Rebekah Miller couldn't help the feeling of dread that had come over her now. If she weren't so sure of her consciousness, she would have thought she was having a bad dream, but she knew that wasn't the case.
She was actually living a nightmare right now. Her daughters, who were supposed to make her stand out and shine brilliantly on the show, were turning against her in front of millions of viewers.
What was happening? Was this Jade's plan? Did she poison their heart against her so that she would be humiliated this way? Had her apology come too late, and she was already being punished by the Hank family?
Were Eric and Alicia a part of this, or were they oblivious to what was going on?
Was it wise to remain here? Or perhaps she should leave before she was embarrassed further by her traitorous daughters? Rebekah mused.
Away from there, inside Tom's office, his large television screen, which was rarely turned on, was on now as he watched the live show with Harry and Lucy.
They couldn't help their laughter as they watched the scene before them. The show was yet to start, and Rebekah was fidgeting already.
They couldn't wait to see how everything would play out or how she would react when everything she had done finally came to light.
"At this rate, I fear she might leave before the show is over," Lucy said without taking her eyes off Rebekah on the screen.
"No, she wouldn't. The police are waiting right outside already while also watching the show. They will move in at the right time. It's a show, after all. Relax and enjoy it," Tom said with a grin.
"The police are there already? Is Jade aware?" Harry asked since Tom had not shared that part of the plan with them.
"I don't think she is aware. I decided to cover all the bases. I don't want any mistakes or flops. This is my show, after all, and I should make sure it comes to a perfect end," Tom said, and Harry chuckled.
"Wouldn't it be fun to organize something like this for Sara as well? I love the idea of watching her downfall with a glass of wine in hand as I'm entertained," Harry said, and Tom grinned.
"I'd love to see that too," Tom said, and they all returned their attention to the television in time to hear Eric speak.
"That was sort of awkward. Why don't we leave this subject since it seems like a sort of topic for your family," Eric suggested, and Rebekah relaxed a bit as he wanted her to.
"Yes. Let's move to safer topics. Well, before the whole drama surrounding your daughters started, we were going to talk about you, Rebekah. If you don't mind, we'd like to talk about your marriage to your late husband," Alicia said, and Rebekah's brows pulled together.
What did her late husband have to do with this interview? Why were they bringing this up? Was this Jade's doing? It couldn't be a coincidence that she had seen her lost phone with Jade a couple of days ago, after which Jade had brought up her late husband, and now she was being asked about him on a live show.
"What about our marriage?" She asked, trying to smoothen her brows for the camera even though this interview was beginning to stress her and beads of sweat were now rolling down her back.
"You both were separated for about eight years before his death four years ago, am I right?" Alicia asked, and Rebekah nodded as she clasped her hands together.
"Yes, we were estranged for years," Rebekah answered, hoping this would be the last of the questions regarding her husband.
"Why estranged? Why didn't you get a divorce? I mean, eight years is a long time, right? And you're such an attractive and beautiful lady. You could have easily divorced him and remarried. Why didn't you?" Alicia asked, and Rebekah smiled as she shook her head.
It seemed like she had been mistaken. The question was easy enough and expected.
"Well, apart from the fact that I'm old-fashioned and do not believe in divorce, I never stopped loving my husband. Although I was disappointed by most of his life choices, and he also knew I couldn't forgive him for some of his mistakes, so we settled for a separation. It was the best I could do. My mama raised me to be a till death do us part kind of wife…"
"Really? Was that why you murdered him? So you would be free of him?" Tiffany asked, cutting off her mother, and both Alicia and Eric turned to her while the audience went completely silent.
"I beg your pardon?" Rebekah asked, her heart thudding fast in her chest now. She could almost feel the walls closing over her. She needed to leave. She needed to find a graceful way out of here.
"Murder? What are you talking about? Your father took his life…."
"Our father didn't take his life. He was murdered," Bernice said emphatically, cutting off Eric.
"What do you mean he was murdered? I remember it was all over the news that he took his life, and your mother here was the first person to see his body," Alicia said, trying not to sound as excited as she actually felt.
"Isn't it just too convenient that the first person who saw his corpse happened to be his estranged wife?" Bernice asked, her eyes burning with hatred for her mother as she looked at her.
