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Home / Romance / DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG / Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

All Chapters of DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

118 Chapters

090

~~Joan~~A week later, I was seated across from Donald again.Same restaurant.Same carefully selected table tucked just far enough from the main crowd to allow privacy without drawing attention. The kind of place where conversations stayed low, controlled, and—most importantly—unnoticed. It had taken time to understand how men like him operated. Routine. Predictability. Comfort in repetition. And once I learned their patterns, it became almost effortless to meet them exactly where they were most vulnerable.Donald sat stiffly across from me, his fingers wrapped too tightly around his glass, his shoulders drawn just a little too high to be considered relaxed. He tried to hide it—of course he did—but I saw it anyway. The nervousness. The constant flicker of his eyes toward the entrance like he was expecting something… or someone.Or perhaps he was just afraid of being seen.Understandable.“You’re late,” I said mildly, lifting my glass and taking a small sip, my tone giving nothing awa

091

~~Dean~~I had seen a lot in my years running this company, but nothing quite prepared me for the moment that man pulled out the chair and sat down like he belonged there.Mr. Charles.Of all people.For a second, I thought I was mistaken. The man barely showed up to official board meetings, let alone something as informal and clearly deliberate as whatever this was. Yet there he was, settling into his seat with an ease that made it obvious this had been planned long before I walked in. And that was the part that grated the most. Not his presence. Not even Joan sitting there like she owned the room.It was the fact that this had been arranged behind my back.My gaze flicked from him to Donald, then to Joan, and settled on her. Because of course it would circle back to her. It always did these days. “What is this?” I asked, my tone controlled, but only just. “And why exactly was it meant to happen without my knowledge?”She didn’t answer immediately. Of course she didn’t. Joan had alwa

092

~~Joan~~I wish I could say the shock on Dean’s face didn’t satisfy me, but that’d have been a lie.I now owned more shares than him in his own company—the same one I had once worked in as his secretary—and it felt better than any quiet defeat I had swallowed over the last five years. It settled somewhere deep in my chest, heavy and steady, like something finally placed where it had always belonged. I hadn’t been his equal for the last three years, even if he refused to acknowledge it, even if he clung to the illusion that he still stood above me simply because he always had. But now, there was no room for illusion anymore. Not for him, not for anyone sitting at that table. Not even for the company itself. The hierarchy had shifted, whether he liked it or not, and for once, the truth was undeniable.And the truth was simple.He was no longer in control.Even his company knew it.Even the room knew it.And it wasn’t him.Dean’s voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and disbelieving. “Th

093

I woke before the alarm.For a moment, I didn’t understand why. My body felt heavy, wrapped in that quiet, stubborn reluctance that came with being pulled out of sleep too early. The room was still dim, the curtains barely letting in the first hint of morning light, and everything around me felt… still. Too still for the kind of morning I knew this was supposed to be.Then it settled in.The flight.Three hours.Miami.A whole week away.My eyes shifted to the small figure curled up beside me, and just like that, whatever sleep still clung to me disappeared completely. Kai was sprawled across the bed like he owned it, one arm flung above his head, his little dinosaur tucked under his chin like it had been carefully positioned there before he drifted off. His breathing was soft, even, completely unaware of the way my chest tightened just looking at him.A week.It sounded short when people said it casually. It sounded like nothing when it was planned out on paper. But standing there, s

094

The walk across the street felt longer than it ever had.It wasn’t the distance. It couldn’t have been more than a few steps between Brandon’s house and Victor’s, a familiar stretch I had crossed so many times it should have felt automatic by now. But that morning, every step carried weight, dragging slightly, like something in me resisted moving forward even when I knew I had to.Brandon had already said his goodbyes. He waited in the car, giving me space without needing to say it out loud, and I appreciated it more than I could put into words. This was something I needed to do on my own.Still, as I approached Victor’s door, Kai’s small hand tucked into mine, I felt that quiet tightening in my chest again.Victor opened the door before I could knock, like he’d been expecting us.“Look who finally decided to show up,” he said, his voice as dry as ever, but his eyes softened the moment they landed on Kai.I didn’t trust myself to speak right away, so I stepped forward and wrapped my a

