novelraw Chapter 393 - 394: Throwing Dirty Water
Chapter 393 - 394: Throwing Dirty Water
Chapter 393: Chapter 394: Throwing Dirty Water
Sabrina Johnson said, "Frederick Stewart, I’m telling you, if you dare divorce me, I’ll expose all the dirty deeds you’ve done. Don’t forget, when my adoptive father had a heart attack, you were the one who took his medicine. If it weren’t for you, my adoptive father wouldn’t have died..."
Frederick Stewart countered, "Really? Don’t forget, when your adoptive father had that heart attack, you were there too. I took the medicine, but you also did nothing, didn’t you?"
Sabrina Johnson remained silent.
"We are accomplices! If this comes out, neither of us can escape!" Frederick Stewart continued, his voice firm.
She still said nothing.
"Don’t think I don’t know you resent Dexter Johnson for treating Sienna better than you. You’re jealous of Sienna, so you hate Dexter Johnson. That’s why when he had a heart attack and I took his life-saving medicine, you didn’t stop me. In your heart, you actually hoped Dexter Johnson would die! Because if Dexter Johnson died, you would be the most favored person in the Johnson family."
"You... You’re talking nonsense!" Sabrina Johnson retorted, her voice trembling.
"Whether I’m talking nonsense or not, you know best!"
A beat of silence passed before Sabrina Johnson, amidst the courtroom’s uproar, began to cry pitifully, trying to shirk responsibility and clear herself of any blame. "It’s not like that... it’s not like that..."
"Defendant, do you admit to killing your adoptive father, Dexter Johnson?" the solemn judge inquired.
Sabrina Johnson just wept.
"Defendant, please answer the question!" Seeing her continuous crying and lack of response, the judge pressed again.
"Yes, I admit that when Dexter Johnson had a heart attack, I didn’t give him his Heart-Saving Pill!"
Sienna Johnson, sitting in the audience, had thought Sabrina Johnson would argue stubbornly and deny it to the end. She hadn’t expected Sabrina Johnson to admit it so readily; this truly surprised Sienna.
"That vicious woman!"
For Pauline Briggs, knowing Sabrina Johnson had killed Dexter Johnson was one thing, but hearing Sabrina admit it herself was another entirely. She stared angrily at the woman in the defendant’s dock, itching to go up and slap her a few times.
"Calm down, this is a courtroom." Sienna Johnson reminded the emotional Pauline. She was furious too, but she knew she couldn’t act rashly now.
They were currently portrayed as victims, and they needed to garner public sympathy. This sympathy could then be used to pressure the judge into giving Sabrina Johnson a heavy sentence.
Sabrina Johnson was pregnant and couldn’t be sentenced to death, so Sienna was determined to make her spend the rest of her life in prison.
"...I didn’t mean to kill him... It was Frederick who wanted to kill him, I just... I just didn’t stop it..."
Even when crying, Sabrina Johnson still looked beautiful, without a hint of ugliness in her expression. Her large eyes, from which big teardrops streamed straight down, made her resemble a heroine in a popular romantic TV drama. If Sienna hadn’t known the truth, looking at her, she might have actually felt a little sorry for Sabrina Johnson.
"This sister of yours is quite a character..." Adrian Desmond remarked, watching Sabrina Johnson’s performance with a cynical admiration, almost wanting to applaud.
Sienna glared at him and snapped unhappily, "What sister?!"
"I meant Sabrina Johnson!" Adrian Desmond quickly clarified.
"She’s not my sister! I don’t have a sister who killed my father!"
"Understood."
Sienna sneered, "She’s still young, and her performance is quite composed. But now, Sabrina Johnson isn’t even making valid points in her defense. She has no counter-evidence. No matter how pitifully she weeps, looking as delicate as a flower in the rain, what’s the use of claiming the whole world is framing her?"
Sienna had understood this principle back when Sabrina Johnson falsely accused her of stealing.
In the face of ironclad evidence, even if you had fifteen mouths to argue with, even if you cried yourself blind, it would be useless.
"...Yes, the Johnson family raised me and gave me a comfortable material life, but do you know? Dexter Johnson is a beast in human form. I was raped by Dexter Johnson when I was twelve..."
When Sabrina Johnson cried out this accusation, everyone in the courtroom was stunned.
Dexter Johnson raped Sabrina Johnson?
When Dexter Johnson was alive, his public image had always been very positive. He was handsome and upright, free from the common vices of other affluent young men. He loved his wife and children, was loyal to his family, and was also an avid philanthropist. He had built several Hope Primary Schools in the remote southwestern mountainous regions and even supplied free medicine to the local people...
Yet, this very man was now being slandered by Sabrina Johnson as a beast in human clothing, a vile man who preyed on young girls.
Sienna absolutely refused to believe Sabrina Johnson’s outrageous lies. She knew what kind of person her father truly was!
"...Do you know how much pain I was in? I was so small, and he was so big. It was so painful, excruciatingly painful every single time. Dexter Johnson threatened me. He said if I dared to tell anyone, he would kick me out and throw me into an orphanage... I didn’t dare say a word... I could only grit my teeth and endure it every single time..."
Her voice choked with sobs.
"The pain, it was unbearable... Each time was like living death for me..."
She paused, gasping for breath.
"Dexter Johnson is a demon! He tortured me, reveled in abusing me... He especially liked to dress me up as a little girl and use all sorts of implements to violate my body...
I lived in fear every single day."
Sabrina Johnson’s words were powerfully evocative. Each sentence she uttered seemed to draw her listeners in, making them feel her helplessness, her suffering, as if they were experiencing it themselves...
"But, even with all that, I was still grateful. I knew that without the Johnson family, I would never have had the life I did.
I was grateful to Dexter Johnson for raising me, so I gritted my teeth and endured it...
Later, Frederick learned about this. He loved me and couldn’t bear to see me suffer such torment, so he chose to do nothing when Dexter Johnson had his heart attack..."
She took another shuddering breath.
"I didn’t intentionally stand by and do nothing at that moment; I was just... terrified... By the time I came to my senses... Dexter Johnson had already stopped breathing..."
Sabrina Johnson began to whitewash her actions again. First, she blackened Dexter Johnson’s name, then she started shifting all the blame onto Frederick Stewart, attempting to absolve herself completely.
Pauline Briggs shot up from her seat. While everyone else was caught in a web of doubt, she shouted at the top of her lungs,
"You venomous bitch, shut your mouth! I raised a viper! Not only are you ungrateful, but you also killed my husband! And now that he’s dead, you dare to slander his name!"
Her voice was filled with rage and grief.
"Sabrina Johnson, I truly regret it! I regret ever raising a heartless, ungrateful monster like you!"
She was trembling with fury.
"Are you even human? When you were little, Dexter and I had no idea you weren’t our biological daughter. How did Dexter treat you then? Even later, after Sienna was found and brought back to us, did Dexter ever treat you unfairly..."
Sabrina Johnson cut Pauline Briggs off, shouting back, "...Yes, he treated me well! But that was just compensation!
He would injure me down there, and as soon as I healed, he would continue to torture me... You probably don’t know this, do you? Dexter Johnson used to say you were like a block of wood in bed..."
"Sabrina Johnson! You...!"