Chapter 122: Too late for regrets

JAXON’S POV

I wasn’t expecting what I learned from Hudson, but I wasn’t expecting Diana to be so upfront about it either.

Hearing from my enemy that my daughter had been the one to cause such massive harm was the last thing I thought I would get out of that call, and not long after I did, Diana had walked in.

Without hesitation, I asked her, wanting nothing but the truth from her, and she gave it.

“Yes, I did it.”

“It was me who told Hudson where to find Diana.”

Her admission plunged the room into total silence.

Nathan reacted first, cursing before walking hurriedly to grab her. “Why would you do that? Why the hell would you do that? Do you even understand what you’ve done? Why would you do that to your friend?”

“She’s not my friend!” Diana snapped, yanking herself out of his grip with several steps taken in retreat.

“Nancy is not my friend.” She repeated icily.

Nathan stared at her incredulously, like he couldn’t wrap his head around why she had reacted like that, but I already knew.

Even though she hadn’t said the words just yet, I knew.

Sure enough, she turned to me with bloodshot eyes.

“This is all your fault.”

Nathan turned away, running a hand through his hair. “This is unbelievable. How is any of this your dad's fault? You’re the one who ratted my sister…”

“I did it because of him!”

She spun to me. “You and Nancy, you both lied to me!”

Her words rang sharply through the room. I didn’t lose my composure. At that moment, I wasn’t even sure how I felt, knowing that my daughter had put the woman I loved, who also happened to be her best friend, in danger.

Arguably, one would say that I should feel sorry for Diana as her father and feel guilty and apologetic to her, but as a man who loved Nancy, who also hadn’t been able to keep any of his promises to her, I was fuming.

None of my emotions were reflected on my face, though, even as Diana raged in my face.

“This is all your fault. You guys lied to me.” Diana screeched.

“Is that why you gave Nancy back to the man she was running from?”

She was startled for a moment, then she sneered. “Why not?”

“You can have her, but no one else can?”

“Diana…” my voice bristled with warning.

She didn't even react like she heard me.

“Don’t call my name! I trusted you? I trusted her, and I told her everything. I’ve always been there for her, defending her, yet she slept with you.”

“Diana…” This time, it was Nathan who interjected, but Diana cut him off.

“Your sister is a whore. She slept with my father while living under the same roof with me!”

The truth hung between us, ugly and unavoidable, a moment I had been waiting for all along. The instant I spoke to Hudson, even before Diana arrived, I knew this was the reasoning behind her actions.

I was just waiting for her to come here and say it, and here she was.

Diana’s voice cracked, and she laughed bitterly, swiping hard at the tears that were beginning to stream down her face.

“Go on, Dad,” she said in a jeering tone. “Why are you quiet now? Say something.”

She turned to Nathan again.

“You too, Nathan. What? Cat’s got your tongue now?”

“Why are both of you quiet?”

I dragged a deep breath through my nostrils, then exhaled slowly, while her gaze darted between us tauntingly.

“Do you think that justifies what you did?” I finally said.

“You’re the one who destroyed everything. None of you has the right to make me feel guilty or paint me as a villain when you’ve done worse to me. You ruined my life!”

“And your solution to fixing it was to put Nancy in danger?” I continued calmly.

“I don’t need to fix anything. I returned everything to its rightful place, that’s what I did. Nancy is in New Jersey, where she belongs, far away from me and everything that belongs to you and you…”

She sucked in a deep breath. “You and I can forget all of this happened and move on. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“Including Nancy?”

Diana wasn't thinking straight, and it was reflected in the choices she made. It wasn’t like I couldn’t get mad at her or yell at her the same way she was doing, but I understood where she was coming from and why she did all of that.

While I could accept all of her actions, there was one thing I couldn’t forgive.

“You shouldn’t have called Hudson, Diana.”

“You called the one man who would make her life a living hell and told him exactly where to find her.”

Her lips parted, but no words came out. Her face changed as well, because she knew there was no undoing this.

“She betrayed me,” Diana said weakly, holding on to what she thought to be a justification for her actions. “You both betrayed me. I deserve to be angry, I was hurt…”

“Being hurt does not erase the fact that you have now put my sister in danger!” Nathan spoke before I could, gnashing his teeth hard.

His eyes filled with tears.

“Do you know how guilty she felt towards you? Do you have any idea how worried she was about you?”

“I’m sure you don’t because you’ve been nothing but centered on yourself and your feelings!”

Nathan said exactly what I couldn’t say, highlighting how stupidly and selfishly Diana had acted when Nancy would have never done that to her if the roles were reversed.

His words seemed to hit Diana hard, too, because she staggered back like she had been physically struck.

Her shoulders slumped, and her gaze dropped. For the first time since she walked in, she looked like she regretted what she did.

I could only hope it wasn’t too late for regrets.