A/N – Thanks for the comments. Sorry I'm so late. I've had the day from hell. This chapter is a little short. Sorry. I just don't have it in me to write anything more right now. I need Calgon or Jason to get rid of my stress…
Chapter 55
Elizabeth's eyes were about to glaze over. Hugh had called several witnesses to drone on and on about safety and the materials. Finally, he called Ric to the stand.
Ric took a seat and Hugh started questioning him.
"Mr. Lansing, we've heard a lot of negative testimony about you. What do you have to say about that?"
"It's very unfortunate. I feel misunderstood."
"How so?"
"Well, I never wanted anyone to get hurt. That was not my intention at all."
"Can you explain why you walked off the job?"
"Yes. Things got heated between me and Elizabeth and I left. I was sticking up for my men. People get sick from time to time."
Elizabeth wanted to throttle him, but Diane had already told her not to show any emotion.
"So in your mind, she was being unreasonable."
"Yes, but I have to say that sometimes these kinds of things happen. She's fighting for a noble cause and I get that, but I couldn't compromise my workers."
"Do you think communication was an issue?"
"Yes. It's easy to sit here in hindsight and want to change things. I didn't get her messages and I should have checked in after we had both cooled down."
"Did you purposely use defective materials?"
Ric looked completely affronted. "No. I would never do that."
"Not even to teach Elizabeth a lesson?"
"No."
"Were you interested in dating her?" Hugh asked. He was trying to ask questions that would take the wind out of Diane's sails.
"Yes. I was, but I was completely professional and never overstepped."
"Are you mad at your brother for firing you?"
"I understand that he was covering himself legally, but it hurt. I think it has damaged our relationship beyond repair."
"Would you be willing to forgive him?"
"Probably. We're family and in the end, you realize the value of that."
Sonny wanted to roll his eyes so badly.
"Do you think you did your due diligence in making sure that construction was up to code?"
"Yes. I had inspectors to ensure our work was above standard. It was a horrible accident and I'm sorry that they were injured. There was nothing malicious on my part and I even approached Elizabeth to see if we could work things out after she had gotten out of the hospital."
"Did she shoot you down?"
"Yes. She was emotional and I get why."
"Is there anything else you want the jury to know?"
Ric turned to look at them. "I'm not a horrible person. This tragedy has greatly affected my life too. I worked hard to get where I was in my career and I would have never ruined that on purpose."
"Thank you. No further questions," Hugh said.
"Your witness," the judge said to Diane.
Diane stood and then slowly moved towards Ric. "Mr. Lansing, did you receive Ms. Webber's phone messages?"
"I did not."
"I can subpoena your phone records."
Ric wanted to smirk. "My phone was broken and when I got a new one, I changed the number."
"How convenient. Do you make it a habit to walk off jobs for days at a time with no contact with your customer?"
"No. When I didn't hear from her, I thought that maybe she needed more space."
Diane really wanted to smack the fake, pathetic look off his face. "Didn't you say you switched your phone number? How in the world would she reach you—telepathy?"
The jurors chuckled.
"Objection."
"Substained." Even the judge wanted to smile.
"Mr. Lansing, did you make any attempt to contact Ms. Webber or to go see her in order to straighten things out and get back on track?"
"No."
"Yet you said that you understood how tight the deadline was."
"I did."
"You didn't think that not being in contact with her for a week would push the project back?"
"I didn't think about it."
Diane was getting frustrated. "Clearly. According to one of the witnesses, your men had hangovers and that is why they called in. Were you aware of that?"
"No. I can only go by what they tell me."
"And in the days in between calling in sick, did they seem under the weather to you?"
"They seemed tired. I'm not a doctor."
"It's interesting that you are acting as if it was no big deal."
Ric shrugged. "There was nothing that I could do about it."
"There was plenty you could have done about the whole situation, but you chose not to and now you are sitting there trying to blame Elizabeth for your incompetence."
"Objection! Is there a question in there?" Hugh yelled.
