Page 46 of Axel Martin

“She’s right about that,” I said. At least I feel a little better, knowing Fraiser knows where he is. “Here is your phone, Grandma Shirley. I won’t need it after all.”

“Where did you get that phone, Grandma?”

“Lena gave it to me when she visited. It’s for emergencies.”

“Lena is going to get a lecture when she gets back here.”

“Does Lena live here?” I asked.

“Yes, she is one of Fraser's cousins. He has loads of them.”

“I would love to meet everyone. When Axel gets home, we’ll have a big party and invite everyone.”

“That does sound like fun, we’ll help,” Eloise said.

“We’ll talk to you tomorrow and let you know what's going on,” Jack said.

That’s when I noticed the sleeping baby in the car seat. “Oh, she’s beautiful,” I said.

“Thank you. We are so blessed to have our daughter. now we need to get her to bed,” Jack said.

42

Axel

“Iswear, Marley, you’ve got two brain cells left and they’re both fighting for custody of your common sense.”

Frasier snorted beside me in the truck, clearly trying not to laugh. Marley, who was wedged in the backseat between a duffel bag and an empty takeout box, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes so hard I could hear it.

“For the last time,” she huffed, “I didn’tmeanto get myself kidnapped. It just… happened.”

“‘It just happened’is something you say when you spill coffee, not when you walk into a cartel-controlled zone pretending to be a documentarian with a fake name and a GoPro taped under your hoodie!”

“It wasn’ttaped, it was clipped,” she muttered.

“I cannot believe this is what I came back to,” I muttered right back, shooting a look at Frasier likedo you hear this??

Frasier wisely said nothing. That man knew better than to get between a pissed-off SEAL and a woman with a death wish.

Marley wasn’t fazed. “You and Lark are the same. Drama magnets. If I’m getting a lecture, you better be preparing one for her too.”

“Oh, believe me,” I said, gripping the wheel tighter. “Lark’s gonna get an earful the second I walk through that door. She’s next on the ‘What The Hell Were You Thinking?’ Tour.”

Marley leaned forward. “Can you make merch for that? Like, shirts or something? I want one.”

I stared at her in the rearview mirror. “Do youwantto be grounded?”

“You can’t ground me.”

“I willinventadult grounding.”

She made a face. “What does that even mean?”

“No caffeine, no phone, no internet, and forced cuddle sessions with a judgmental golden doodle named Hank.”

“Fine. I’ll behave.”

“Too late. You're officially on my ‘watch her like a hawk’ list.”

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