CHAPTER 31 #2
“Mr. Masters,” he begins, looking directly at Kevin, “I listened to everything that was said today, and I want both parents to understand that my ruling is based solely on Mia’s well-being. That includes physical, economic, and emotional care.”
My heart thuds so hard I swear the entire courtroom can hear it.
“I was raised by my mother,” he continues, “a woman who did everything she could to give me the best she could afford. But most of all, she never made me feel wrong. She believed in me. And that shaped my entire life.”
He looks at Kevin again. “While you can certainly provide for Mia financially, the court has found a significant absence of emotional and physical care from you, documented and witnessed, even while Mia lived under your roof. The fact that you did not respond to the mother’s attempts to include you, and only now, six months later, express concern over custody tells me all I need to know. ”
Kevin shifts in his seat, jaw tight, eyes cold. I can barely breathe.
Then the judge turns toward me.
“Miss Montgomery,” he says gently, and something inside me breaks open, raw and trembling. “Everything I heard, saw, and witnessed today speaks loudly of a mother who is present. Who loves without conditions. Who would give up the riches of this world to care for her child.”
My vision blurs. I blink hard.
“The partner you’ve chosen to live with clearly loves Mia as his own. In only a few months, he appears to know more about this child’s day-to-day life than her own father has in four years.”
Ethan exhales beside me, a shaky, barely-there sound. His hand finds mine under the table.
The judge turns back to Kevin.
“Money will not always solve a problem, Mr. Masters. Character is not defined by your bank account. It is defined by consistency, by presence, by how you love and care for a child.”
He gathers the papers before him, aligns the stack, and then, calm, decisive, speaks the words my entire soul has been praying for:
“I hereby grant full custody of Mia Masters to her mother, Summer Montgomery.”
My heart stops.
“Mr. Masters will have visitation rights,” he continues, “but given his recent DUI and the documented incident of violence toward Miss Montgomery, all visits will be strictly supervised until he can prove he has completed therapy and demonstrated consistent, stable behavior.”
He picks up the gavel.
“That is all. Court is adjourned.”
BANG.
The sound echoes through my bones.
For two seconds, everything is silent.
Then Kevin explodes.
“What? NO…no, this is ridiculous…SHE…she took her, THIS ISN’T…YOU CAN’T…”
His voice rises into an unhinged roar. The mask drops. He’s red, spitting, pointing at me like I ruined his life instead of the other way around.
I clutch my chest, lungs tight, heartbeat hammering. The truth hits me in waves: Mia is safe. She’s mine. No one, no greedy, arrogant, entitled man, can take her away.
My legs buckle. I collapse into Ethan’s arms, shaking so violently I can barely hold on.
Around us, the Hawthorne family converges, a living wall of protection.
Dex’s eyes flash, Cas’s jaw is tight, Jude’s hands are balled into fists.
They’ve already taken over the room, and I’ve never felt so… held.
Ethan cups my face gently. “You did it, baby,” he whispers. “You’re free.”
Free.
The word wedges itself into my chest, warm and jagged, and I can’t even breathe around it.
Minutes stretch. People I know and love flood forward, hugs, whispered congratulations, soft touches.
Ethan smiles at my side while he thanks the people from town who came to help.
He tells me he called them that day he spent hours in his office, he called every single person in Lander. My heart is full.
My parents have already left. His parents too. I search for my sister, to thank her, to tell her she saved us, but she’s gone.
Then I hear it.
“SUMMER!”
The scream rips through the courtroom, a blade slicing through every fragile hope I’ve clutched.
I stiffen. Ethan freezes a few feet away, muscles coiled like a panther ready to strike.
Kevin’s face is unrecognizable, red, wild, spit glistening at the corners of his lips, the calm, polished mask he wore for the judge shredded to pieces. “YOU RUINED MY LIFE!” he roars, waving something, something metallic in his hand.
A flash.
A crack.
The sound pierces the air like a gunshot.
I scream.
And then everything explodes at once.
Ethan’s body slams into mine with the force of a hurricane.
Chaos erupts around us. People shriek, officers rush forward, Cas tackles Kevin to the floor with a thunderous crash that rattles the benches.
Papers fly like terrified autumn leaves caught in a storm.
And Ethan…Ethan is on top of me, heavy, pale, trembling, every heartbeat thudding against my chest.
“No, no, no…” I choke, fingers clawing at his arm, pressing my face to his chest.
Blood blooms through the sleeve of his flannel. Bright. Hot. Terrifying.
“ETHAN!” I scream, my voice breaking. I try to hold him steady, to stop the bleeding, but my hands shake uncontrollably. My body quakes so violently I can barely breathe. “No, no, please…stay with me!”
“Mia,” he gasps, voice ragged, shallow.
Panic explodes in me like wildfire. I whip my head around.
And there she is. Penny, shielding her, chest pressed to Mia’s small frame, arms wrapping her tight like armor. Mia’s wide, frightened eyes peek out, searching, trembling. My heart rips clean in half. Jude stands in front of her blocking the horrendous view and I see him guide them to safety.
“She’s safe,” I whisper, fingers trembling as they thread through Ethan’s hair. “She’s with Penny.”
I try desperately to stop the bleeding, but the blood just keeps flowing.
“I’m okay,” Ethan whispers.
But it’s a lie. His lips tremble, eyes glassy, unfocused.
“Baby, look at me!” I sob, shaking him, pressing my forehead to his. “Look at me! I need you! Stay with me!”
His eyes roll back in a silent surrender. His body goes limp against mine.
“ETHAN!” I scream, voice raw, broken, echoing through the room. “We need help! Stay with me! Stay…please!”
“Summer,” Cas commands, voice cutting through the panic like steel, standing over me, Jude and Dex flanking him, shields between us and the chaos. “You need to let go. The medics need to work on him!”
I shake my head violently, panic clawing up my throat, lungs burning. The wailing that escapes me isn’t just a sound, it’s my soul breaking. I’m rocking, pressing against him, trembling so hard I feel my bones shaking.
“I can’t lose him,” I gasp. “I can’t…I won’t!”
The paramedic steps closer, calm but firm, hands steady and sure amid the hurricane of terror. “Ma’am, we need you to let go so we can treat him.”
I glance down at him, so pale, so fragile, so impossibly still, and my lips find his. A desperate, shaking kiss, tears soaking into his skin, every ounce of me pleading, screaming without words:
“Don’t you dare leave me now. Do you hear me, Ethan Hawthorne? I need you. Mia needs you. You stay with me.”
I let go. Dex catches me instantly, his arms a wall of strength as the paramedics descend. Their hands move fast, precise, slicing through the chaos, pushing Kevin’s outburst aside, cutting straight to saving him.
Time stretches, distorting. Seconds stretch into eternity. Every moment drags like a cruel eternity. All I can do is pray, whispering against Dex’s chest, clinging with every fiber of my being as they wheel Ethan out of the courtroom in a blur of motion.
And all I hear, all I feel, is the sound of a gunshot and the hollow echo of my own scream, “NO!” reverberating in the walls behind me, in my chest, in my very bones.