"Are you accusing me of murdering my own husband? Your father, because I was the first to see his body?" Rebekah asked with a chagrined expression, momentarily forgetting about the camera as she faced her daughter.
"Your husband? The same man you kicked out after he lost all he had, and you never let him come close to any of us? You didn't even let him attend our weddings. Tell us. What were you doing at his place when you found his body? What did you go to check on him for on the day of his death?" Bernice asked, and Rebekah's eyes hardened.
"You can't be asking me such a question in a live show…"
"Why not? It's called a live show for a reason. If you didn't want your business to be public business, you wouldn't be sitting here right now. Or what did you expect to discuss here? Your beauty products?" Bernice asked harshly.
"Your father asked to see me!" Rebekah yelled at her, losing her cool.
"I can't believe you are asking me such a question in such a place simply because your drunk of an uncle put ideas in your head," Rebekah said, and Tiffany, who had been silent, shook her head.
"Uncle Wyatt may have put the idea in our heads that you murdered our father, but we have also been doing some digging, and everything points to you," Tiffany said, drawing their mother's attention to herself.
Alicia exchanged a look with Eric, wanting to know if she should step in now, but Eric shook his head.
Although this wasn't the sort of show usually aired on Live with Eric Howells, but no one could accuse him of setting the family up.
They were asking pretty decent and straightforward questions, but it was clear the family obviously had a lot of dirty linens to wash before the camera.
He could imagine the scandal that this interview would generate. He could picture the headlines on blogs and news outlets.
Everyone would want to watch the show and see what had transpired for themselves, and it would be awesome because he would make the rerun available based on popular demand.
This was undoubtedly going to make his ratings blow up and give his show even more publicity than it already had.
He had no doubt that his team handling the social media page were working already! He owed Thomas Hank and Harry Jonas big time for granting him such an opportunity.
Although Rebekah wanted nothing more than to stand up and walk out of the show, her ego wouldn't let her. She wouldn't give her daughters the satisfaction of shaming her or calling her a murderer on a live show. She would leave only after silencing her daughters.
"What exactly points to me? Because as far as I can see, the only crime I seem to have committed before you two is finding your father's corpse! And I won't have you both speak to me like this in public!" Rebekah responded hotly.
"The only crime? Did this horrible bitch just say the only crime she committed?" Bernice asked Tiffany in disbelief as she rose from her seat.
"You duped him! You kept fucking around with different men, both young and old, and when he wanted a divorce, you conned him! You and your lover conned him and took all he had!" Bernice yelled at her mother angrily.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm "These are some serious accusations without evidence, you know? Would you all like to calm down and talk it out? I'm sure this is all one big misunderstanding," Alicia said with a polite smile, but neither of them was paying any attention to her.
Tiffany opened her handbag and took out the documents which Jade had given them to prove that the it was Rebekah and Mr Bateman who jointly owned the business which had duped their father.
She flung it at Rebekah, who was yet to recover from her shock at what Bernice had just said about conning their father. How did she find out about that? How much did they know? And how did they manage to lay their hands on the evidence?
"Can you deny this?" Tiffany asked while Eric picked up the documents and glanced at them.
"Isn't this your father-in-law?" Eric asked Tiffany after reading out what was written on it, and she nodded.
"Yes. And this woman here has been having an affair with him for years," Tiffany said, and it was all Eric could do not to whistle.
Since they wanted to play dirty, she would stoop low and play dirty with them so that they all would be affected. She wouldn't go down alone! Never!
"How can you both do this? How can you do this to me after all I've done for you?" Rebekah asked, struggling between her disbelief, anger, embarrassment, and pain of betrayal.
"And what have you done for us? What exactly did you do other than try to ruin our lives?" Bernice retorted angrily.
"Do you want to know what is more disgusting than her having an affair with my father-in-law? She has been having an affair with Benny's late husband on the side as well!" Tiffany announced before Rebekah could say anything, and both Alicia and Eric's jaws dropped in surprise.
"Adam is not late. He is alive," Bernice corrected, and this time they all watched as Rebekah, whose face had been a bright red, suddenly blanched.
