Too Late for Regret (Annalise and Roger) novel Chapter 118

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Chapter 118

Analise’s POV

+25 Points

Wait, does that mean what I think it means? I turned to look at Sasha. Her previously unbothered expression is now gone. She looks terrified, and it’s clear that she did exactly what he said she did. I wanted to laugh, I honestly did. She has planned everything to the nth degree. I was just as interested in what he was about to say as the rest of the courtroom. You could have heard a pin drop when Rodney spoke.

“Could you clarify that for us, Mr. Greggs?” Rodney suggested.

“No! What are you thinking? Even if we did meet up, it shouldn’t matter what happened between us, especially if I didn’t know he was recording. It shouldn’t be admissible. It’s an invasion of my privacy, and I refuse to allow it to be shown here in this courtroom. I’m the victim here if he dared record me without my consent,” Sasha shrieked out.

Her words were as much of an admission as whatever proof he had. She’s gone from claiming that he’s lying, we didn’t even meet, to he can’t show what he has without my consent. It’s obvious that she was lying before because she’s totally panicking now.

“I can clarify. I was thrilled to finally meet her in person. I set my cell phone up to record, with the camera facing my door. So I would see her enter, and then later exit. That’s the only time she was video recorded; the rest is just audio. She said she was coming over to talk to me. I was just happy to get to spend some one–on–one time with her. I didn’t think any more than that. Once she arrived, I was nervous. My apartment isn’t very big, but she didn’t judge me about it. She was so nice and was even making plans for where to put the baby’s things after he was born,” Joshua advised.

“So, Sasha came over to talk about the trial with a member of the Jury?” Rodney asked,

shocked.

“Not the trial, she just said that she just needed a friend to talk to. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more than that. Women are jealous of her, and she hasn’t been here long. She didn’t have any friends here. I didn’t tell her I was recording because I only wanted to have a memento of our time together. I wasn’t thinking of anything other than being her friend. I mean, look at her. She’s way out of my league. I should have known,” he said, shaking his head.

“Joshua, Sasha used to live here before she moved overseas. She went to school here, so she does know people here,” Rodney pointed out.

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“That’s not what she told me. I didn’t know. She has a slight accent, so I thought she was French. Anyway, she came over. I was excited. I was hoping that maybe after the trial, we might have a chance to be together. It was the reason I told her that I would be happy to treat her son as my own. I was serious. That’s when she told me about all the threatening texts she had been receiving from Ana. They were ruthless, threatening bodily harm all the way up to wishing death on her baby,” Joshua replied.

“How do you know that they were from Ana Billingsley?” Rodney asked the question on all our minds.

I have never sent her a text or replied to the texts she sent me. Someone else must have sent them. Then Sasha saved the number as my name. But I’ve never sent her any texts. Even when Sasha, Joyce, and Regina were sending me nasty texts each day, I never replied to any of them. Rodney told me not to, as it was just more evidence against them.

“They had her name on them,” Joshua replied with an expression that showed he thought Rodney was an i***t.

“Ana never texted Sasha. I’ve already submitted her phone and text records from her cell provider as evidence. She hasn’t replied to Joyce or Regina in the last two months, and she has never replied to Sasha. So, I ask again. How did you know that they were from Ana?” Rodney asked.

“Well, Sasha told me they were from Ana. Sasha was upset, scared that Ana was coming for her. Ana was wealthy enough to cause Sasha problems. I didn’t have any reason to doubt her. Sasha needed me, and I wanted to help her. She told me how Roger divorced her because he had to get Ana back. He did it because Ana threatened to ruin him if he didn’t get rid of Sasha. Ana was mad that Roger had married Sasha. That’s why she stole the designs. At least, that’s what Sasha told me. I now realize that she was just manipulating me to get what she wanted. She lied to me, right to my face. I saw the truth exposed when I saw the video of the trial last night. I hate that I believed her. She is a master manipulator,” Joshua calmly

stated.

“So, you mentioned that you got more than you planned from Sasha. How so?” Rodney

asked.

