A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 65: Sentencing

The day finally came. The day of Hopper and Freddie’s sentencing. Hopper and Freddie sat in between their lawyers, looking so nervous.

Amelia, James and the rest of the families were seated in the courtroom, waiting to hear what the judge had to say.

“After listening to all the evidences in the murder case of Mr. Stanley and Mrs Clara Copper, which took place on the 10th of October, 1997. And after the defendants, Mr Hopper Richardson and Freddie Cooper had pleaded guilty, I hereby pronounce both of them guilty!”

Amelia shut her eyes tighter and lowered her head. She gulped hard and held into James’ lap pretty tight. James touched her hand and tapped it slowly.

‘Amelia, did you make the right decision to bring them to court?’ She asked herself, waiting for the most important part of the judge’s decision.

“This is my judgement! Mr. Hopper Richardson and Mr. Freddie Copper is sentenced to twenty years imprisonment with hard labor!”

The heads of Hopper and Freddie fell low in sadness, and their eyes were heated in tears immediately they heard their judgement.

‘At least I don’t get to die.’ Freddie said to himself, trying to act like a man.

“Oh My God!” Penelope exclaimed loudly and broke into tears.

The judge hit the gavel on the table and stood up. “Court! All rise!” The bailiff announced and everyone stood up.

Amelia’s eyes were filled with tears, and so were the eyes of the women in the families. Penelope broke down in Elena’s arms and refused to stand up.

Amelia and Elena exchanged looks and said nothing to each other.

“We should leave.” James whispered in Amelia’s ear, and she bobbed. James looked at Helen and Charles, signaling to them that they were leaving already.

Helen approached Penelope sadly and squatted in front of her. “I’m so sorry, Penelope. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.” Helen said, and Penelope raised her head to look at her.

She shifted her gaze to Amelia who was also staring at her, and she shook her head.

“You don’t have to be sorry. They were brought to justice for their crimes. It just hurts so much that I won’t be with my husband for twenty years.” She mumbled.

Ava cleaned her teary eyes and pulled Gordon with her to where Amelie was standing.

“You finally got your revenge, Amelia.” Ava muttered.

“Ava, II…”

“You don’t have to be sorry, I know that’s what you want to say. You don’t have to say it. You did what was right to you. But can you please drop the charges on my brother? let us bail him already. He has spent four months there already. Isn’t that enough? I have no one else, Amelia.”

Amelia felt so bad for Ava as she listened to her. She gulped hard and bounced her head.

“I’ll drop the charge on him, Ava.” Amelia gave her word and a faint smile crept up Ava’s face.

“Thank you so much, Amelia. Thank you.” Ava responded, before walking away with Gordon.

“So does that mean she is cool with us sending her father to prison if we let go of Hudson?” James asked, and Amelia sighed.

“I have no idea, James. I don’t even know what to think right now.” She responded.

James noticed how stressed she was, and he wished they could leave the court premises as soon as possible.

Helen and Charles moved away from Penelope, and walked closer to Amelia.

“We should leave now. Where is Alice?” Helen asked, looking around.

“She is with Mrs. Alba. They are outside the courtroom. Can we leave now?” James asked, and his parents consented.

Amelia took one last look at Elena and pointed to the door. She wanted to tell her that she was leaving already.

Elena sighed and bounced her head. She couldn’t leave yet because she was still stuck with Penelope, balling her eyes out.

They all turned to leave and as soon Penelope knew they headed out, she stood up and began to approach the door too.

“Mom! Where are you going?” Elena inquired, running after her so she could stop her before she did something stupid.

Penelope ignored Elena’s question, and when she got out of the courtroom, she approached Amelia.

“Amelia!” Penelope called, making everyone take an instant halt.

“Mrs. Penelope.” Amelia responded.

“We should let both of them talk alone.” Charles whispered in James and Helen’s ears.

“Amelia, I’ll go and get Alice.” Helen uttered, briskly walking away with Charles. James on the other hand was pretty reluctant.

He wasn’t sure leaving Amelia alone with her emotionally broken mother was a good idea.

Penelope glared at James, waiting for him to also excuse them as her parents did, but instead, he didn’t move an inch.

“Hey… can’t you just respect our privacy and excuse us? This is a family discussion, okay? You don’t have to be here to listen!” Penelope uttered in a loud, harsh manner, that even James’ parents heard from where they were.

They turned back and realized he wasn’t even following them in the first place.” I knew he wouldn’t want to leave.” Helen muttered.

Amelia exhaled softly and turned to look at James, who still didn’t make any attempt to move an inch.

“It’s okay, James. I’ll be fine.” Amelia said to him with a feeble smile.

James gulped and moved his gaze from Penelope to Amelia. “Are you sure?” He asked calmly, and she gave him a reassured nod.

“I’ll catch up with you soon.” She added, and he bounced his head. He took one last look at Penelope and Elena before he began to walk away.

As soon as he was gone, Penelope diverted her angry gaze from James to Amelia.

“Are you happy now?!” She asked in the same loud and harsh tone.

“Mom. You are creating a scene.” Elena whispered to Penelope from behind, but it didn’t make any difference, as Penelope was too hurt to notice what was going on around her.

