Too Late for Regret (Annalise and Roger) novel Chapter 131

Tiffany’s POV

“Ms. Vaughn, I am sentencing you to twenty years in jail for the assault and bodily harm charges. It’s far less than you deserve, but you also have an immense number of cyberbullying charges against you. Even with condensing the charges, you will still face another twenty years for them. I hope you take time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished. Your acts against Mrs. Billingsley were appalling,” the judge announced.

“Forty years! Are you f*****g serious? There is no way I deserve all that. I’m going to be old by the time I get out. You can’t give me that much time. I don’t deserve it,” I managed to get out. I was completely shocked that she would hand down such a long sentence. I would be sixty–eight years old once I got out. I haven’t even been married yet. I haven’t done what I wanted to do with my life yet.

“You’re right. I was wrong, Ms. Vaughn. I forgot that I was giving you an additional three years for contempt of court. Your time will run consecutively, and you will not be eligible for parole until at least half of your sentence has been served. I want to thank you for reminding me that I had forgotten to note that in the system,” the judge replied.

“I hope you all get what’s coming to you. You decide to condemn me, instead of being impartial, and I will curse you all until the day I die. I hope someone investigates what was done to me today. I hope they find evidence to prove that you were all paid off by the Caldwell family to find me guilty. They’re consistent to the very end. Getting what they want done, no matter who they have to step on to accomplish it. I hope you die, Ana. I can’t live a good life until you lose yours,” I said.

I could see Ana looking at me with a strange expression on her face, but her husband looked pissed. I flinched at the way he was staring at me. It was almost as if he could read my mind and knew exactly what I was about to do. I immediately shut my mouth. I needed to stay quiet and get out of here as quickly as possible. Getting to Ana, while she was in her own home, will be my greatest accomplishment. I will finally be successful at catching her in her safe space. Even if she manages to live through what we have planned, she’ll never feel safe in her own home again. That will be enough for me as far as she’s concerned.

If they think that I’m going to jail and wasting away until I’ve lost my looks, they’ve got another thing coming. They will feel stupid once they find out that I’ve escaped and won’t be serving any of the time they wanted me to have. My parents will be at the airport, waiting for us. We will change in the van to save time, and leave it behind. It would stand out too much. Eddie’s leaving, too, so he doesn’t care if they connect the dots sooner or later. He won’t be here to pay for his crimes. I was already making plans on what we needed to do next when the judge replied to my comment.

“Ms. Vaugh, do you realize what you’ve done? Do you think you can threaten the jury and me with impunity? I will be adding an additional year for each jury member, including the alternate. I will be adding a year for your threat to me, as well. Congratulations on receiving an additional fourteen years to your sentence. I will also be adding five years for the death threat against Mrs. Billingsley. You have not been excused. You are still in court, and you can’t just say whatever you want. Especially not the vile words you just spoke,” the judge reprimanded.

She doesn’t even look phased by what she just did to me. It was almost like she was waiting for me to say something else to add to the time she had already given me. She knew I was going to pop off again; that was why she hadn’t dismissed the jury. She played me, and I fell for it. My fists clenched, and I added her to the list of people whom I would deal with one day. Just like the traitors from high school who rolled on me on the stand. I would ensure that someone addressed each and every one of them.

“Thank you for your service. You are dismissed,” the judge told the jury. She looked at the bailiff and said, “Please ensure that Ms. Vaughn doesn’t have the opportunity to assault anyone before she leaves the courtroom today.”

She stood up and left through the same door the jury had just gone through. My anger simmered at my increased sentence. The sheer amount of time I was given, for no apparent reason, ensured that people would be talking about what happened to me for a long time to come. The bailiff handcuffed both me and Gretchen after he allowed me to hug my parents.

“Everything is ready to go. I packed your new clothes, and we will bring your luggage to the airport with us. The flight leaves at 7, so you need to be there no later than five–thirty to get through security,” my mother whispered to me.

I gave an almost imperceptible nod towards her. I didn’t want the bailiff to know she spoke into my ear when we hugged. My father was less pleased with how things turned out. I didn’t want his anger to be held over me when I needed him the most.

“I tried to have the award removed, and time added to my sentence, Dad. She wouldn’t do it,” I told him.

He grabbed a bag of clothes from his trunk and let us change clothes. They weren’t clothes I would want to be seen in, but we would blend in well at the airport. He also had wigs for us to wear and sunglasses for us to use. We would take them off to get through security, but after we were on the plane, we could ditch them. We would be out of here before anyone even knew we were missing. We got in his eight–year–old Honda Accord, which also didn’t attract any attention.

He drove silently as we headed to the far side of the woods near Ana’s home. I already knew Holden wasn’t going to help us. I also knew he would rat us out if I asked him for help. He can’t be trusted. I’m not going to allow him to ruin this for me. It made me sick to see him look at her with longing on his face. He’s freaking pathetic. He needs to grow a pair and make better choices. That whiny b***h has ruined everything. Our family, our wealth, and even our father’s business. I wish I could have run over there and slapped him, as he needed a wake–up call.

Eddie pulled over at a gas station, and I looked at him in confusion. “I need to use the restroom. I’ve been waiting in that van for a long time. I will grab us drinks. We will then get into position and call Samantha. She’s already at the security office waiting for us to give her the go–ahead. I brought my binoculars. We need to make sure that her husband leaves and she’s alone before we approach. He’s very dangerous, Tiffany. I looked into him, and he’s skilled in combat and weapons. He trains their men. We don’t need to engage with him if we can avoid it, and I intend to avoid it. Hopefully, they’ll leave the garage door open again, as that will make it easier for me to get into their home.”

“You need to hurry, I want to get this over with as soon as possible. I don’t want to miss my flight,” I replied.

“We won’t miss our flight. However, we needed to give them time to get home and settle in. If the company called the second they got home, that would look totally suspicious. We need to play it safe. We’ve got plenty of time,” Eddie replied like he was speaking to a child.

He’d better watch it before he makes my list, too.