Too Late for Regret novel Chapter 99

Proven Wrong

Chapter 99

Analise’s POV

Gwen was intentionally trying to push them into disrupting the court again. She was tired of them picketing outside our business, costing us revenue. Their lies were affecting our bottom line, and we had both had enough of them. They both looked like they had sucked on lemons. It was killing them not to respond, but their attorney was looking at them both, almost daring them to engage. They saw what happened to Regina, and they didn’t want it to happen to them. It won’t stop it from happening. Things are far from over for them. “Objection, your honor. Ms. Simpson is clearly trying to slander and incite my clients. She’s clearly trying to get them in trouble. But just like my client can’t prove that she made the designs in question, neither can Ms. Simpson,” their attorney stated. Oh, he is so wrong, and he’s about to find that out very quickly.

“That’s actually not true. I can prove that they belong to Ana. I can do it by using your own evidence against you,” Gwen replied before the judge could rule.

“And how could you possibly do that?” their attorney asked, stunned that she would even suggest such a

thing.

“As I said, Ana had been designing, professionally, for over nine years. When she first started designing, her mother, a brilliant interior decorator, taught her to put her name on her work to prove it was hers. To hide it somewhere in her design, as even with interior designs, people still copy your work. That way, it protects her and her designs. She has done that for each of her designs this entire time,” Gwen replied.

“I highly doubt that Ms. Simpson,” he argued.

“I would be interested in seeing this as well,” the judge stated.

“I would like to bring the court’s attention to exhibits D, E, and F to show the copies of the early designs that Mrs. Sasha Cook alleged that she designed,” Rodney requested.

The monitor came to life, displaying the design. Everyone was looking for the evidence to be obvious, but the whole point was that you don’t make it obvious. Otherwise, people will make a copy of the copy, and the invisible ink stamp will be lost. I had been doing this for years. I even have the documents on my tablet that contain the robust digital watermark, which can withstand modifications that someone might try to edit it out. That makes the watermark undetectable to the naked eye, but able to be seen with my special software.

For printed works, especially at the start of any of my designs, I will sometimes doodle on a notepad or my tablet. I had printed the first draft from my office, and used a special stamp to mark them as mine. I kept a bottle of UV Security Ink in my office. My special stamp had my initials at the time, so ‘AEC‘ was on it. I stamped them after I printed them, but then someone needed my help. I had accidentally left them sitting on top of the copier. Forgot to take them, but I wasn’t worried about them at the time. It was my first draft, and it occurred two weeks before I discovered what Roger had done.

One of the designers saw them and recognized them as mine. I had a habit of printing them to examine from different angles to determine what I wanted to do moving forward. She had locked them in her desk to give back to me, but we had both forgotten about them. She wasn’t there the day that I cleaned out my office. She was unsure what to do with them after that, as I never returned to work.

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Proven Wrong

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Sasha had insisted that the designer give the printouts to her. Sasha had told her that she was going to take them to Roger’s office so they could be locked in the safe for me. The designer had reached out to Gwen once she found out that I had gone to Fashion Forward to work. She then told Gwen what had happened and how Sasha had gotten her hands on my work. She was out in the hallway, waiting to come in here and testify to what happened. We just didn’t want Joyce or Sasha to know that just yet.

We wanted to get them to continue to lie about what happened. They’ve been lying this whole time. Might as well have something good to come out of it.

“I don’t see anything on those designs that tells me they belong to Ana, Ms. Simpson. Are you planning to show us what we’re missing? Or are we just supposed to figure out what we’re supposed to be noticing all on our own? This appears to be a complete waste of the court’s time. If you’re grasping at straws, then just go ahead and admit it, instead of slandering my clients,” their attorney said with derision.

“We will need the originals put on a whiteboard using magnets. I don’t want any further damaged to occur to Ana’s designs,” Gwen stated.

“We haven’t determined that the designs actually belong to Mrs. Billingsley yet, Ms. Simpson. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he replied with a smirk.

Rodney set up the rolling whiteboard directly in front of the judge. He would see the evidence first, and then it would be presented to the jury, and then it would be presented to the defendant’s table. After that, he would show the gallery. I wanted the reporters to be able to document the proof as well. It will be my turn to show them the power of the press, and I couldn’t wait for it to happen. They would all need to see it to verify its authenticity. After this, they would all know exactly who the design belonged to, and I didn’t mind him mocking me or Gwen at all. He’s going to be just as surprised as the rest of the room.

