Too Late for Regret novel Chapter 100

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I Need the Whole Truth

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I Need the Whole Truth

Chapter 100

Joyce’s POV

That little b***h has hemmed us in so good, we both knew we were toast. I was just glad that I hadn’t taken the stand yet. Sasha had committed perjury on the stand, but I should be safe. I hadn’t made the same mistakes that they had. I believe that with a little creative wordplay, I would be home free. Sasha was grasping at straws now. If she can’t get this to work, she’s done.

She had wanted Ana’s designs all along to build a bigger name for herself as a designer. She had been the one pressing Roger to move forward against Ana since she arrived. I still have total deniability at this point. I did cause problems, but not to the same extent as Sasha. She lied from the start, so maybe it’s justice for her to have to give birth in prison. She’d better call that baby’s daddy and get him to come get it when she does. We’re not taking care of her bastard child.

“Your honor, part of our claim was that Ana Caldwell had been working on those design drafts while working at Cook Custom Jewelry. She also worked on her own designs while she was there. She had a great deal of downtime to come up with her designs. Designs that were created while she was on the clock. Due to her making those designs while at work. That makes them the property of Cooks‘ Custom Jewelry,” he announced.

This could make all of her designs become Roger’s property. Well, at least the ones she made while she worked there. This was the only way we had to try to get out of this mess. There’s no other way out. Roger will be happy if we could accomplish this. He will be so appreciative, he’ll forgive me for causing this. Although Sasha played a big part in it, I swear, if I can beat the charges against me, I won’t cause any more trouble. Scott was right. I should have been happy with what I had.

I glanced over at Roger and Scott. Instead of looking happy at our idea, they both looked angry. They’ll get over it. Once we get all of her designs back for his company, things will work out for all of us. Scott can pay to get Regina out of the bind she’s in. He will do it for her. Then our family will be whole again. I know that he blames this whole mess on me. But actually, it’s Ana’s fault. She should have come clean about who she

was. The night Erika Carrington nodded at her. She should have told us the truth right then and there.

If she had, none of this would have happened. I would have been happy to receive her into our family, and Sasha wouldn’t have come here in the first place. Roger called me and told me that he had met her in Paris. I remembered her, as Roger had shown me her picture at least a thousand times over the years. She was so much more acceptable than Elizabeth, I mean Ana, was. I wouldn’t have told him to bring Sasha back if I had known this would have happened.

Everything would have been as it should be. Instead, her insistence on staying silent about it all has cost me everything. My husband, Roger, his company, and my daughter would still be fine. Now, Regina’s going to

prison, and I have no spending money that I used to get from Scott and Roger. I’m broke, and I could

potentially lose my home if I can’t turn this around. I glanced back at Scott again, only to see him glaring at me. I can see the shame he feels over my actions; it’s written all over his face. He’s embarrassed, and he blames me for everything, but I was only trying to protect my family.

“You’re wrong about that, too,” Gwen spoke up again.

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The sinking feeling that had just gone away came flying back with a vengeance. It was like she was two steps ahead of us this whole time. I glanced over at Ana, and she was totally calm, while Sasha and I were actually starting to sweat. The last time Gwen said that, we both scoffed. This time, we knew it as the warning it was intended to be. We thought that we could come here, show the original designs, and at least

have the jury torn since ownership of the designs couldn’t be proven. Or so we thought.

We are learning very quickly that we should have stopped when Ana told us to after that first time. This is completely Sasha’s fault. She was so angry that Roger was starting to notice Ana’s complete transformation that she wanted to hurt her. The first time around, it was me. But I had to admit I understood where Sasha was coming from. All she had heard about Ana was that she was fat and unattractive. None of us had

noticed her losing weight.

She had caught me by surprise at the auction. She looked radiant. She was put together beautifully. If she had looked like that the whole time, I wouldn’t have wanted to replace her. My only thoughts were how she would make us look bad. I wanted my family to soar higher, to be respected. I worked so hard to do just that. Was that so wrong of me? All I wanted was for my family to be noticed as up–and–comers.

Our attorney, William Blake, was much more hesitant to challenge her statement this time around. Her confidence had only grown with each passing moment. She was just as devious as Ana was, and I was a little worried about him having her clarify whatever point she was about to make.

“Which part?” he asked. He was trying to remain calm, but I saw he was clenching his jaw. I could see that he was mentally going over what he said, trying to identify any issues with his statements.