095

Four hours later, the reality of where we were finally settled in.The hotel lobby was everything I expected Miami to be and more. Bright, open, filled with soft chatter and the distant hum of movement, with sunlight filtering in through wide glass panels that made everything feel warmer, lighter. It should have felt exciting. New. But the exhaustion from the flight still clung to me, dulling the edges of everything as I stood beside Brandon, my hand loosely wrapped around the handle of my suitcase, trying to gather myself.I barely had time to take in my surroundings before a voice cut through the space.“Brandon!”The woman who approached us moved quickly, confidently, like she belonged exactly where she was. There was no hesitation in her steps, no pause as she reached him, pulling him into a tight embrace before he could even say a word.“My favorite nephew,” she said warmly, her tone filled with unmistakable affection as she held him at arm’s length to look at him properly. “Look

096

~~Brandon~~ By the time evening settled in, I had come to a very simple, very frustrating conclusion. Joan was avoiding me. Not subtly. Not in a way I could pretend not to notice. It was deliberate, clean, and effective enough that I hadn’t seen her once since we stepped into that room hours ago. And that part bothered me more than I wanted to admit, because I hadn’t even gotten the chance to explain myself. I had barely set my bag down before she did the same, leaving hers untouched by the wardrobe like she had no intention of staying, and then she was gone. No explanation. No “I’ll be back.” Nothing. Just the quiet click of the door behind her and the kind of silence that followed that made the room feel bigger than it was. At first, I told myself she just needed time. That the whole mix-up with the room had caught her off guard, same as it had me, and she was probably trying to process it in her own way. That made sense. Joan wasn’t the type to react impulsively, but she also

097

~~Joan~~I stared at him.Blankly.Not because I didn’t understand what he’d said, but because I did. And it didn’t make any sense.“Why are you still hitting on me,” I asked slowly, “when you think Brandon likes me?”Jason only shrugged, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like the question itself didn’t matter.I rolled my eyes, already done with him, and turned back to Brandon instead.He was looking at me.Not in the usual distracted, half-aware way people did in crowded spaces like this, but fully. Like I had his complete attention. And when our eyes met, his lips curved into something softer, something quieter than the grin he’d been wearing earlier.It made me smile back before I could stop myself.Then he stood.And stepped closer.My breath caught slightly, more out of confusion than anything else. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, why he was suddenly so close, why my body seemed to register it before my mind did. But before I could think too much into it, he took a s

098

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the distance.Not just the physical space between us, but the quiet confirmation that neither of us had crossed it. Brandon was still on his side of the bed, turned slightly away, the sheets barely disturbed on his end. It should have made me feel relieved. It did, in a way. It meant we had both kept our word, respected the unspoken line we had drawn the night before without needing to revisit it.But relief wasn’t the only thing I felt.Because the truth was, I hadn’t slept well.Not even close.The bed was soft, far softer than I was used to, the kind that should have pulled me under within minutes and kept me there until morning. And yet, sleep had come in fragments. Shallow. Restless. Every time I drifted off, I found myself waking again, my awareness snapping back to one thing.Him.Not because he moved. Not because he did anything at all. If anything, that made it worse. The stillness, the quiet presence of someone else in the room, i

099

Madden walked further into the room, and the first thing I noticed was the walking stick.It wasn’t subtle, not something he tried to hide or downplay. He leaned into it with each step, the slight hunch in his posture making him seem smaller than he probably was. But even with that, even with the visible weight of age on his frame, there was something about him that felt… solid. Grounded. Like if he straightened fully, if the years hadn’t curved his back the way they had, he would stand taller than most of the people in the room.And then there was the resemblance.It struck me almost immediately.Not exact, not identical, but close enough that it didn’t leave room for doubt. The same sharpness in the features, the same structure of the face, though where Victor carried his with a kind of distant restraint, Madden’s expression was far more open. Livelier. Like whatever life had taken from his body, it hadn’t quite reached his spirit.As he moved further in, people began to gather arou

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