Too Late for Regret novel Chapter 94

Just Admit it

More Rewards?

Just Admit It

Chapter 94

Joyce’s POV

Regina assured me that they weren’t in a relationship. I could wring her neck for lying to me about this. But the communication between them was all right here in front of me in black and white. Now our attorney is furious and glaring at me. This wasn’t my fault; this is on Regina. The trial is starting off badly. He warned us that Rodney Briggs. He said that Ana’s attorney was one of the best, but I wasn’t worried. We were essentially here because of those stolen designs, which she had stolen. Why would she do this to Regina? She was being portrayed badly, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to change the narrative.

She needed to be able to seduce a member of the city’s elite. Preferably an innocent one, so he would fall in love quickly and agree to make her his wife. I already knew how to get around the virgin part of it. A small vial of blood, with some placed on her thigh, and on the sheets, and it’s a done deal. It’s the same trick I used on Scott to get him to marry me. He was poor at the time, but I saw his drive, his vision. I knew that he would go far, and I was right.

If I had known what was going on between them, we could have taken another route to protect her. Now, all is lost as far as her case goes, which ends up messing mine up as well. She has learned nothing from me at all. She could have had her fun, but she wasn’t supposed to say or do anything that would reflect badly on her. Especially with the numerous reporters and cameras present. She ignored all that and did what she wanted. Tommy wasn’t the only one she was dating while searching for a husband. She liked Tommy, but he was just a pencil pusher. He just wasn’t worthy enough to marry into our family.

She was supposed to increase our family’s worth, but now she has brought shame upon our name. She needed to find a wealthy husband to support her. I had ways to achieve that before, but now there’s nothing I can do about it. She’s been exposed, and no respectable man is going to want her now, no matter how attractive she is. Now what am I going to do? I was making sure that she would be taken care of, so that I would be taken care of too. Maybe my youngest can ensure that I’m taken care of, because Regina will now have to marry beneath her after this.

“Ms. Cook, why did you ask Mr. Jones for that fake deed?” Ana’s attorney asked. Of course, he would go for the jugular first.

“I, well, it was supposed to just be a prank on Elizabeth. I mean Ana. She always acted so high and mighty, and she had intentionally hurt my brother. We were just trying to embarrass her and give her a taste of humility,” Regina explained.

“So you’re saying that it was your idea?” he asked skeptically. He couldn’t believe that she would admit it so fast, but he knew she was lying. He knew it was my idea. He’s right. Regina was beautiful, but not very bright. But there’s no way that I’m going to admit to doing anything wrong.

“Yes,” Regina replied quickly. Well, at least she knew that she needed to protect me in this. Otherwise, I would have to deal with her after the trial.

“Ms. Cook, can you go to page 101 in the text messages between you and Mr. Jones? Can you read the third text from the top out loud for the jury?” he asked.

Papers being flipped over filled the courtroom. I leaned over to read what it was he wanted her to read, along

1/4

Just Admit it

with our attorney. My heart sank; there it was, sitting right there in front of us.

“Do I have to?” Regina asked, after reading the text in question.

More Rewards

“You need to follow the instructions you were given, Ms. Cook,” the judge stated. He had already flipped to

the text in question.

“Tommy, please help me. My mother needs that deed. We have to have it by Sunday Night for us to prank Elizabeth on Monday. I’ll owe you big if you can help me,” Regina read the text aloud.

“When did you receive the ‘prank‘ deed?” Ana’s attorney asked.

“Friday night,” Regina answered quietly.

“Are you still insisting that the deed idea was your own, Ms. Cook? Because I’ve read through the entire text

chain between you and Mr. Jones twice. This ‘prank‘ really doesn’t sound like something that you could have

come up with on your own,” he responded.

Is he calling my daughter stupid? I wanted to scream at him and make him stop pushing her. I could see the

panic on Regina’s face as she looked to me for instructions. I couldn’t help her. I closed my eyes and

breathed out. If she gets into trouble, I will pay to get er out of it. I already knew that she was about to make

a mistake. She knew better than to throw me under the bus. But she is under oath now. She knows she’s

supposed to tell the truth. She can’t plan things out quickly in her mind. She needs time to think before she

responds. I wish I could stop what I know is about to happen, but I can’t.

“I told my mother that it would be funny to take Ana down a peg or two. I decided to do this on my own. My

mother wasn’t involved,” Regina replied.

