Too Late for Regret (Annalise and Roger) novel Chapter 138

Ana’s POV

Trigger Warning (acid)

She is not going to comply. I knew she wasn’t going to, the moment her eyes narrowed. She was willing to get hurt just to harm me again. Charlie knew it too and pulled out the gun he had hidden in his waistband and trained it on her.

“Tiffany, the decision lies with you on what happens next, but isn’t your life worth living? You haven’t hurt Ana yet. It’s just breaking and entering at the moment. It would be, at best, a few more years added to your sentence. But if you decide to proceed, you won’t succeed, and I won’t be shooting to kill. You will survive, you’ll just be in a world of pain, and still end up going to prison. The police are already here, waiting to pick you up. I promise you that neither you nor Gretchen will be making that flight tonight,” Charlie told her.

I lifted my arm and leveled my gun at Tiffany as Gretchen ran over to look out the window. Tiffany was shocked to see that I was armed, but then scoffed. “I know you don’t know how to use that gun. You’re just going to have your husband do the heavy lifting. I’m not scared of you at all. You’re still the same pathetic girl who let me bully her for years. I know for a fact that you don’t know how to fire it. Even if you did, you won’t be able to react faster than I can,” she stated.

She was mocking me, and clearly didn’t think I was a threat to her at all. She was wrong, but I was just waiting for the move I knew was coming. I heard the blinds shift as Gretchen looked out the window.

“Tiffany, they aren’t bluffing. There are at least a dozen officers outside. We’re not going to be able to get out of here,” Gretchen cried out. The clear panic in her voice let everyone in the room know that Charlie hadn’t been lying.

That was the first moment Tiffany showed the first hint of fear. She was much less confident now than she was before. I could see her trying to come up with a way out of this, but she was coming up empty. What could she do? Her parents had been arrested, which meant her new ID and passport had been taken. They knew what was going on, and there really wasn’t anything she could do. She only had two options, and I could see that surrendering was not the option she was going with today.

Her face was resigned, like she knew what her fate was going to be. She was going to try to force Charlie to kill her by attacking me. She wasn’t going to go to prison. She was going to come for me, and I hoped she would die in the process. I didn’t know what the new plan was supposed to be, as nothing was going as planned. Charlie was never supposed to come downstairs, but we both knew that Tiffany was completely off script now. She was going with gut instinct now, and she had never been more dangerous.

“Tiffany, just give up. Look at what you’ve drug Mom and Dad into. All because you’re fixated on Ana. Maybe Seth’s right. We need to get you help. You need to stop this madness. Put the lid on the bottle and put it down. Don’t you understand that what you’ve done is going to ruin Dad’s company? Probably mine too, but enough is enough. For God’s sake, you need to realize that you can’t make any more moves. You’re in checkmate and you don’t even realize it,” Holden advised. He was trying to reason with her, but it only made her angrier.

“I want to leave. I don’t want to be shot. Can I just go outside?” Gretchen asked.

“Yes, you can. Just put your hands up and walk outside. Follow their commands and you should be fine,” Charlie replied.

But Tiffany spoke at the same time. “No, you can’t. We’re in this together, Gretchen. You’re not leaving me behind after all the help I’ve given you. Get your ass over here, and record.”

Gretchen looked torn. It was apparent that she didn’t want to be here anymore. She hadn’t from the start. I could see her face when they entered, and she was just along for the ride. I knew that Eddie and Tiffany wouldn’t let her stay behind in the car. She would have left them the moment she got scared. They couldn’t risk it. Gretchen wasn’t known for her bravery. She didn’t know what to do, but I was getting tired of Tiffany dragging this out.

This whole situation was too stressful for me. My arm was hurting from keeping my gun trained on her. I knew what she was doing. She wanted me to lower my arm; she wanted Charlie to take the shot. She knew that he would be so worried about me, he might kill her. Gretchen might have been hateful in high school, but I didn’t wish death on her. I knew that Tiffany wanted her to die alongside her, but I can’t let that happen.

“Gretchen, it’s over. You won’t be leaving the country. You don’t have to listen to Tiffany anymore. She wants you to go down with her, but you don’t have to do that. You only received a few years. Let this be a lesson to you when making friends again. If they act like Tiffany, steer clear of them. Just walk outside with your hands up. Listen to their instruction. Tiffany has already decided her fate, don’t let her decide yours,” I called over to her.

She was willing to ruin her life just to strike at me, and that was incredibly sad. “Tiffany, you’re the one who can stop this. Please, just put the lid back on the bottle and set it down.

That’s all you have to do,” I told her.

But a few seconds later, everything seemed to unfold in slow motion as her actions played out. Someone opened the garage door and entered our home before the timer went off. Gretchen moved away from the kitchen and closer to the stairs. Tiffany glanced over to see who had entered, and that was a mistake. I heard a slight noise coming from the stairs, and so did Tiffany. She glanced back, thinking it was Charlie, but he had moved towards us. Rita came flying down the stairs like an avenging angel.

Her favorite knife was already raised in her hand, and she was focused. Tiffany reacted quickly, but it turned out to be the biggest mistake of her life. She had bragged about testing out how to remove the acid from the bottle, but water was not the same consistency as sulfuric acid. One minute, Tiffany had her hand raised to fling the contents towards me, and the next, she was screaming in anguish.

Rita’s knife had punctured Tiffany’s right hand. The same hand that she had been holding the open bottle in. Once her hand was stabbed, she immediately dropped the bottle on herself. It was a horrific sight to see, as a great deal of the contents hit Tiffany dead in the face and started to run down her body. Gretchen was now screaming as some of the acid had splattered onto her, but nowhere near the amount that Tiffany had received. The bottle had been small, but the effects of the acid were shocking.

Officers were pouring into our home, but they stopped in shock at seeing what was happening to Tiffany. There was a brief pause, like five seconds, before they called for an ambulance. Charlie and I had lowered our weapons and allowed the police to collect them. Charlie explained that everything that had happened had been recorded and that there was a man upstairs who needed to be handcuffed.

Tiffany and Gretchen were quickly taken to the hospital, but Tiffany would never recover from this. I didn’t even know if she would even want to live anymore at this point. Especially once she saw the damage she had sustained. She had no one else to blame but herself, as she had been warned.