catch some hell for his less than delicate terminology, but then something amazing happened. He blinked several times, thinking he must be hallucinating. But no, Dot Webber, the female equivalent of his father, was smiling. Okay, so maybe it was more like the grin of someone with really bad gas pains, but it was there. It fucking counted. When she opened her mouth, he braced for another smackdown, but instead he got, “Well, what are you doing standing here in your fancy suit wasting my time, then?” She looked past him to the cab idling at the curb and added, “After you’ve groveled to my daughter, maybe you should go buy yourself a car. I’m assuming you’ve got enough credit to pull it, because I’m not cosigning for a loan.”

He grinned broadly before walking backward. “I think I’ve got it covered, but thanks for the tip. Be seeing you.” She raised a brow before shaking her head and walking away. Amazing. The woman might never be more than passingly pleasant, but it appeared Angel had reenacted The Taming of the Shrew. God, he’d been such a fool. But he didn’t intend to let another day pass him by before he begged for her forgiveness.

Chapter Twenty-four

Across town at almost the same time, Crystal opened the door to find Celine DeSanto standing there. She made a mental note to kick Denny’s butt later for not giving her any warning. “I’m sorry to show up unannounced, but that seems to work best for us, doesn’t it?” Celine smiled briefly before asking, “Can I come in?”

Crystal waved her inside, and then led the way to her small living room. The other woman looked far different from her normal polished appearance in her jeans and a pair of running shoes. A black turtleneck rounded out the casual look. “How have you been?” She felt compelled to ask because she was genuinely curious.