Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 31

Chapter 23-2

Chapter 23-2

+25 Painte

“Are you serious right now?” Parker looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You already filed for

divorce. You have nothing to do with each other. Besides, she’s on a vacation. Meeting someone while struggling to move on from the past is completely understandable, and legal. There’s nothing

wrong with that.”

“She’s moving on too fast. It’s barely been a month since I filed for divorce.”

“Or maybe, you just can’t handle the fact she’s not hung up on you anymore.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.” But his expression says everything.

He thinks I’m being pathetic, unable to accept the fact that my ex is no longer moaning over me.

Well, he’s wrong. I don’t care about whoever Sabrina fools around with. I’m done with her, and her little trick isn’t going to work on me.

She can do whatever she wants. I know the truth.

Sabrina is trying to humiliate me. She’s trying to make me look bad by parading around with some guy on a cruise ship, letting Jake post videos for the whole world to see.

This is revenge. It has to be. And I won’t fall for it.

I pull out my phone and call my lawyer.

“Tom? It’s Dustin. We need to talk about the custody case. I just saw something that’s going to change everything.”

As I wait for Tom to respond, I pull up the video again on my own phone.

Sabrina looks… happy.

Genuinely, radiantly happy.

I haven’t seen her look like that in years. Maybe not since before Jake was born. Maybe not since

before 1-

No.

I’m not going down that road. I made my choice. Jessica is my future.

But watching Sabrina smile at this stranger, watching her lean into him like he’s already someone important…

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Chapter 23-2

It makes me want to throw my phone across the room.

“Dustin?” Tom’s voice crackles through the speaker. “What’s going on?”

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“I’m sending you a video,” I say, my voice tight. “And then we’re going to discuss how to use it to win custody of my son.”

Because if Sabrina thinks she can replace me-if she thinks some random man can step in and be Jake’s father-she’s got another think coming.

Jake is mine.

And I’m going to make damn sure the courts see that.

(Sabrina’s POV)

I spend the next two days avoiding Jason like he’s contagious.

Which is ridiculous. I’m a grown woman. I’ve been married, divorced, and humiliated on the internet. I should be able to handle running into a man I kissed once.

But every time I think about that kiss-the heat of his mouth, the way his hand felt in my hair, the way my entire body responded like it had been waiting for him-I want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

So instead, I hide.

Day two of the cruise finds me at the tennis courts at seven in the morning because surely no sane person plays tennis before breakfast…right?

Wrong.

“Sabrina?”

I freeze mid-serve, the ball dropping from my hand and bouncing away as Jason appears on the other side of the fence, looking unfairly attractive in athletic shorts and a fitted t-shirt, holding a tennis racket.

“Oh. Hi. I was just-I’m done actually.” I scoop up my things, not meeting his eyes.

“You just got here. I saw you walk in like…just five minutes ago.”

“Right. Well. I forgot I have a… thing. A breakfast thing. Very important, you know.”

He probably doesn’t but who cares?

I practically run past him, ignoring his confused “Sabrina, wait-”

Day three. I try the swimming pool. Surely the pool at nine in the morning will be packed with

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Chapter 23-2

families and kids, and Jason won’t be there.

Wrong again.

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I’m floating on my back, eyes closed, enjoying the silence, when I hear his voice.

“You’re a hard woman to track down.”

My eyes fly open. Jason is treading water three feet away, looking amused.

“I’m not-I wasn’t-how did you even know I was here?”

“Lucky guess.” His smile is knowing. “Or maybe I’ve been keeping an eye out for you.”

“That’s… I have to go.” I paddle toward the ladder so fast I nearly lose my swimsuit top.

“Sabrina-”

But I’m already out of the pool, grabbing my towel, and speed-walking toward the exit.

I try the library. The art class. The cooking demonstration. The wine tasting.

He finds me at every single one.

Not in a creepy, stalking way. Just… there. Always there. Smiling that smile that makes my stomach flip. Looking at me with those dark eyes that see too much.

By the evening of day three-our last full day on the cruise-I’m hiding in my cabin like a coward, ordering room service and pretending I don’t hear the knock on my door.

“Sabrina, I know you’re in there.”

Jason’s voice is muffled through the door, but I can hear the amusement in it.

I don’t answer. Maybe if I stay very quiet, he’ll think I’m not here.

“I can hear you breathing.”

Damn it.

“I’m not dressed,” I call out.

“That’s fine. I’ll wait.”

“I’m going to bed.”

“It’s six-thirty.”

“I’m very tired.”

“Sabrina.” His voice is softer now, more serious. “Why are you avoiding me?”

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“I’m not avoiding you.”

“You ran away from me four times today. Five if we count right now.”

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