Chapter 5 - The Deposition of Gloria Mercer
Two months into the legal proceedings, the civil fraud case reached its most volatile point during the formal deposition of Gloria Mercer.
The deposition took place in a neutral conference room at the Knox County Courthouse. Gloria sat at the end of the long mahogany table, wearing an ill-fitting black dress, her face lined with age and bitterness. She looked smaller, stripped of the grand house and expensive lifestyle she had spent six years trying to claim as her own.
Beside her sat a court-appointed public defender, as Arthur Vance had refused to represent her due to a clear conflict of interest with Daniel’s defense.
Across the table sat Mara Chen, with a court reporter sitting quietly in the corner, her fingers flying over the stenotype machine. I sat beside Mara, holding a pen and notebook, watching silently.
"Mrs. Mercer," Mara began, her voice calm and measured. "I am going to present you with Exhibit D—a bank transfer receipt dated March 14th of last year, transferring fifty thousand dollars from Clara Mercer’s personal trust account into G&M Property Ventures. Did you receive these funds?"
Gloria glared at me with pure venom before looking at Mara. "My son gave me that money! He earned it!"
"The account belonged exclusively to Clara Mercer, established seven years before she married your son," Mara noted smoothly. "Did you ask Clara for permission to take those funds?"
"Why should I ask her?!" Gloria spat, her voice echoing off the walls. "She was a terrible wife! She couldn't even give my son a child! She lived in that big house like a princess while my son worked eighteen-hour days to support her!"
"Mrs. Mercer, please stick to the question," her public defender whispered nervously, patting her arm.
"Don't touch me!" Gloria snapped, shoving his hand away. She pointed a trembling, withered finger at me. "She manipulated him! She put her name on everything! She trapped my boy with that prenuptial agreement! Daniel built that home! He paid for the lawn services! He bought the furniture!"
"Mrs. Mercer," Mara said, completely unbothered by the outburst. "Are you aware that the land was purchased by Clara Mercer’s father in 2012, and the deed was fully executed three years before Daniel Mercer ever met her?"
"It doesn't matter what a piece of paper says!" Gloria shrieked, her face turning crimson. "A real husband owns his home! She humiliated him! She threw his clothes onto the dirt like he was trash!"
"The clothes were placed neatly on his personal luggage and lawn furniture," Mara corrected mildly. "Now, back to the fifty thousand dollars. Did you use those funds to place a deposit on a luxury condominium in Hilton Head?"
Gloria clutched her purse tightly to her lap, her lip quivering with rage and frustration. "Daniel promised me that condo! He said I wouldn't have to live in a small town anymore! He promised me!"
"So you knew the money was coming from his wife's trust?" Mara asked, striking like a cobra.
Gloria paused. Her eyes darted around the room, realizing too late that she had stepped directly into a legal trap.
"I... I assumed it was his money," she muttered, her voice finally losing its piercing edge.
"Thank you, Mrs. Mercer," Mara said, marking a notation on her legal pad. "That admission establishes full knowledge of illicit asset transfers under Ohio Revised Code Section 2913. That will be all for today."
Gloria sat back in her chair, breathing heavily, looking at her attorney with sudden, sheer panic. She turned her head slowly toward me, expecting to see triumph or malice in my expression.
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Instead, I looked at her with nothing more than quiet pity.
She had spent six years trying to destroy my life to secure her son’s stolen wealth, only to end up sitting in a cold deposition room, facing federal fraud charges, abandoned by the very son she had raised to be a bully.
