Chapter 7 - The Depositions of Deceit
The conference room on the forty-second floor of the Callahan Tower was a masterpiece of glass and steel, overlooking the city skyline.
Patrick Callahan sat at the head of the long mahogany table, surrounded by his legal team. He looked older, his face haggard, his collar slightly loose. Margaret sat behind him in the gallery, her eyes red, her fingers clutching a wet tissue.
"This meeting is a farce," Patrick’s lead attorney, a man named Henderson, announced. "My client does not recognize the validity of the stock transfer. We have filed a motion to freeze the assets of the estate pending a full investigation into Cynthia Wells’s background."
Rebecca Stone did not look up from her laptop.
"Your motion was denied by Judge Vance thirty minutes ago, Henderson," Rebecca said smoothly. "The stock transfer was fully executed and registered with the SEC three months ago. My client is the majority shareholder of the Callahan Group. And this is not a negotiation. It is a deposition."
She clicked a button, and the large projector screen on the wall flickered to life.
Instead of financial charts, the screen displayed a series of high-definition photographs of cracked concrete, rusting steel reinforcements, and falsified safety certificates bearing Patrick Callahan’s signature.
Patrick’s attorney froze. "What... what is this?"
"These are the safety inspection reports for the North Side High-Rise Project," Cynthia said, stepping forward. She did not wear her simple bakery clothes today; she wore a elegant, navy blue tailored suit, her dark hair pulled back into a sleek, professional bun. She looked every bit the ruler of the room.
"You signed off on these, Patrick," Cynthia said, her voice cold and unyielding. "You knew the foundations were unstable. You knew that if the project was halted, your Ponzi scheme would collapse. And when Andrew found out, you had his vehicle tampered with."
"That’s a lie!" Margaret screamed from the back, standing up. "Our son’s death was an accident! You cannot accuse us of this! You’re a monster!"
"We have the affidavit from the mechanic who tampered with the vehicle, Margaret," Rebecca Stone said, her voice dropping like a hammer. "He was paid fifty thousand dollars from a shell company registered in your name. He confessed to the state police three hours ago."
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The room went dead silent.
Patrick Callahan looked down at his hands. For the first time in his life, the arrogance had completely drained from his face, leaving only the hollow, terrified frame of an old man who had run out of lies.
