Page 58 of Boss with Benefits

She wanted to kick herself for pushing him to talk when he wasn’t ready. If he didn’t come home, she only had herself to blame. She called his friend Deacon and asked him to call her back if he saw or heard from Brady. She was worried about him.

Then she hung up and waited.

And prayed for a good outcome.

Chapter Thirteen

Where was everyone?

Jessica waited outside the courtroom for Brady and her attorney. Jill Crawford had promised to take the case on herself, but she hadn’t shown up yet. No one on her side had shown up. The hearing was about to start. Where were they?

Brady hadn’t returned home last night, but Deacon called her on the sly. They were having a beer at their favorite bar. He told her Brady planned to stay the night at his house, but he would be on time for the hearing.

He wasn’t.

She checked her phone again. No texts. She paced in front of the courtroom doors, constantly checking her watch. Her muscles ached from clenching, and every nerve-ending she had was stretched tight enough to snap. How could they do this to her?

One of them running late would have been bad enough, but both of them?

Brady knew how important this court hearing was to her, so she knew he had to have a good reason for not showing up on time. She loved him and trusted him. Brady wouldn’t let her down.

The strange thing was she hadn’t seen Randy either.

She turned to retrace her steps and saw Ms. Crawford coming towards her. Relief flooded her system. A dozenquestions lined up on her tongue, but the woman lifted a hand to stop them before the first one came out of her mouth. She could tell by Ms. Crawford’s expression she had something important to say.

“It’s over,” Jill Crawford said. “The custody hearing has been called off.”

“Called off?” Jessica blinked. “You mean it’s been postponed?”

Ms. Crawford shook her head. “Your ex has dropped the lawsuit and will not be seeking custody of your son. Congratulations.”

It was good news, sure, but Jessica didn’t feel like celebrating yet. “What changed his mind?”

Maybe he’d realized he didn’t have enough of an advantage to win yet and was going to collect more evidence against her before pursuing it.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ms. Crawford said. “The point is, you have full custody of your son.”

“What if he changes his mind again? This nightmare will never be over.”

Crawford handed her a large envelope. “This is a signed termination of parental rights. Your ex no longer has a claim on your son, so he can’t go for custody again. It is truly over. You can relax.”

Jessica’s hands trembled as she held the most precious document she’d ever received. She opened it carefully, needing to see his signature for herself.

And there it was. He had actually signed away his parental rights. Axl would never have to deal with him again.

“Thank you,” she gushed, tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me.” Crawford quirked an eyebrow. “Thank Brady.”

“What did Brady do?”

The woman gave her a half-shrug as she backed up. Then Ms. Crawford turned and walked away without another word, leaving Jessica to stare after her in confusion.

What did Brady have to do with this?

And where was he?

∞∞∞

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