Chapter 6 - The Deposition
Z
The high-rise law office in downtown Denver was sleek, minimalist, and suffocating. Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows as Victoria Vance sat at the head of the conference table, wearing a dark gray corporate suit that couldn't hide how much weight she had lost during her brief stint in jail before her high-stakes bail was posted by a private lender.
Beside her sat Julian Sterling, looking increasingly harassed. Across the table sat Veronica Vance, Maya, and a court stenographer whose fingers hovered over her machine.
This was the formal civil deposition for Maya’s lawsuit against Victoria for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Battery, and False Imprisonment.
"State your full name for the record," Veronica began, her voice smooth as silk.
"Victoria Elizabeth Vance," she snapped, glaring across the table at Maya, who sat calmly, wearing a simple white blouse, holding herself with quiet grace.
"Mrs. Vance," Veronica said, leaning forward. "On the morning of August 12th, did you ask my client, Maya Vance, to clean the cedar steam room in your backyard?"
"I gave her a simple household task," Victoria sneered. "She lives under the illusion that because she was pregnant, she was exempt from contributing to the household."
"She was thirty-eight weeks pregnant, Mrs. Vance. High-risk pregnancy, as stated in her medical records, which were kept on your kitchen counter. Were you aware of her doctor’s orders?"
"Doctors overdiagnose everything these days to make money," Victoria dismissed with a wave of her hand. "A little work never killed anyone."
"Is that why you snapped a steel padlock on the outside door of the steam room while she was inside?"
"I wanted to teach her a lesson in respect!" Victoria blurted out, ignoring her attorney’s frantic elbow to her side. "She was arrogant! She was turning my son against me! Ever since Ethan married her, he stopped coming to Sunday dinners! He stopped consulting me on his career choices! She was poisoning his mind!"
"Mrs. Vance, please stick to answering the question," Sterling interjected desperately.
"No, let her speak," Veronica said coolly to the stenographer. "Mrs. Vance, when you locked that padlock, did you check the temperature inside the room?"
"It wasn't that hot," Victoria lied, her eyes darting away for a split second.
"The police report notes that when officers broke the door forty-five minutes later, the interior ambient temperature was recorded at over one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit," Veronica stated, sliding a sheet of paper across the table. "And you left a note. Would you mind reading the note aloud for the court, Mrs. Vance?"
Victoria stared at the piece of paper. Her hands began to shake slightly. "I don't have to read that."
"I will read it for you," Veronica said. "'LET’S SEE IF THIS TEACHES YOU TO RESPECT YOUR FAMILY.' Mrs. Vance, after you taped that note to the door, you drove away to catch a vacation bus to Santa Fe, correct?"
"We had reservations!" Victoria spat, her composure cracking completely. "We had paid thousands of dollars for that trip! Was I supposed to let her ruin my vacation with her endless complaining?!"
"While she was inside, struggling to breathe, undergoing heat-induced contractions, you texted your son Ethan, telling him Maya went to stay with her father, correct?"
"I wanted a peaceful trip!"
"You lied to her husband so no one would go looking for her," Veronica concluded, her tone sharp as a scalpel. "You knew that if Ethan believed she was at her father's house, no one would check the steam room for a week. You left a heavily pregnant woman locked in a hot room to die, didn't you, Victoria?"
"Objection! Argumentative!" Sterling shouted, standing up.
"I didn't want her to die!" Victoria screamed, slamming both palms on the glass table. "I wanted her to submit! I wanted her to know that I am the head of this family! She was nothing before my son brought her into our home! Nothing! She had no right to take him from me!"
The room fell dead silent. The only sound was the rapid clack-clack-clack of the stenographer’s machine recording every single word of Victoria’s unhinged confession.
Veronica slowly smiled, closing her file.
"Thank you, Mrs. Vance. I have no further questions. We will see you at the criminal trial."
Victoria looked around the room, realizing too late what she had just done. She looked at her attorney, who had dropped his head into his hands in utter defeat. Then she looked at Maya.
Maya didn't scream. She didn't look angry. She simply looked at Victoria with deep, piercing pity.
May you like
"You lost, Victoria," Maya said quietly. "You tried to keep your son, and now you've destroyed him. You tried to control me, and now you're going to prison. And you will never, ever see my son."
Maya stood up, took her coat, and walked out of the conference room, leaving Victoria trapped in the echoing silence of her own arrogance.
