I Took My Husband’s Mistress To Her Appointment. Then Sent Them Both To Prison Chapter 19
More than six months later, Rhys’s criminal trial began. Every seat in the courtroom was filled. Cameras were prohibited inside, but reporters and spectators packed the area outside the courthouse.
Rhys looked pale when officers brought him in. He was thinner than the last time I had seen him. Yet the moment he noticed me, his eyes still brightened.
I looked away.
His expression immediately dimmed.
The prosecutor introduced the evidence in order.
Recordings.
Bank transfers.
Testimony from the driver’s widow.
Livia’s testimony under her cooperation agreement.
And transaction records between Rhys and the intermediary who forged the documents.
Piece by piece.
Rhys lost more color with every exhibit. His fists tightened until his knuckles blanched.
Livia testified with her own attorney present. Under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, she admitted she had known from the beginning that Rhys was married.
She also admitted participating in the cover-up after the vehicle attack. She still faced criminal liability in a separate proceeding.
She wore an oversized coat and looked painfully thin. When she saw Rhys, she visibly trembled. As Livia took the witness stand, Rhys stared at her.
The judge immediately warned him against threatening or intimidating any witness. Tears fell from Livia’s eyes, but this time she didn’t retreat.
“Rhys directed all of it.”
“He told me he had already divorced Genevieve.”
“He promised that once I gave birth, I would lawfully become Mrs. Sterling.”
On cross-examination, the defense attorney produced early messages and asked whether she had known from the start that Rhys had a wife. Livia went white and did not answer for a long time. The attorney projected one of her messages onto a screen.
“I know you have a wife. I don’t care, as long as I’m the one standing beside you in the end.”
A ripple of shocked gasps swept the courtroom.
Livia’s face went bloodless.
The defense continued.
“Did you also suggest that if Ms. Rowland’s child were gone, your own child would have a higher position within the family?”
Her lips trembled.
“Yes.”
Rhys suddenly laughed from the defense table. The judge ordered him to remain silent. But that one cold laugh shattered the last of Livia’s control.
She spun toward him and cried out, “What are you laughing at? You promised to marry me.”
“You kept getting me pregnant. You were the one who said Genevieve’s baby couldn’t be allowed to live!”
The judge struck the gavel and ordered her to answer only the questions asked.
The courtroom quickly returned to order.
But the words were already on the record.
Rhys’s face changed.
Livia turned back to the witness stand, wiped away her tears, and spoke with a shaking voice.
“He doesn’t regret it because he’s become a better person.”
“He regrets it because he finally lost the one person who always obeyed him.”
“Rhys has only ever loved himself.”
I sat behind the prosecution in the section reserved for victims and said nothing.
They attacked one another.
Exposed one another.
Dragged one another down.
I only had to watch.
The evidence had spoken. Sooner or later, lies turned on the people who told them.
Rhys suddenly looked at me.
There was anger in his eyes, panic, and something close to a humble plea. His lips parted, but under the judge’s cold gaze, he didn’t dare speak.
I calmly looked away.
No one needed me to explain what kind of man Rhys was. The evidence had done it for me. The last trace of color vanished from his face.
After deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts on multiple counts. Several weeks later, at the sentencing hearing, Rhys requested permission to make a statement before the final sentence was imposed. He stood with none of his old arrogance left, his voice scraped rough.
“I want to say something to Genevieve Rowland.”
The judge did not permit him to address me privately. He reminded Rhys that he could make only a sentencing statement and could not harass the victim.
Rhys looked at me anyway.
This time, he did not use my full name the way he always had during arguments.
He only said, “Genevieve.”