Chapter 4 - The Deposition
The conference room on the tenth floor of the court reporter's building was sterile and bright, dominated by a long glass-topped table and panoramic windows overlooking the gray November city skyline.
Nathan sat opposite me, flanked by his attorney, a sleek corporate litigator named Gregory Hayes. Nathan wore his best bespoke charcoal suit—the one I had picked out with him for his tenth anniversary at Apex. But the suit couldn't hide the dark circles beneath his eyes or the restless way his thumbs fidgeted against the legal pad in front of him.
Beside me, Evelyn Vance sat with three thick, color-coded binders arranged in front of her like siege artillery.
"We are on the record," the court reporter announced, her fingers poised over the stenotype machine. "In the matter of Claire Sterling versus Nathan Sterling, Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division."
Hayes leaned forward, clearing his throat. "Before we begin, counsel, my client wishes to reiterate his willingness to enter mediation. Mr. Sterling believes this entire proceeding is the result of an unfortunate emotional overreaction. We are prepared to offer Mrs. Sterling sixty percent of the equity in the marital residence, provided all allegations of marital misconduct are withdrawn from public record."
Nathan looked across the table at me, trying to project a warm, conciliatory expression. "Claire, let's stop this madness. We built a life together. We can divide things fairly and walk away with dignity. Why drag our private lives through the mud?"
Evelyn didn't even look at Hayes. She reached into her first binder.
"My client rejects the offer," Evelyn said crisply. "Mr. Sterling, please state your full name and current occupation for the record."
"Nathan Robert Sterling. Regional Logistics Director, Apex Logistics."
"Mr. Sterling, under oath, do you maintain that your relationship with Rachel Mercer was strictly professional prior to my client filing for legal separation?"
Hayes raised a hand. "I advise my client to answer carefully regarding personal relationships."
Nathan looked at the court reporter, then straightened his tie. "Rachel is a valued colleague. We spent long hours working on the Midwestern operational consolidation. We had meals together. We shared cabs. At times, the boundaries may have blurred due to fatigue, but I never engaged in a premeditated extramarital affair, and I certainly never misused marital funds."
Evelyn nodded, perfectly calm. She opened the second binder and slid a document across the glass table to Hayes and Nathan.
"Marking Exhibit C," Evelyn announced. "Mr. Sterling, do you recognize this credit card authorization form dated October 21st?"
Nathan looked down. His posture instantly locked.
"That's... that appears to be an expense form for an off-site management conference," Nathan stammered.
"Indeed," Evelyn said. "It is an expense voucher submitted by you to Apex Logistics' accounting department for two executive suites at the Riverview Inn in Savannah, Georgia. Totaling two thousand four hundred dollars. Is that correct?"
"Yes. Apex covered the conference expenses."
"Then why," Evelyn paused, pulling a second sheet from the binder and sliding it across, "did you also charge two thousand four hundred dollars for Room 314 at the Riverview Inn to your joint marital credit card on that exact same weekend?"
Nathan’s face drained of color. "I... there must have been a billing error by the hotel."
"A billing error?" Evelyn leaned forward, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "Or did you submit a falsified expense report to Apex Logistics, claim reimbursement for corporate lodging, and then use your joint family savings to pay for an adjoining suite under Rachel Mercer’s maiden name—pocketing the difference or double-dipping corporate funds?"
"Objection!" Hayes barked, slapping his pen onto the table. "Counsel is making wild, baseless accusations of financial fraud that have no place in a domestic deposition!"
"They have every place in this deposition, Mr. Hayes," Evelyn shot back without raising her voice. "Because yesterday afternoon, we received a response to our subpoena from the custodian of records at Apex Logistics. It turns out Mr. Sterling and Ms. Mercer have submitted over forty-two thousand dollars in overlapping expense reports across the last twelve months."
Nathan looked at Evelyn as if she had just materialized a loaded weapon. His gaze darted toward me, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and desperation.
"Claire," he choked out, completely abandoning the script his lawyer had given him. "Claire, please. You don't know what you're doing. If the board sees those records—"
"The board already has them, Mr. Sterling," Evelyn interrupted. "Apex’s corporate compliance office initiated an internal audit at nine o'clock this morning following our document request. You aren't just facing asset reallocation in this divorce. You are facing an internal ethics tribunal."
Hayes leaned over, grabbed Nathan’s arm, and hissed into his ear. "Shut up, Nathan. Not another word." Hayes looked at Evelyn, his slick demeanor entirely shattered. "We need a fifteen-minute recess."
"Take twenty," Evelyn said coldly, closing her binder. "When we return, we will discuss the four-hundred-thousand-dollar equity in the Oakridge house and the thirty thousand dollars my client contributed from her premarital inheritance."
May you like
Nathan rose unsteadily, knocking his chair back an inch. He looked at me, his face pale, sweat glistening at his temples. He was no longer the confident man standing in our driveway laughing at the idea of his wife walking out. He was a man watching the walls of his carefully constructed kingdom crumble brick by brick.
I met his gaze, unflinching, and felt neither triumph nor pity. Only the steady weight of justice finally taking its course.