“Your honor, we will need to turn off the lights in here, for the invisible ink to be seen using a UV light. Can you have the additional Officers I requested to come here and stand at the doors to keep everyone inside? I would also like the third officer to stand with my client,” Rodney requested.

I already knew that my husband, Drew, and Jon would watch over me. The request was more to imply that Joyce, Sasha, or one of the people who believed they had been telling the truth might try to attack me. I actually wouldn’t put it past them after what Tiffany did the day before yesterday. But if anyone lost it over this, it would probably be one of the women sitting at the table across from me. Just because they never saw it doesn’t mean that the papers weren’t marked.

The additional officers were actually state troopers who had been called in to help. Rodney informed me that the other bailiffs were all in their assigned courtrooms, so none were available to help out at the moment. He said that state troopers can step in when additional law enforcement is needed, especially in high–profile cases. I think that they will help show Joyce and Sasha the seriousness of their current situation. The judge brought them all up to speed quickly, I was glad they were in place before the lights were turned off.

“Where do I need to look for the invisible ink?” Rodney asked.

Gwen was still on the stand. Rodney was standing right in front of her, holding the UV light in his hand. He hadn’t turned it on yet. He wanted to have some shock factor in this. Gwen’s voice was steady as she said, “It will be right under the design itself, on the right–hand side. That’s where Ana usually marks her designs. I guess she’ll have to change up now.”

Rodney turned on the UV light and held it towards the whiteboard to shine on the three sheets of paper. I knew that Joyce, Sasha, and their attorney had thought we were bluffing. They thought wrong. The judge

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Proven Wrong

stood up to lean over and get a better look at each one before taking a picture of all three designs.

“May 1, your honor?” Rodney asked after a few minutes. He wanted to roll it over to the jury now.

“Go ahead. You can show the jury, the defendants, and the rest of the room,” the judge advised.

Rodney put the UV light on the back of the whiteboard as he moved towards the jury. He didn’t want to tip our hand too quickly. He wanted to elicit a reaction from the jury, and he got one. The moment the light hit the sheets, a small pale blue stamp was exposed. AEC was clear as a bell on all three of them. I didn’t have to see the sheets to know what they were looking at right now. I’ve seen it hundreds of times over the years.

Rodney started on one end of the jurors‘ box and quietly rolled it down so each member of the jury could clearly see my initials glowing on each of the designs. I knew I had the proof; I only wished I could see Joyce and Sasha’s faces a little better. I wanted to see when they realized that they had been bested. The designs

were mine, no matter how many times they tried to lie.

I heard them both draw in a breathe. Their attorney was looking towards them, and I didn’t have to see his face to know that he was furious. They had been exposed by their own evidence. That had to really hurt.

When Rodney moved the board to a position in front of the doors dividing the courtroom, I heard footsteps coming towards us. Charlie stood up, and the state trooper turned, but it was the three cameramen coming forward to get a better shot. I was happy they were doing that. Nothing would clear my name or Fashion Forward’s reputation faster than this being exposed. The proof was there for all to see. Once the cameramen

than

got about a minute’s worth of video, they headed back to their seats.

Rodney’s voice rang out, “Does the jury need to see the evidence again?”

One voice asked for him to bring it back over, and he did. He made sure to go even slower this time, and in the middle of the jury box, he stated. “AEC, Analise Elizabeth Caldwell.” He knew they understood what he meant. He was driving the knife in deeper by making it clear that these designs had been mine all along.

The lights were brought back up, and I could see that Sasha and Joyce were fuming. They thought they had me, but they were wrong. I had been waiting for this very moment for so long. It was hard not to mock them when they came to cause problems at my work, but I managed. All because I wanted this payoff. Sasha was furiously writing something down. I knew which way she was going to go next, but we were ready for her.

It was a last–ditch effort to try to twist things around in her favor. It wasn’t going to work. But I’m started to enjoy seeing the panic on both their faces now. They are now realizing that they were in a bind, but no one was going to show up and save them. Their attorney reviewed what she had written. I could see him thinking about whether they needed to tug that line or not, but they were desperate. He stood up to change tactics, but we were already prepared for him.

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