Chapter 193: Lawsuit

Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Lawsuit

Casey Nash gripped her phone, her fingertips trembling.

"It’s... it’s Jared’s legal team."

The moment those words were spoken, Sheryl Garland, who had been full of defiance and putting on a brave front, instantly lost all color. Her face turned ashen, and her expression was ghastly.

She stood frozen in place, her eyes filled with disbelief. She shook her head again and again, her voice trembling with panic.

"Impossible... Absolutely impossible! How could Jared be so cruel? That’s not who he is!"

Panic and terror instantly overwhelmed her. She grabbed Casey Nash’s arm, her eyes turning red with desperation as she pleaded frantically.

"Mom, let’s go find Jared right now! If we explain it to him face-to-face, I’m sure he won’t really try to destroy me!"

She refused to believe it. She had to go see him and get a clear answer for herself.

Casey Nash’s tone was heavy with exhaustion. "The fact that he’s sent his lawyers means he’s dead set on pursuing this to the end. He won’t change his mind. If you go looking for him now, he won’t even see us. We’d just be humiliating ourselves."

Sheryl Garland refused to accept reality. Shaking her head, her eyes burning with stubbornness and indignation, she insisted on finding Jared Hawthorne to demand an explanation in person.

"I don’t believe it! He was always so nice to me before..."

Seeing her daughter’s refusal to see reason, Casey Nash grabbed her by the wrist.

"Don’t just stand here. Come on! We’re going to find your cousin right now!"

’Right now, only Noah can save Sheryl. He and Jared are friends. He’ll definitely be able to see him and put in a good word.’

Seated behind his desk, Noah Nash watched the two of them burst in, his expression calm and utterly unsurprised.

He had received a call from Jared Hawthorne long before their arrival, letting him know that he had turned the matter over to his lawyers and was intent on holding Sheryl Garland fully accountable.

He had already tried to plead Sheryl Garland’s case, but the final decision was out of his hands.

"Noah, please, you have to save Sheryl! Jared Hawthorne is really going to send her to prison..." Casey Nash’s voice was choked with sobs. "You’re his friend. Can’t you go and beg him, say something on Sheryl’s behalf?"

"Aunt Casey, I’ve already done everything I can!" Noah Nash pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache blooming. "The last time he let Sheryl go, it was only as a favor to me. He was already being lenient."

His gaze fell on the devastated-looking Sheryl Garland.

"Of all the people you could have picked a fight with, you just had to go after Vesper Grayson. Did you really think getting rid of her would give you a chance to marry into the Hawthorne Family? That it would make Elias fall in love with you? Have you ever taken a good look at yourself? Don’t you know your own place?"

"Cousin..." Sheryl Garland sobbed. "This can’t be real, right? How could Jared disregard our history and send me to prison just for her? I don’t want to go to prison, I’ll die in there! Please, help me, okay? I’ll never do it again."

"’Next time?’" Noah Nash scoffed, hitting the nail on the head. "You’re not sorry, you’re just scared! Scared of facing the legal consequences!"

Casey Nash hung her head, her shoulders shaking with heartbreaking sobs.

’Just as Noah said, she really was scared. She was only twenty! If she really went to prison, she’d be almost thirty by the time she got out.’

’Jared’s lawyers were some of the best in the world. With what she’d done, it was hard to say how long her sentence would be.’

’If they really threw the book at her, it would be at least ten years!’

"Too late," Noah Nash said grimly, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He took a deep drag. "I have no influence over him on this."

"How is that possible? You’re his best friend!" Sheryl Garland rushed to his side, grabbing his arm and shaking it. "Are you really just going to stand by and watch me get sent to prison?"

Noah Nash pulled his arm away, frowning. "It’s not that I don’t want to help, but there’s only so much your cousin can do. There are witnesses and physical evidence—it’s an open-and-shut case. You dug your own grave, who else is there to blame?"

Casey Nash’s lips trembled as if to speak, but Noah Nash’s cold voice cut her off, shattering her hopes.

"Aunt Casey, you don’t want me and Elias to stop being friends, do you?"

Casey Nash’s face turned deathly pale, and her voice came out strained. "But Noah... Sheryl is my only daughter. I can’t just watch her be taken away."

"Aunt Casey, I understand a mother’s love, but what Sheryl did was a serious crime."

He paused, his gaze hardening as he spoke, each word landing with resolute force.

"Personal feelings don’t matter in the eyes of the law. No one gets to cross that line. It doesn’t matter who you are; if you break the law, you must bear the responsibility. No one is an exception, and no one gets to play favorites."

"I’ve already pleaded with Jared on her behalf, but he’s desperate to protect the woman he loves, and his position is unshakable. Any man would do the same; if someone intentionally hurt the person they care about, they wouldn’t show any mercy. Even if I wanted to help, I’m powerless to change the outcome."

’He’d laid it all out. If his aunt still didn’t get it, then there was truly nothing more he could do.’

Casey Nash swayed violently, her face turning chalk-white. She looked ready to collapse, the final glimmer of hope in her eyes extinguished.

A sob caught in her throat and her eyes welled up, but she couldn’t bring herself to say another word of pleading, filled only with a profound sense of helplessness and despair.

Sheryl Garland, for her part, was so terrified she was trembling uncontrollably, the color drained from her face. Her earlier arrogance had vanished, replaced by sheer panic.

She had always relied on her cousin and the Nash Family’s standing in Northolme to do whatever she wanted, assuming someone would always be there to protect her and clean up her messes.

But now, she was forced to realize that she had truly gotten herself into a mess so big that not even her cousin could shield her from the consequences.

Despair washed over her like a tidal wave, threatening to drown her. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.

Although Casey Nash held little hope, she wasn’t ready to give up completely. She took Sheryl Garland to the Hawthorne Group. As she had feared, they weren’t even allowed past the front door, stopped by security before they could get anywhere near Jared Hawthorne.

Next, she took Sheryl Garland to the Hawthorne Estate.

Zachary Hawthorne agreed to see them, but after he learned the full story, he was consumed by fury.

"Just wonderful. So this is the ’well-raised’ daughter of the Nash Family. Daring to lay a hand on my granddaughter-in-law! If she rots in prison, it’ll be exactly what she deserves!"

He ordered coldly, "Ian Bell, throw them out. And from now on, they are forbidden from setting foot in the Hawthorne home!"

The butler raised his hand, and bodyguards immediately tossed them out.

Rebuffed and humiliated, Casey Nash’s face was a mottled mess of red and white. She had never been so thoroughly disgraced.

By now, Sheryl Garland was too terrified to speak.

’She never imagined Vesper Grayson’s standing in the Hawthorne Family was so high. Even Grandfather Hawthorne, who had always been so kind and friendly to her, had turned on her without a shred of mercy!’

"Mom..."

Casey Nash sighed. "Let’s go home for now. We’ll have to think of another way."

She visited every law firm in Northolme, offering a fortune to anyone who would defend Sheryl Garland. But the moment they heard the details of the case—and that the opposing counsel was the Hawthorne Group’s legal team—they all wanted nothing to do with it.

Defending Sheryl Garland would mean not only certain defeat but also tarnishing their own reputations and making an enemy of the Hawthorne Family.

The next day, Casey Nash received a court summons.

The hearing was set for one week later.

That evening, Jared Hawthorne mentioned it to her while they were having dinner.

Vesper Grayson was stunned.

"President Nash didn’t object?"

"I informed him. He gets it." Jared Hawthorne picked up a sweet and sour pork rib and placed it in her white porcelain bowl. "Leo Yates is coming to see you tomorrow morning to take your statement. You won’t need to appear in court; he can handle everything on your behalf."