No! This wasn't happening. It was all a nightmare. She was going to wake up at any moment and realize she had been sleeping all along and was having a bad dream simply because of her anxiety, Rebekah assured herself.
"What are you talking about, Benny?" Tiffany asked in confusion, and Alicia and Eric also looked at her equally confused.
"I found out before we got on stage that he is alive. He is not dead," Bernice said, and as though on cue, Eric looked up at the screen with a frown when his media team suddenly switched the channel.
"She is right," Eric said as he jerked his head to the screen, and they all looked up to see Jackson Bateman standing outside the police station with the Chief judge while they were being interviewed.
The headline on the screen read, [ADAM WASHINGTON ALIVE: JACKSON BATEMAN SET FREE BASED ON NEW EVIDENCE PROVING HIS INNOCENCE]
Jade giggled as she watched the confusion on their faces and the panic on Rebekah's face. This felt like she was watching a play in a drama theater.
Although the sisters had suspected that Adam was alive because of the way his parents had remained hushed about the issue, but seeing the official news now, they exchanged a look, wondering what exactly was going on.
Rebekah shut her eyes as she tried to think. If Adam was still alive and there was evidence to prove that Jackson was innocent, then it meant they were coming for her. This was the wrong place to be right now. It was time to leave. She was going to just get off the stage and go into hiding.
"I won't stand here and take any more of all these insults and accusations from you both! You stand there and judge me for having an affair with your sister's husband, but you have no problem with her fucking your husband. And what about you fucking all the helps in your house! You are both hypocrites, and it is needless to say, you are no longer my daughters! Eric, I hope you had a nice show," Rebekah said spitefully, wanting to have the last word as she left.
Before she could walk out of the stage, Tiffany grabbed her hair and pulled her right back, "Yes, I'm bisexual, so what? Jackson and I have an open marriage, and we are free to do whatever we want with whomever! You have no excuse for doing all you did to our father, and we are going to make you pay!" Tiffany screeched angrily as she shook her mother while Eric and Alicia quickly went to rescue Rebekah from Tiffany's grip.
As they scuffled on the stage, the police walked into the hall, and all eyes turned to them. Tiffany let go of Rebekah immediately since the police were there and her mission was accomplished.
Taking that as her cue, Jade stood up and escorted them to the stage while Candace remained seated.
"You put them up to this! This is your doing, isn't it?" Rebekah said coldly.
She knew there was no way out of this now, but she was not going to let them see her fear.
"Yes, it is. It's good to know that you are smart and can arrange the puzzle pieces," Jade said with a pleasant smile.
"How does it feel, having your lovers as your audience?" Jade asked surprising everyone who had thought they knew it all.
"Lovers? What? These men are her lovers?" Bernice asked in disbelief while Tiffany looked at the audience with disgust.
The men in the audience all looked at each other, surprised to realize that they were in the midst of their fellow colleagues.
"Yes, they are," Jade said with a cheerful smile, but her eyes were cold as she looked at Rebekah.
"I'm not part of them!" Candace announced as she quickly stepped away when she noticed the way all eyes were on the audience now.
"In case you are wondering why these detectives are here, I will spell it out to you before they read your rights. You are going to jail for a lot of reasons, and guess what? No lawyer is going to save you. Needless to say, you are going to jail for duping and murdering your late husband. You are going to jail for the attempted murder of Adam Washington and for deliberately trying to make my client, Mr. Jackson Bateman, the culprit, you are going to jail for your illegal business dealings and using your foundation for money laundering, and most importantly, you are going to jail for making an attempt on my life," Jade said and watched to her satisfaction as Rebekah staggered on her feet despite her false bravado.
"You can read her rights and take her away," Jade said before stepping back.
"You let her use you. How could you let her use you?" Rebekah cried, pointing at her children as the detectives read her rights.
"How could you murder our father? How could you dupe him and murder him?" Tiffany asked, feeling tears burn behind her eyes as the detectives cuffed her.
"You are no daughter of mine, Tiffany. You betrayed me for a man who isn't even your biological father. You think you ruined me? You are all ruined as well! She used you to ruin us all. Shame on you both!" Rebekah spat at her daughters as the detectives led her away.
And just like that, the live show was over.
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