“If she wasn’t involved, then how come she was the one who called the police to make the formal complaint?

How did she end up with the deed? She’s the one who showed it to the police at Roger’s company when she

had my client arrested. After that, you had it back in your possession, waving it around to show the reporters.

You knew it was a lie, yet you still went ahead and slandered my client. Intentionally damaging her name to

humiliate her in front of the entire city. I have footage from several videos in which you made fraudulent

claims against my client. I would be happy to show you, to refresh your memory,” he stated with confidence.

“Mom,” Regina called out to me. Her voice rose as she was obviously panicked and unsure of what to say

next. But I couldn’t help her, not right now. It would only make me look even worse. The jury was already staring at me, waiting to see what I would do.

“Ms. Cook, you need to answer my questions. Your mother can’t help you now. I need to remind you that you

are still under oath. You need to answer my questions truthfully,” Ana’s attorney continued to harass my

daughter.

“Why are you bullying me? I haven’t done anything,” Regina cried out at him.

“Ms. Cook, Counselor Briggs isn’t harassing you. He’s calmly asking you questions. You will answer the questions that are being posed to you,” the judge told her.

I could see that it was too much pressure for her. She was about to snap. Regina’s tears fell, streaking her carefully made–up face. Why couldn’t this have gone as planned? I wish I hadn’t called those reporters those times I had now. But at the time, Ana had no one to protect her. How the hell could I have possibly known that she was a Caldwell? She was never at charity events. Few knew what she looked like. If only I had known. I swear would have treated her well when Roger brought her home. I would have welcomed her

Just Admit it

immediately. This is all her fault for keeping who she was a secret from us.

More Rewards

“Ok, look, my mother did ask me to get the deed. But nothing even happened to Ana, did it? She only felt a little embarrassed about what happened. It wasn’t like she was put into a cell or anything. There wasn’t a mark on her. She ended up clearing up the little misunderstanding quickly, so no harm, no foul. Besides, she brought this on herself. Mom said she wasn’t worthy of being a member of our family. We only wanted to get her back for what she had done to Roger and Sasha. She sold their damn house right out from under them, while they were on their honeymoon. They had no place to live when they returned. It was a nasty surprise. What kind of person does that to someone they professed they loved?” Regina snapped out.

I bent my head and placed my forehead into my palm. Why did Regina just admit that? I had warned her not to incriminate herself or me in anything she said. She let her anger take over and gave him exactly what he wanted from her. I feel bad for my daughter, but I can’t help her fix this. We both knew that she was acting on my instructions, and she would need my help. Scott is here today, but he’s sitting behind Ana. He should be on our side, supporting us. I am going to need him to help us out here. But one look at his face told me that he isn’t going to be doing that for either of us.

“So you and your mother were angry with my client because she sold her own home? So you thought it was appropriate to have her arrested to degrade my client?” her attorney asked.

“When you say it like that, it sounds bad. But Ana needed to be taught a lesson in respect. She didn’t know her place. Roger had done so much for her, yet she was so ungrateful. She’s a vicious b***h who didn’t deserve to marry my brother. She deserved what she got. She moved on from Roger too quickly. I know she was with her new husband while she was still engaged to my brother. She completely tore his company apart out of spite. Why should she escape scot–free? She deserved what we did to her. It wasn’t very much, but I had to do something to show support for my brother,” Regina assured him.

“So to be clear. You did this to defend your brother, at your mother’s instruction. Despite having full knowledge that your brother never owned the home in question. You got your boyfriend to print up a fake deed to intentionally cause trouble for my client. That’s the gist of it, correct?” Ana’s attorney asked.

“Yes, but like I said. She deserved it. She lied to us all about who she was. If we had known, we wouldn’t have done anything to her. Mom just wanted her to stop looking down on us. Ana was so high and mighty, thinking that we were all beneath her. She was marrying into our family. It’s her honor to respect my mother and the rest of our family as her new in–laws,” Regina stated.

“But didn’t your brother get married to another woman while he was still engaged to Ana? It’s odd that you didn’t mention that at all. Basically, you’re angry that she sold her own home to prevent your brother from playing house with his mistress,” her attorney advised.

“By then, they were married. Sasha was his legal wife. It was Ana who was never wanted. Roger was happy to marry Sasha to keep Ana from becoming Mrs. Cook. She never deserved the title,” Regina snapped out.

KatVonBeck

#Vote#