"Ms. Miller. You have been warned."
"Sorry your honor. No further questions."
"Mr. Hughes, do you want to redirect?"
"No your honor."
"Then let's take a break for lunch."
Diane sat down and Jason leaned over to her and whispered, "Don't worry. He looked like a complete asshole."
She smirked. "I hope the jury feels that way. I don't think he has anyone left on his witness list and we're running out of time."
"Did you call Spinelli?"
"I'm going to do that right now."
Jason stood and held out his hand and Liz took it. They went to a private area to eat lunch with Edward and Monica. Diane was left to fret about their smoking gun. The jury could go either way at this point and her only hope was in a witness that she wasn't sure would be hostile if they managed to find him.
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Spinelli rushed into the courthouse and quickly located Diane.
"Did you find him?"
"Yes, but I'll need help getting him here."
Sonny walked up to them. "What can I do?"
"You know anyone willing to go get him?"
Sonny nodded. "Yeah." He took the piece of paper from Diane's hand. "It's two hours away. Do you think you have that long?"
"No."
Edward frowned. "I have access to a helicopter."
Diane spun around. "Edward, you just may have won this case for us."
Edward smiled. "I owe Jason one."
"Let's do this," Sonny said.
Edward made a few calls before joining his family.
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Amelia rushed into the store. She was making dinner for Johnny instead of them going out and she was panicking a little. For the last hour, she had been texting back and forth with one of her sisters, trying to figure out what to make. After asking a few opinions, she went with tacos, tequila, and nachos. She wasn't the best cook in the world, but she could make that.
She grabbed a hand basket and rushed around, trying to get all the ingredients so she could drop it off at her apartment before surgery. As she clipped a corner, she almost ran into someone and they caught her as she started to fall backwards. He smiled as she laughed.
"I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?"
His arms were around her as he pulled her back into a standing position. "Not at all." That is how Johnny found them. He had just gotten a sandwich from the deli counter for lunch and was shocked to see her.
"You're beautiful."
Amelia blushed. "Uh—thanks."
Johnny's head tilted, surprised that he felt a bolt of jealousy rock his body.
"Are you single."
She looked slightly confused as she tried to think of something to say.
He grinned, his crooked smile and amused blue eyes were a killer combination.
Johnny swallowed languidly and spun around and headed down an aisle, trying to process what he had just seen.
Amelia took a step backwards. "Thanks for the save."
"Are you free for dinner tonight?"
"Um, no. I'm sorry. I have a date."
"He's a very lucky man. I'm Jim. Here's my card if you change your mind."
"Amelia, my name's Amelia," she said awkwardly.
"That's a beautiful name too. Have a great day—Amelia."
The handsome stranger strode away and she ducked down the next aisle and fanned herself. If it weren't for Johnny, she would have definitely been down for that.
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Jason finished eating and shut the lid of the carton. He really wasn't that hungry, but didn't want to disappoint Monica since she had nicely arranged for the food.
Everyone was pretty quiet due to their nervousness.
Edward strode into the room and sat next to him. "I just got off the phone with Lila. She sends her love." His wife had a meeting with her foundation.
"I will have to make sure I stop by soon," Liz said. They hadn't planned it, but Jason had been staying with her for several days and while she was thoroughly enjoying it, she knew that it was only temporary.
"I'm sure she would love that."
Diane quickly sat next to Monica and grabbed a salad. "I'm going to have to speed eat." She practically inhaled a few bites.
"You have time," Monica said.
"There is a lot going on, but I don't want to get your hopes up."
Jason wiped his hands. "Spinelli?"
Diane nodded as she chewed.
"When will we know?" Liz asked.
"In less than an hour."
"But there are no more witnesses," Jason said.
Diane sighed. "I'm going to call Francis to the stand. He has credibility and I'll waste as much time as I can."
"He will do it."
"He's on his way. The problem is that I don't want to piss off the judge or the jury by being redundant." Her mind was already flipping through questions.
