Chapter 3 - The Deposition of Shadows
Three months later.
The Federal District Courthouse in downtown Baltimore was surrounded by camera crews and barricades. The case of United States v. Vance Financial Services had become the corporate trial of the decade.
I stood in the high-ceilinged marble hallway outside Deposition Room 4B, dressed in a sharp ivory suit, my dark hair pulled back into a slick, professional bun. Beside me, Victoria pushed a stroller where three-month-old Maya lay fast asleep under a pink blanket.
The heavy double doors opened, and two armed federal marshals escorted Julian Vance into the hallway.
The man before me looked nothing like the polished, arrogant heir who had stood over me at the baby shower three months ago. He was wearing an oversized orange jumpsuit, heavy hand fetters chained to his waist, and plastic sliders on his feet. His unwashed hair was thinning, dark purple circles hugged his hollow eyes, and his hands trembled noticeably.
When his eyes met mine, he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Clara..." Julian choked out, his voice hoarse and desperate. "Clara, please... you have to talk to the prosecutors. You have to tell them it was all my father! I didn't know about the shell accounts! I was just following Arthur's orders!"
I stepped toward him, my posture regal and unwavering.
"You knew enough to sign your name on the Liechtenstein holding accounts three weeks before the shower, Julian," I said, my voice smooth and ice-cold. "You knew enough to siphon two million dollars from my late mother's trust fund to buy Chloe a sports car."
"She tricked me!" Julian yelled, tears springing to his sunken eyes as the marshals tugged on his chains. "Chloe lied to me! She told me she was pregnant with my child! She told me she loved me!"
I turned to Victoria, who pulled a stamped medical document from her briefcase and held it up so Julian could see it clearly.
"The court ordered a mandatory prenatal DNA test on Chloe Hunt’s child three weeks ago, Julian," Victoria revealed with a cold smile. "The results arrived yesterday afternoon. You are not the father. The biological father is a tennis instructor from Miami she’s been seeing for two years."
Julian stared at the document as if he had been struck by lightning. "No... no, that's impossible! She said... she said it was the real heir!"
"You destroyed your family, your reputation, and your freedom for a woman who was using you for your father's stolen money," I said, leaning in close so only he could hear my words. "And while you were calling me 'barren trash,' I was giving birth to the only child who will ever carry my blood—and not a single penny of your ruined legacy."
"Clara, please!" Julian fell to his knees on the cold tile floor, his chains rattling loudly as he openly wept, begging like a child. "I'll give you everything! I'll sign the divorce papers! I'll waive all parental rights! Just tell them not to send me to maximum security! My father is dying in the infirmary! My mother has completely lost her mind in her cell! Please!"
"You had no mercy for me when I was lying bleeding on the floor, Julian," I said, looking down at him with utter indifference. "Why should I have any for you?"
The marshals grabbed Julian by his orange collar and hauled him back to his feet, dragging him kicking and screaming into the deposition room: "Clara! Clara, look at me! I'm your husband! CLARA!"
I turned my back on his screams, reaching down to gently adjust Maya’s blanket in her stroller.
Five minutes later, Victoria and I entered the secondary witness room where Chloe Hunt sat waiting with her public defender. She wore a orange jumpsuit identical to Julian's, her face devoid of makeup, her eyes puffy and red.
When she saw me walk in looking radiant, calm, and victorious, Chloe buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"Mrs. Vance..." Chloe wept. "I'm so sorry... I didn't know he was hitting you... I was stupid... I was young..."
"You were twenty-two, Chloe," I corrected, sitting down across the metal table from her. "Old enough to know that taking a married woman's home, stealing stolen corporate funds, and laughing while a pregnant woman is beaten makes you a monster."
"I signed the plea deal!" Chloe cried out frantically, looking at me with desperate eyes. "I gave the prosecutors every text message Julian sent me! I'm testifying against Arthur! Please tell the judge to give me probation! I have a baby coming!"
"You'll serve your five years in federal prison, Chloe," I replied flatly, taking a file from Victoria. "And when you get out, you will spend the rest of your youth paying back every dollar of stolen Vance capital you spent on clothes and jewelry."
May you like
I stood up, smoothing my suit jacket.
"You said at my baby shower that I shouldn't have caused a scene," I said, looking down at her with sharp clarity. "This wasn't a scene, Chloe. This was a execution."