“We were sitting there talking. I felt so bad for her. She asked for something to drink, and when I returned, she had unbuttoned her shirt, complaining that it was hot. I handed her the water she asked for, and the next thing I knew, we were having s*x on my couch. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought she would be interested in me, but she was. I felt so close to her. She told me that she was glad she met me. She hoped that I would give her a chance after the trial. My heart melted. So help me God, I believed her. I honestly thought that she was going to give me a chance to win her heart. I should have known that it was too

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good to be true,” Joshua admitted.

+25 Points

He looked sad, still coming to grips with the fact that she chose him to help her get out of this. He thought it was love, but he was just a pawn. She didn’t care one iota that she hurt him. She just needed him to do ask she asked. Now that he’s been caught, she’s done with him.

“And you can prove this?” Rodney asked.

“Yes, after you reached out about my statement, I wanted to help. She’s ruined me. I’ll have a record from now on. I defended her to so many people. Yet she turned her back on me the moment I was arrested. I called her last night to ask her to find me an attorney to help me get out of this. That’s what she promised to do if I got caught. But she didn’t answer. I thought she was just being cautious, so I called during the lunch break today. That’s when she told me I was on my own. That I should have known better than to think that I could ever be with her. She laughed at me. I didn’t want to believe she would leave me behind, but I just watched her do just that. Try to escape, after ruining my life. I wish I could go back and just slam the door in her face. I fell for her innocent act. I’m here to tell you, she’s anything but innocent. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. That’s how hard I fell for her lies,” Joshua stated. He was glaring at her like he hated her.

“Your honor, I would like to introduce exhibit O at this time. I want to warn the jury that although you will not see what occurred on video, you will hear what occurred between them,

Rodney advised.

”

We all watched as Joshua excitedly set his cell phone up to cover the door. He was nervous, but within a minute, there was a knock at the door. Sasha entered, looking sad. She followed him just out of the shot. They must have sat down on the other end of the sofa. You could see one end of it, but not the end that they were on, and the audio was very clear.

Just like Joshua said, Sasha tried to pour on her grievances to him. I would say that about eighty percent of her complaints were about me. Some were about Roger, and then she dropped the bomb. Sobbing about how Joyce forced her into doing this. Crying about how she can’t get out of it, and how it’s going to court, all because of Joyce.

I glanced over to see how Joyce was taking that revelation. No wonder he fell for it. When you watch the videos, Joyce appears to be the most aggressive of all. Sasha set her up and wrapped it with a nice little bow that would fool anyone. I have to admit, Sasha was pretty sharp to have figured out a loophole to avoid her charges. She controlled everything, from beginning to end. She even planned to run away to escape it. I’m grudgingly impressed. Joshua was right; Sasha was indeed a master manipulator.

She really laid it on thick, too. Sobbing on him, as he tried to comfort her. He felt bad for her. That much was evident. She did exactly what he said she did. She told him she needed a

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friend. That she had no one in her corner. Then she proceeded to blame everything on me and Roger. She acted as if Roger had thrown her away like trash. She never mentioned the big payout she got from Roger. I was falling for her act, so I could totally see how he would.

Then things changed. Sasha was in his arms. You could see his arm behind the couch earlier. She started kissing him, and things only heated up from there. She was obviously willing to do whatever it took to get out of this. I looked back at the row behind her, and Dixon looked sick. I guess he hated that he had fallen for her act, too. Everyone heard her as she continued her little show. In the aftermath, as it was clear what had occurred, she dug in even

harder.

“You saw the threats, but no one’s going to believe me. I just want to protect my baby. I know she probably hired someone to send them. The texts are probably untraceable. Her family runs this city. I can’t fight against them. I just wanted my designs back. I worked so hard on them, Joshie, only to have her take them away. I don’t know what to do. I’m scared. What if she makes good on her threats? How can I fight against her? How could anyone fight against her?” Sasha’s voice rang clear as she pleaded with him to help her.

“Don’t worry, Sasha. I’ll help you. Don’t worry, it’s bad for the baby. I already told you. I don’t have much, but what I have is yours. I’m willing to marry you and be a father to your son. I won’t leave you. I will stand behind you in this and fight for what’s right. I won’t let the Caldwell family take your voice away. I will make sure that you get justice and get your designs back,” He replied.

Every eye was on Sasha as she tried to act nonchalant. It was right there in front of us, just how far she had gone to get him to help her. Well, no one believes her anymore. Not even the man whose heart she willingly broke.

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