I’m Back, Mr. CEO 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 61 - 챕터 65

The emergency custody hearing was scheduled for three days after the gala incident.Three days of media frenzy. Three days of speculation. Three days of me believing, hoping…..that finally, finally I had enough to get my son back.The marks on my wrist had been photographed. Documented by my doctor. Witnessed by dozens of people at the gala. Isabelle was confident. More confident than I’d ever seen her.“This is it,” she’d said that morning. “Adrian showed violence. Lost control. That’s enough to at least get you temporary custody until a full hearing. The judge will have to take this seriously.”But as we sat in the courtroom waiting for Judge Patricia Walters—the same judge who’d ruled against me eight years ago—I felt dread creeping in.Adrian sat across the aisle with his team of lawyers. Four of them. The best money could buy. He looked calm. Composed. Not like a man who’d been caught assaulting his ex-wife on camera.Vivian sat behind him, perfectly styled. Margaret beside her,

I stared at the courthouse defeat on every news channel for exactly twenty-four hours.Then something inside me shifted.Not broke. Not crumbled. Shifted.Adrian thought he’d won. Thought his courthouse victory meant I was finished. Thought I’d crawl back to Paris defeated and broken.He was wrong.The courtroom had taught me something valuable: playing fair didn’t work. Following rules didn’t work. Being the bigger person didn’t work.Adrian had won because he was ruthless. Because he used every connection, every dollar, every weapon at his disposal without hesitation.Fine.If that’s how this game was played, I’d learn the rules.I pulled out my phone. Found Lucas Grant’s number. The one I’d deleted after his sympathetic text.Unblocked it.And called.He answered on the second ring. “Serena?”“Your offer. The investment in ETHEREAL. The partnership. Is it still on the table?”A pause. “Yes. But I thought you said—”“I said I didn’t want ETHEREAL to become a weapon in someone else’s

**Vivian’s POV**She was everywhere.I couldn’t open a magazine, scroll through social media, or turn on the television without seeing her face. S. Moore. The mysterious fashion mogul who’d taken New York by storm.My hand shook as I poured my third glass of wine. It wasn’t even noon yet.“You’re spiraling.”I turned. Melissa stood in the doorway of my bedroom, arms crossed, that look on her face. The one that said she’d been watching me fall apart for weeks and was done being patient about it.“I’m not spiraling,” I said, taking a long drink. “I’m thinking.”“You’re panicking.” She walked in, took the bottle from my hand, set it on the dresser. “And you have every right to be. She’s back, Viv. And she’s not the broken little wife you destroyed.”The words hit like a punch. I wanted to argue, to tell her she was wrong, but my reflection in the mirror told a different story. Dark circles under my eyes. Skin pale from lack of sleep. I looked haunted.Because I was.“I know she will be b