Too Late for Regret novel Chapter 127

Everyone Hated You

Chapter 127

Analise’s POV

+25 Points

I could see how upset Seth was at hearing her words. It was all over his face that he blamed himself for what had happened. She was right. I never mentioned it to them; it was never the root cause of her actions. She was allowed to be willful and do as she pleased.

Tiffany just likes to push the line. She’s never been called on it until now, and she needs to realize that I’m not buying her lies, not for a second. I looked up at the judge who was about to caution Tiffany. She was angry at Tiffany’s outburst and was about to warn Tiffany and regain control of the courtroom.

“May I speak, your honor?” I asked quietly.

Tiffany was still standing, her chest rising and falling quickly with anger. She was visibly upset, but I’m not going to allow her to try to twist things around to make them feel guilt or allow her to lie about the reason why she had done such a thing. She just wanted to hurt them both because they’re on my side. I’m not going to allow that to happen.

“Go ahead, Mrs. Billingsley,” the judge advised. She might have allowed it because she felt sorry for me or because of my family name. I just didn’t want her to make my brother feel like what she did to me had been his fault. It wasn’t. It was because Tiffany is a vindictive person who likes to excuse her bad behavior. I could tell that the judge was interested in what I was going to say.

“Tiffany, you need to grow up. You strike out at people because you’re hurt, and because you want to. You were bullying me well before they went to college. You might have been jealous that he was with other girls, but don’t use that as an excuse for your behavior towards me. I know who you are at your core, a vain, spoiled princess. One who continues to do as they please because their parents will fix it for them. You’re twenty–eight years old. You should have been able to find a job or at least volunteer to help a charity by now, but I know you. only care about yourself,” I stated.

“You don’t know anything about me,” Tiffany started out saying.

You

“I’m not done yet. You’re a vessel that looks beautiful on the outside, but is filled with anger and jealousy. You spoke to my brother and Holden as if what you said was the truth, when we both know different. From the day you shoved me into the pool at three years old, you’ve done nothing but try to hurt me, both physically and emotionally. You’ve learned to hide your malice more effectively over the years. I’m sure your mother helped you, as you are just like

1/4

<Everyone Hated You

+25 Points

her. A user who will do anything to achieve their goals. But I won’t let you hurt them like that. The words you spoke were lies. A way to hurt them, but it isn’t the truth. They might have pissed you off, but you got off on hurting me,” I stated coldly.

“That’s not true,” Tiffany snapped out.

“Oh, but it is. You wanted to crush me under your heel, and the fact that I’m still successful no matter what you did to me kills you. Doesn’t it? You don’t have to answer me, because know it did. Maybe you should go back and listen to your rants while you’re hurting me. The truth always came out, no matter how you try to hide it. You couldn’t stop yourself. Your jealousy poured out of you. I want to remind you of something. When you’re spoiled on the inside, it will one day overflow and eventually spill out. Showing everyone how rotten you truly are,” I advised with a smile.

Her mouth opened and shut several times as she wanted to say something but thought better of it. I already knew what she wanted to say, and I wanted her to say the words she was holding back. She wanted to threaten me. To tell me that when she gets her hands on I’m done. But I’m no longer scared of her. I see her for who she is, a petulant brat who didn’t get her way. She isn’t the scary monster she used to be to me.

me,

She can see that it didn’t work, and it kills her to see me speaking to her in that way. She hates how I’m still thriving, no matter how hard she tried to break me. I own a successful business, and things are only going to continue to flourish for me. I have a nice home and a gorgeous husband who is looking at me with a smile on his face. He’s happy that I took her down a peg. Doing that here, in the courtroom, will hurt her more than doing it tonight in private.

He knows that I didn’t speak up because of Holden. I wasn’t going to allow Tiffany to hurt my brother like that. She wants to make Seth feel as if this whole thing was because of him, so she can hurt him. I know that my family is struggling to accept just how badly she hurt me. I don’t hate Holden anymore, and I won’t let her hurt him either. She just hates that they are supporting me instead of her.

She’s about to leave and wants to do as much damage as she can. She always told me that Holden didn’t want me. Just like I couldn’t make Holden want me, she couldn’t make Seth want her, either. She was pissed about it, but I wanted to remind her that she was in the same boat that I had been in. I wanted to set her off and let her continue to gain traction with additional contempt of court charges. It might just be a max of five years, but that was still five additional years away from me and my family.

“You’re nothing compared to me, Ana. Nothing. No one in their right mind would ever want you. I don’t know how you managed to get your husband to marry you, but it’s awfully coincidental that you managed to find him and get him to marry you in such a short time

< Everyone Hated You

frame. It’s clear that he’s only with you for your money. How could anyone want you when you’re truly the most pathetic person that I’ve ever met? It’s sad, really. It must infuriate you to lose both Holden and Roger, with the whole city knowing it’s because you’re worthless. Mom only wanted you and Holden together to gain access to your inheritance. He showed up to stop you from marrying Roger after Mom insisted that he return. She’s been working on him hard for the last year. She needed him to marry you before you received your inheritance. You’re stupid if you thought that anyone could actually care about you. Poor, poor Ana. Nobody is ever going to love you. Once your husband leaves you, you will be left with nothing, and that’s what you deserve,” Tiffany raged out.

“Are you done now, Tiffany? Allow me to let you in on the truth. My husband, Charlie, is the love of my life. He makes me feel safe and cared for, and that’s not a brag, it’s the truth. I want you to hear it from my lips, so you can remember this moment when you’re serving time in prison. You did this to yourself, Tiffany. All of this happened because you couldn’t control your anger and jealousy. You’d better learn to control it before you end up in prison. They won’t put up with it. I would willingly go through the pain you gave me all over again, just to get to my husband. It’s wishful thinking about Charlie leaving me. Each day brings me more happiness than the last. In his arms, I feel the love and protection that I’ve craved for so long. I realize what love truly means with him. I may not be able to see the future, but I can predict this. You’ll continue to be the pathetic one between the two of us. Because after you go to prison, I won’t think of you ever again. But you’ll think of me all the time. That will be your true punishment, and you deserve every second of it, Tiffany,” I calmly replied.

I knew the moment she was going to charge at me. The bailiff had already moved down to stand directly behind her to stop her from leaving the table. It was the same bailiff who was present when she attempted to attack me at the first trial. The hate in her eyes was real. She no longer attempted to hide how she felt about me from everyone. She was no longer pretending to be innocent in front of the jury anymore. This was pure unadulterated rage, directed solely at me.

“I’m not going to prison, you stupid b***h. You sit there all high and mighty, but I’m not going to lose to you. That’s not going to happen. You deserved everything I gave you. You needed a reality check. So what if I hurt you, big deal. It was a long time ago, yet you’re still complaining about it, as if it just happened. I can tell you’re getting off by playing the victim in this. So don’t pretend this is about justice. This is you getting to exact your revenge for what I did to you: There, I said it. I admit that I did it. But Ana deserved everything I gave her. She was the Caldwell’s precious daughter, but that didn’t protect her at school now, did it?” Tiffany said before giving a scornful laugh.

“Oh, did that hurt, Ana? Well, let me let you in on another secret. Everyone else hated you, Always blowing the curve on tests. Acting like you were so much better than everyone else because your parents were the richest in the city. Did that save you in the end? No, it didn’t.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify