All Chapters of DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG : Chapter 151 - Chapter 157

I thought it was over.Not the case.Not the hearing.Just the day.The judge had already spoken. The courtroom had already descended into a low murmur of whispered conversations and shuffling papers. Lawyers were gathering documents. People were beginning to stand.For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe.The previous custody arrangement had been suspended.Dean’s confidence had finally cracked.The evidence we’d spent weeks gathering had done exactly what we’d hoped it would do.It wasn’t a victory.Not yet.But it was enough to make me believe I might actually get my son back.I sat in my chair, trying to steady my emotions, when my lawyer suddenly stood again.The movement immediately caught my attention.My eyebrows furrowed.What was he doing?The judge looked equally surprised.“Counselor?” he asked.My lawyer adjusted his jacket.“Your Honor, before the court adjourns, the petitioner would like to request permission to present one final piece of evidence.”The

BrandonI didn’t realize how tightly I had been gripping the armrest until the judge finished speaking.The second the ruling was delivered, the tension that had been sitting in my chest for weeks finally loosened.Not completely.Just enough for me to breathe.Across the courtroom, Dean Armstrong looked like a man watching his entire world collapse around him.I should have felt satisfaction.After everything he’d put Joan through, after everything he’d done to Kai, after all the lies and manipulation, I should have enjoyed watching him lose.Instead, I found myself looking somewhere else entirely.At Joan.She hadn’t moved.She was still sitting in her chair, her eyes fixed ahead as though she hadn’t fully processed what had just happened.For a second, I wondered if she had heard the ruling at all.Then I saw her shoulders tremble.Just slightly.And I understood.The fight was finally over.At least this one.The judge was still speaking when Kai jumped out of his seat.The court

The walk back to the restaurant felt surreal.I couldn’t stop smiling.Every few seconds, I would remember what had just happened, and my stomach would immediately fill with butterflies all over again.It was ridiculous.Absolutely ridiculous.I was a grown woman.A mother.The CEO of a company.A woman who had survived a brutal divorce, a custody battle, and enough legal drama to fill several lifetimes.And yet somehow, walking beside Brandon with our hands intertwined made me feel exactly like a nervous teenager experiencing her first crush.The worst part was that I loved it.I loved every second of it.The feeling was so unfamiliar that it almost scared me.Dean and I had shared passion.At least I used to think we had.But this?This fluttering anticipation every time Brandon glanced at me?The warmth spreading through my chest whenever he smiled?The constant urge to grin like an idiot?I had never experienced any of that with Dean.Not once.The realization should have saddened

The drive to Brandon’s house felt strangely peaceful.After Victor’s confession, none of us had really known what to say.Well, none of us except Kai.Kai had spent the next twenty minutes asking increasingly complicated questions that Victor had very clearly not wanted to answer.By the time we finally left, Victor looked like he regretted every life decision that had led him to that moment.Not that I felt particularly sorry for him.He had apparently been hiding enormous secrets from all of us.The fact that he now had to deal with an inquisitive almost five-year-old felt like a fitting punishment.“You’re smiling again.”Brandon’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.I looked over from the passenger seat.“What?”“Nothing.”The smile on his face said otherwise.“You’ve been smiling for the last ten minutes.”Heat immediately crept into my cheeks.“Maybe I’m happy.”His expression softened.“I know.”The simple answer made my heart flutter.God.I really was acting like a teenager.An