Chapter 6 - A Shattered Defense
The deposition day arrived six months after Owen's birth. The conference room was corporate and cold, filled with lawyers, court reporters, and a videographer. Grant sat on one side of the mahogany table, flanked by his attorneys. Amelia sat on the other, looking calm, wearing a simple navy blue blazer.
Grant's lawyer, a ruthless man named Sterling, began the questioning, attempting to paint Amelia as emotionally unstable.
"Mrs. Caldwell, isn't it true you had a history of anxiety before the birth?"
"I had normal nerves about becoming a mother, yes," Amelia answered directly, looking Sterling dead in the eye.
"And isn't it true you didn't explicitly forbid your husband from going on his birthday trip?"
"I shouldn't have to forbid a grown man from abandoning his wife six days after major childbirth," Amelia replied, her voice steady and clear. "I told him I was terrified. I told him I was in pain. He chose to look away."
Sterling shifted his tactics, turning to the financial aspects, hinting that Amelia was looking for a massive payout.
Then Marcus, Amelia’s lawyer, stood up. He produced a tablet and played the audio from the smart-home monitor from the night of the incident.
The room fell dead silent as Amelia’s ragged, terrified voice filled the space: "Call 911... Mommy's here... Owen, please... Grant, why aren't you answering?"
Grant flinched. He covered his face with his hands. Hearing the raw terror in his wife's voice, juxtaposed against the logs showing he was browsing luxury watch catalogs at that very hour, destroyed any defense his lawyers had constructed.
"We are prepared to play this in open court, Mr. Sterling," Marcus said quietly. "We are also prepared to bring in the emergency room physicians who will testify that another thirty minutes of delay would have resulted in fatal hypovolemic shock."
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Grant’s lawyer leaned over to his client, whispering urgently. Grant didn't look up. He felt a profound, crushing wave of shame. The corporate armor he had worn his entire adult life was completely shattered.
"We need a recess," Sterling announced quietly.
