Chapter 5 - The Deposition
Three months later, in late February 2027, the formal deposition took place in a high-rise office building in downtown Raleigh.
Grant sat across the long conference table from me, wearing a cheap, ill-fitting dark suit. He was out on bail, wearing a GPS ankle monitor beneath his trousers. His high-priced Chicago lawyers had abandoned him when his accounts were frozen, leaving him with a public defender who looked overwhelmed and exhausted.
Arthur Vance sat beside me, flipping through a hundred-page binder of bank records, forensic signature analyses, and corporate audit reports.
"Mr. Lawson," Arthur began, his tone almost conversational. "Do you admit that on October 14th, 2026, you used a digital trace of your wife's signature to create a fraudulent divorce petition in Cook County, Illinois?"
Grant looked at his attorney, who simply gave a slight, helpless nod.
"Yes," Grant mumbled, staring at the polished wood of the table.
"Speak up for the court reporter, Mr. Lawson," Arthur instructed sharply.
"Yes," Grant repeated louder, his voice trembling. "Yes, I did it."
"And do you admit that you systematically transferred one point two million dollars from Lawson Distribution LLC into a Delaware entity with the explicit intent of hiding those marital assets from your wife during a contemplated dissolution of marriage?"
"Yes."
"And did you, on the night of November 6th, attempt to force your wife out of your hotel room while presenting her with a fraudulent custody agreement designed to terminate her parental rights?"
Grant finally looked up, his eyes meeting mine. They were filled with a desperate, hollow sorrow.
"I was trying to force a settlement, Rebecca," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I thought... I thought if you felt like you had no legal leverage, you’d just agree to a quiet divorce. I never wanted to take Emma from you forever. I just wanted to start over."
"You wanted to start over by erasing us, Grant," I said, speaking directly to him for the first time in months. "You wanted the money, the new company, the new life, and the daughter—without any of the accountability. You wanted to make me invisible."
Grant covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking as he began to weep silently in front of the court reporter, his attorney, and the wife he had tried to destroy.
Arthur slid the final settlement agreement across the table.
"Under the terms of this non-negotiable settlement," Arthur stated, "you will surrender all claims to the marital home in Raleigh, all equity in Lawson Distribution, and all funds currently held in the Delaware escrow accounts. In exchange, Rebecca will request that the District Attorney consider a plea bargain reducing your felony charges to non-custodial probation, provided you execute a full surrender of primary legal custody of Emma, with supervised visitation subject to her consent."
Grant’s public defender looked at the document, then at his client. "Grant... sign it. It's the only reason you’re not spending the next eight years in a state penitentiary."
May you like
With trembling hands, Grant picked up a pen—the same kind of pen he had used to forge my name four months earlier—and signed his true signature at the bottom of the page.
It was over.