“Yes, I am! They are finally brought to justice for the crime they tried to cover with their money. They even confessed, Mrs. Penelope.”

“Why did you have to bring them here in the first place?! That is your father, Amelia! He was suffering enough from the fact that you despised him for the mistake he made, that you never will see him as a father. Isn’t that enough?”

Amelia gulped hard and kept mute. All she did was stare at her with clear eyes.

“You have no response to that? Fine! Hopper was the one that initiated the plan. He never acted as a father to you, he was this, he was that. What about Freddie, hun?! Freddie was just following orders! He took care of you, Amelia! How could he be so ungrateful!”

“Uncle Freddie wasn’t just following orders. He had his evil motives too.”

“They have been gone for fifteen years! These men regret their actions. Why couldn’t you let it slide?! I kept coming to you to plead for your forgiveness, but you turned deaf ears. I thought you were the nicest! I never knew you were this heartless!” Penelope yelled, poking Amelia’s chest.

“Mom, stop it, okay?! Stop!” Elena yelled, pulling Penelope’s hand away from Amelia.

“All these won’t bring them back to us! The deed has been done! You just have to get over it!”

“Get over it?! I won’t be seeing him in twenty years! I have never been separated from him! You can’t understand because you never truly loved him!” Penelope yelled at Elena.

“Mom! That’s enough! Dad saw it was coming right? A and he decided not to fight it. He knew he was at fault, and I believe he wouldn’t like the fact that you are creating a scene here! I know you’re hurting and that is why you’re saying these things. But that is enough! Let’s go home!” Elena yelled back in frustration.

Penelope broke into tears again and looked at Amelia, who also had tears in her eyes too.

“Enough, Mrs. Penelope.” Amelia muttered.

Penelope clenched her jaws and fists and looked away. She turned and began to walk away angrily. Elena heaved a sigh and looked at Amelia.

“I’m sorry about that. Don’t take her words too seriously. She spoke out of the heat of the moment.”

Amelia shook her head and looked at Penelope again. “What about you? You aren’t mad at me?” She asked.

“Will that change the fact that he is now sentenced to prison? It doesn’t change anything. I do understand you to some extent. Just give mom some time. She’ll get over it.”

Amelia bounced her head and smiled. “Thank you for understanding, Elena.”

“Kiss Alice, good day for me. I’ll drop by your house later to see her.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

Elena nodded and turned to leave too. Amelia exhaled loudly and saw James staring at her from where they had parked the car.

She smiled faintly and began to approach him.

“Are you okay? What did Elena say to you?” He asked worriedly.

“She didn’t say anything rude. She totally understands why I did all of these.”

“Are you sure?” James asked, furrowing his brows.

“Hmm. You don’t have to worry about her.” Amelia added, opening the front door.

“Why is she extremely nice these days? Do people really change that fast?” James wondered aloud, and Amelia chuckled.

“Let’s get out of here first. We can talk about that later.” She responded. She looked back at Helen and saw her playing with baby Alice.

“Mr. Charles has gone back?” She asked, and Helen bounced her head, not looking up from baby Alice’s face.

*

~ Later in the day ~

James, Amelia and Alice took a nap after the sentencing at the court. Amelia needed to rest her brain and find out if all what she did was really worth it.

She got out of bed before James and picked up her parent’s portrait. She stared at their faces for minutes and ran her finger over them.

“Did I do the right thing?” She asked.

“Ding! Dong!” The doorbell rang.

Amelia put the portrait away and stood up. She looked at James and Alice and saw them sleeping peacefully. She trudged out of the room and headed to the door.

“I’m coming!”

She opened the door and saw Elena standing in front of her. She carried two shopping bags and wore a bright smile.

“So, I went shopping for Alice! I saw some cool clothes and baby shoes! Damn, some of the jewelries are chick! I got one dress she would wear for our birthday party too! We should talk about the preparations!” Elena uttered without hesitation, walking to the couch.

Amelia smiled and looked at her until she sat. Elena noticed she was staring, and she raised her brows.

“What?” Elena asked, and Amelia shook her head.

“It’s nothing. I’m just surprised about how nice you’ve been to me and Alice these days.”

“Why are you so surprised? You’re my sister, and Alice is my daughter! This is the normal thing to do. Come closer! Let’s plan our birthday party.” Elena waved at her to come closer.

“Birthday party. About that. Is that still going to happen? I don’t think Mrs. Penelope would like the idea anymore.”

“C’mon, Amelia. Of course, she would. She told me to apologize on her behalf. She is too embarrassed to approach you herself. She regrets what she said.”

“really?”

“Hmm. She told me the party will still take place, and we should let her know what and what we would love for the party.” Elena added, pulling out a jotter from her bag. Original content from NôvelDrama.Org.

“Can I take a look at the things you got for Alice?”

“Yes! Tell me which ones you like the most, and I’ll get them in different colors for her.”

“Alright.”

“Amelia?” James called, carrying crying Alice in his arms. His upper body was bare.

“You’re awake.” She uttered and ran to where he stood “She must be hungry. I’ll feed her now.” She carried Alice in her arms, and walked to the couch again.

“Hi, James.” Elena greeted with a very wide smile.

“Hi.” He responded reluctantly and walked to the room to get some clothes on.