Chapter 12: The Deposition
Two weeks later, I sat in a small conference room across from Evan and his lawyer for the first deposition.
Evan looked thinner than the last time I saw him. His face was pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He avoided looking at me directly. His lawyer, a sharp man named Thomas Reed, did most of the talking.
The questions started off routine — how long we had been married, when I had taken over the company, what my role had been. Then they turned sharper.
“Mrs. Bennett,” Thomas Reed said, “is it true that you installed hidden cameras in the company warehouse without your husband’s knowledge?”
“Yes,” I answered calmly.
“And is it also true that you transferred company assets to another location without informing him?”
“Yes.”
Reed leaned forward slightly.
“Would you say that you were actively working against your husband during your marriage?”
I met his eyes.
“I was protecting myself and the company my father built,” I said. “Because I had discovered that my husband was stealing from the employees’ pension fund.”
Evan’s lawyer tried to object, but I continued before he could stop me.
“I have the forensic report. I have bank records. I have emails. And I have video footage of my husband and his sister spreading gasoline inside the warehouse the night it burned down.”
The room went quiet.
Evan finally looked at me. There was no anger in his eyes anymore — only exhaustion and something close to defeat.
After the deposition ended, Margaret walked me to my car.
“You did well,” she said. “You stayed calm and factual. That’s important.”
I nodded, but my hands were still shaking slightly.
“I keep thinking about the look on his face,” I admitted. “He looked… broken.”
Margaret studied me.
“Do you feel sorry for him?”
I thought about it.
“A part of me does,” I said honestly. “But a bigger part of me remembers what he did. What he was willing to do. And I can’t afford to feel sorry for him right now. Not when I have a child to protect.”
May you like
Margaret nodded, satisfied with my answer.
“Good,” she said. “Because this is going to get harder before it gets easier.”