Liz sat back. Her appetite was gone and she was starting to worry. "If Spinelli comes through, I'm sending him to comic-con."
Diane smiled. "I know he'd love that." She looked at her phone. "It's almost time to go back. I'm going to need a shoe shopping trip after this trial is over, just to calm my nerves."
Edward perked up. "Well, the shopping trip is on me, in fact if you are willing to go into Manhattan, I will have Chloe Morgan assist you."
Diane's eyes grew wide. "There are witnesses that heard that."
Liz laughed. "Yup."
"I meant it. If you win, let's just say I hope you have a lot of closet space."
"I'll make room."
The door swung open. "Ten minutes…"
"Thank you," Diane said to the clerk. "I'm going to use the ladies room. I'll meet you out there."
"I'm coming with you," Liz said before grabbing her purse.
"Me too," Monica said.
Edward studied his grandson for a moment. "You know that if we lose, Ric will still pay. I will not allow him to get away with what he did."
"Do I want to know what you're planning?"
"No. You don't need to know the details. I will handle it because I owe that to you."
Jason wasn't sure what to say. Edward's devotion during the trial had definitely surprised him, but he grateful that he was embracing him.
"You don't have to say anything."
"I think that I do. Thank you for supporting me.
"Always. I'm proud that you are my grandson."
"I think I understand why my mom brought me back here."
"Go on."
"Well, I think even though she knew that the family is crazy, you stand up for each other and she wanted that for me, to understand what it's like to have family that will do anything for you."
Edward smiled. "I'm glad that she did. We're grumpy and opinionated, but we love hard. There might be times that we fight, but the love will always be there and that includes Tracy."
Jason gave him a look which made the patriarch chuckle. "I guess she is an acquired taste."
"She's fierce, just don't get on her bad side."
"I noticed. We better get in there."
Edward stood. "After you…"
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Diane finished up with Francis and Hugh took over.
"Mr. Corelli, you do realize that Ms. Webber had a contract with CCC when you took the job right?"
"As far as I was concerned, the contract was broken when Mr. Lansing didn't show up and abandoned the job."
"To me, it sounds like you were poaching business."
"I'm not that kind of person. I would have had no problem with Mr. Lansing fixing his mistakes."
Hugh looked at the judge. "Your honor, please have that last part stricken from the record."
"Agreed. Jury please disregard Mr. Corelli's assessment."
"Did you see the supposed bad materials yourself?"
"No. Jason is my foreman and he was handling the project."
"And you trust him?"
"Yes. He's very competent. I only hire the best."
Hugh started walking back to the desk. "No further questions."
"You may step down. Attorneys, please approach the bench."
Diane and Hugh stopped in front of him.
"Do you have any other witness."
"I do, but he's on route."
"Is this a new witness?" Hugh asked, wondering what she was up to.
"No. He's on the list."
The judge considered it. "You have ten minutes."
"Thank you, your honor," Diane said. Now she was starting to sweat.
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Jason leaned over and squeezed Diane's hand. "Deep breaths."
Her eyes momentarily teared before she quickly gained her composure which took him by surprise. "I can't fail."
"If they let him off, it's not your fault Diane. I won't blame you." She had been working night and day to try to win and he really appreciated it.
"Thank you for saying that, but I don't like to lose." It would be devastating to lose to someone like Hugh and Ric.
They rose as the judge entered.
"Ms. Miller, are you ready to give your closing argument?"
"Yes, your honor." She stood, trying to mask her disappointment and right before she started to speak, the door was thrown open and Spinelli rushed inside.
"What is the meaning of this?" the judge asked.
"Your honor, this is the witness that I've been waiting for. Can I please call him to the stand?"
"This is ridiculous. We've moved on."
"Mr. Hughes, this is my court and I will determine what is ridiculous. Ms. Miller, you better not be wasting our time."
"I promise you that I am not," Diane said.
Ric felt like he was going to be ill. Everything was about to change and there was no way that he could stop it.
