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Home / Romance / DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG / Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

All Chapters of DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

149 Chapters

050

Caleb returned a moment later, a frown on his face. Like they had some kind of mind link, Brandon stood immediately, sensing something was wrong. "What happened?" Caleb didn't even look shocked that he'd guessed. "The kitchen in one of my restaurants caught fire.""Fuck," Brandon muttered. I stood and went to him. "Have they called the fire department? Do you need us to come with you?" A smile spread across his lips. Small and sad, but a smile, regardless. "Aw. Are you worried about me?" I rolled my eyes. "Be serious." He sighed, and his shoulders fell. "Yeah, they have. The fire's been put out, but I have to be there. Damage control and shit." "You sure you don't need us there?" Brandon asked. "Nah, man. It'll be fine."He walked into the room and grabbed his keys, then paused near the door, his gaze flicking between the two of us.Then, a slow grin spread across his face."Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do," he said."Get out," Brandon replied flatly.He laughed, then looked

51

~~Joan~~I was a fan of mornings, but in the weekends, I preferred to sleep in.Which was why I was so mad when I woke up earlier than I needed to.Not because I was well-rested—far from it—but because my mind wouldn’t let me stay asleep.For a moment, I just lay there, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling.Then it hit me that I wasn’t in my room.I sat up slowly, the events of last night coming back in fragments.The dinner, then my being locked out and having to sleep here. Caleb's restaurant fire. Brandon's unusual behavior. My lips pressed together at the last thought.I pushed the covers aside and stood, adjusting the oversized shirt I’d slept in. It still smelled faintly like him, and for some reason, that only made me more aware of everything I was trying not to think about.I stepped out of the room quietly.The house was still, and for a second, I thought I was alone.I thought of changing back into my clothes and sneaking out when I heard movement from the kitchen.I followed

52

I was in my office when my phone buzzed, the sound cutting clean through the quiet I’d forced around myself since morning.When I checked, it was an unknown number.For a second, I just stared at it, wondering how they got my personal line before eventually picking it up. "Hello?" "Good afternoon, Ms. Joan. This is the lab. Your results are ready." Oh. I remembered then that I'd given them my personal number so I could get the information the moment the results were out. I'd opted for a hardcopy of the results, rather than an email. My fingers tightened slightly around the phone.It had been a week already, but it still felt too soon. "I see," I said, my voice steady in a way I didn’t feel. "Can I pick them up today?" "Yes, ma’am. Any time before closing." "Alright. Thank you." I waited a moment to hear if she had anything to add. When she didn't, I ended the call.I stared blindly at the stack of papers on my desk, my mind reeling. The results were ready, and even though I

053

~~Dean~~The test had already been done once. I had my results. I knew what they said.But something about the way Joan had reacted that day… the way she’d refused, then suddenly agreed—It didn’t sit right with me.So I came anyway, just to be sure. Just to see.I wanted to come in with her, to study her reaction when she read the results. But she made me wait. And I hated waiting. Although now I was at the hospital, I already figured out. She managed to get another risk man wrapped around her finger like she'd once done to me, and now he was doing her bidding. I had to admit that she was very smart. My jaw ticked as my gaze shifted to the man beside her.Brandon Hamilton. I wasn't even surprised when I saw them together any more. Although it still baffled me, how she managed to get close to him. I'd been trying to get into his grandfather's circle for years, and she'd found a way before I even realized there was one. It didn't bother me much, though. I knew that it was just a m

054

I gripped my steering wheel a little tighter than necessary, my jaw set as the events replayed in my head on a loop I couldn’t shut off.Negative.I was going to find out the truth at all costs. Joan stood there like she expected it. Like she already knew what the results would be before the envelope was even opened.My fingers tapped once against the wheel.I could still see him in my mind—his face, his mannerisms, the way he looked at me. I knew he was mine. I might not have wanted him for the right reasons, but Joan had no right to manipulate those results. Once I gained custody of him, I was going to let her see him if she begged. But now, I wasn't so sure anymore. I stopped at a pharmacy on the way to the school, and got a sealable plastic bag. I was going to collect the boy's hair strands again. But this time, I was going to preserve it the right way. Once I got the confirmation I needed, then I was going to use the two results to contest custody. What I was doing was ill