“Several parts, but I’ll just point out the most obvious issue. Your clients clearly didn’t bring you up to speed, and you’re missing pertinent information. They told you their version of the truth, which I can assure you is erroneous. Ana’s official title was Director of Design; that was the only statement that you made that was correct. But Ana was never on the clock. She was never an hourly employee. Which makes your contention incorrect. If she had been an hourly employee, you might have had a leg to stand on,” Gwen advised.

“I have a statement here from the CFO for Cook’s Custom Jewelry, Dixon Chandler. He confirmed that she was an hourly employee. He had even mentioned that she had recently made several comments about wanting additional pay, as she had worked sixty to seventy–hour work weeks for years, getting the company up and running. I would mind my words, Ms. Simpson. I can have CFO Chandler subpoenaed to come here and testify to that, if needed,” our attorney rebutted.

Ana’s attorney immediately replied, “I think that would be for the best, your honor. We can continue with this Jine of questioning tomorrow, as it’s almost four–thirty now.”

“It might be difficult for CFO Chandler to be able to come to court, your honor. He’s running the company while the CEO, Roger Cook, is present for the trial. I would like for Ms. Simpson to clarify just what she’s

implying,” our attorney argued. He was hoping to discredit her, but I believe they have been leading us to where they wanted us to be all along.

My heart is starting the race. I knew Ana was the co–owner of the company, along with Roger. But I never mentioned that to our attorney. But does that even make a difference? She still used some of her time at the company to make those designs. No matter what, we needed to get them back for Roger. Should we tell William the whole truth? Perhaps remind him to ensure everything is properly locked down before we return tomorrow. I’m hesitating because I didn’t want him to look at me like he did earlier. He was very upset when he saw her stamp on those designs.

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How in the hell could we have known about the stamps? He was acting like we knew about them. Of course, we didn’t. You couldn’t even see them if you tried. That’s also on Sasha and her big mouth. She was the one who wanted those designs back, no matter the cost. She was the one who claimed that Ana took them when I had Ana arrested. Sasha’s also a designer. How come she didn’t know about protecting your designs? That should have been something she should have warned us about. We would have backed off if we had known that we would end up looking like a bunch of idiots up here.

“It is getting late, Counselor. I don’t think you will have enough time to proceed, so we will break for the day. Please have CFO Chandler present in the courtroom tomorrow to testify. I will have his statement added to the evidence. I have a suspicion that he might try to backtrack from his written statement. I’m getting pretty frustrated with all the back–peddling that is going on when Counselor Briggs is questioning your clients. I would suggest you take this additional time to speak to your clients about tomorrow’s trial. I think that might

be beneficial for your case,” the judge stated.

I tensed up again. Does he know something, or is he guessing? I can feel eyes on me, and I looked up to see

our attorney looking right at me. I tried to relax, to play it off, but it didn’t work. He was suspicious now, but

he looked up and calmly answered the judge, “I will take this time to prepare, your honor.”

The judge dismissed the jurors and exited the courtroom. The courtroom slowly started to clear before Gwen

got down from the stand and walked over to hug Ana. I waited while they spoke and before saying, “You

didn’t have to take it this far, Ana. You could have told us we were wrong, and it wouldn’t have gone this far.

You can always just cancel the trial. I swear we will leave you alone from now on,” I huffed out.

“I did tell you that you needed to leave me alone, Mrs. Cook. You three wanted to do this. Otherwise, what

was the purpose of calling reporters and coming after me like you did? You wanted this, so no, I won’t be

letting you off the hook. Just because you three weren’t prepared doesn’t mean that I’m not. There’s a lot

more to learn, Joyce, and I don’t mind giving you another lesson,” Ana replied.

Our attorney looked at us and then said, “My office, thirty minutes. I want the whole truth this time. I don’t

want to be caught unaware again. You just heard what she said. If you have any hope of avoiding prison time, I need to know the whole story. Not just your version of it. Otherwise, you two will be on your own and will have to hire another attorney to finish this. But I assure you, the damage has already been done. Their

ability to prove you lied about the designs is going to work against you. No one will believe either of you without proof. Let’s not forget that you’ve already committed perjury on the stand, Sasha. No one else wanted to take your case because of the Caldwell name. Either you two tell me everything that you’ve held back, or so help me, I’m done.”