Regret Came Too Late

Alice's eyes were filled with pure terror as she scrambled to open the door, but her hands wouldn't obey her anymore.

She never imagined things would spiral like this. Joanne had promised her that if they worked together, they could take Grace down for good. So why did she lie to her?

"Joanne! Why did you lie to me?" Alice cried out.

Joanne crouched down beside her and smirked.

"I didn't lie to you," she said sweetly. "I told you from the start that if you took the fall, I'd handle Grace. Well, look around. Lambert Group is about to go belly-up. Liam's life is wrecked. I'm keeping my end of the deal, aren't I? You're just paying a small price to make it happen... That's only fair. At least this way, no one will look at me twice."

Alice, barely conscious, reached out and grabbed the cuff of Joanne's jeans with trembling fingers.

"I'm begging you," she sobbed. "Please, don't do this to me. Please... give me the antidote..."

Joanne stood up and gave her a kick. She said coolly, "If you're going to be ruthless, you'd better be good at it. Just being cruel isn't enough. You'll only end up as a stepping stone for someone like me."

"Aren't you afraid Grace will see your true colors? You're the one taking care of me! If I end up in a vegetative state, you're going to be the first one she'll suspect."

Joanne let out a soft chuckle as she calmly tucked the syringe back into the medical kit.

"Do you think I'm as stupid as you? I got this drug from Edric, and he got it from Jayce. It's an illegal drug. Even if they haul you off to the hospital, they'll just think you had a sudden stroke and ended up paralyzed."

Alice's last shred of hope collapsed, and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

gone against Grace. She shouldn't have spent her time in the

made her jealous, so jealous that it consumed her. She realized too late how

the first mistake she ever made was coming back to the Lambert family in the

then, Grace had been nothing but kind to her-even going so far as to blind Jayce in one eye to protect her. But she hated the light in Grace. The brighter Grace was, the uglier and more worthless

She clawed her way back into the Lambert family through lies and manipulation. And the moment Alice saw Grace surrounded by admiration, all she could

it was she who fought for Grace's chance to escape and that Grace hadn't even bothered to call the cops. She twisted the truth, and Grace never once

family's attitude toward

the rules of survival real fast. She knew that always

mind grew more twisted by the day. As long as she could see Grace broken and defeated, it felt like

regretted it all. If

differently from the start, maybe Grace would have kept protecting her. She regretted_ everything-but in this

suddenly remembered something Albert had told her before he passed.

ago, she made the choices that led her here. Now, she was paying the price in

...

got the news that Alice had suddenly collapsed. She rushed to the hospital, only

sat by her side,

saw Grace, Joanne jumped up. "Grace, I don't know what happened," she said breathlessly. "You hadn't been gone long when she