055

~~Joan~~Tears gathered in my eyes as I stood in the middle of the room for a moment, taking it all in—the neatly folded clothes stacked on the bed, the toys I hadn’t decided whether to pack or leave out, the open suitcase sitting at the corner like a quiet reminder that this wasn’t temporary.We were really leaving.“Mama, where does this go?”I turned at the sound of Kai’s voice.He stood by the bed, holding one of his toy cars in both hands, his brows furrowed in concentration like he was handling something important.He'd been helping me with the packing since he got home from school some hours ago. Even though he was not doing much, I was still grateful for his help. At least he didn't make things difficult for me. I walked over, crouching beside him.“In the box with the other toys,” I told him gently, tapping the open one beside himHe nodded seriously, like I’d just given him a task of great importance, and dropped it in carefully.I watched him for a moment.He’d been unusua

056

By the time I stepped back into Kai’s room, the anger had settled. It had been packed away neatly, like almost everything in that room.Kai was on the floor now, surrounded by toys, carefully deciding what deserved to go into the box and what didn’t. He still had to keep some things here, for when Victor decided he needed my son more than I did. I'd never participated in their boy's night, even when I was in the house with them, but I imagined they needed some toys, which was why I asked him to leave behind the ones he didn't use often. I leaned against the doorframe for a moment, watching him.He looked up after a second, smiling brightly. “Mama, I think I have too many toys.”I let out a quiet laugh. “That’s not a bad problem to have,” I said, walking over.“It is,” he insisted seriously. “I can’t carry all of them.”I crouched beside him. “That’s why we have boxes.”...And there's the fact that I didn't ask him to carry them himself. Sometimes his thoughtfulness was unnecessary

057

~~Brandon~~I wasn't favoring him when I said this, but Kai was the best kid I'd ever met. He was mature yet childish, well-behaved, and very smart. I admired the little boy. We'd been playing with his Legos at their house for hours, then he read me a book, showed me a dance step he'd formed, and then he continued his drawing lessons from where he'd stopped the last time. He showed me how to draw a lion, and tried to make it as horrible as I could. And surprisingly, he loved it. He said he was going to hang it in his new room. I'd never felt more honored. Currently, we were in my house, arranging some stuff I hadn't gotten around to doing yet. I needed to fetch a file and get some information, and I couldn't leave him at home alone. We were supposed to go back, but he'd insisted on staying here to help me unload the boxes, and that's what we'd been doing since. "Uncle Brandon, can we have ice cream after?" I wanted to refuse him—I'd already given him some cookies and gummy bea

058

~~Joan~~The restaurant had been booked out for us.Not entirely, just the section that we were using.I proposed having the meeting in my office, but this client was a very private man. Like most of my clients, he came from old money and had used some of his inheritance to start up a new real estate company. And like most companies I'd worked with, he was bleeding clients to other companies. Again, to Dean's. Over seventy percent of my clients had that in common, mostly because I'd personally but discreetly come after them. Across from me sat Mr. Hargrove, CEO of a company that, until recently, had been bleeding clients to Dean’s firm.Which meant I was already winning. As I did most times. “…your last campaign failed because it tried to imitate what was already working,” I said, my tone even as I slid a file toward him. “You don’t need to compete with them. You need to make them irrelevant.”He leaned forward slightly, interest sharpening in his eyes as he flipped it open.“And

059

Their eyes remained on me as I went and took my seat at the other end of the table. Dean stood, hands braced against the table, his gaze fixed on me like he’d been waiting for this moment. Like he thought his glare fazed me. “Glad you could join us,” he said.I met his gaze evenly. “I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long?"I asked in in the same tone he spoke. A few people shifted in their seats.Pushed himself off the the table with force, then clapped once, managing to regain the attention of the boardroom once again. “Lets go straight to the point,” he announced.Good. I didn’t have the patience for whatever performance he was about to put on.One of the board members cleared his throat, glancing briefly at Dean before looking at me. Honestly, his look bordered between a glare and fear. “We have… something to show you.”I leaned back slightly in my chair. “Do you?”"Yes." His tone was clipped.A remote clicked.The screen at the far end of the room lit up.And then—I saw

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