Chapter 5 - The Deposition
Three weeks later, we were in a conference room for the court-ordered depositions. My mother sat across from me, flanked by a tired-looking lawyer who looked like he regretted taking the case. Phyllis maintained her arrogant, stoic expression, but there was a tightness around her eyes that betrayed her anxiety. Kendra sat next to her, looking pale and refused to make eye contact with anyone.
Marcus Vance wasted no time. He started with my mother.
"Mrs. Cross," Marcus began, his tone polite but sharp as a razor. "You claim in your petition that my client, Mallerie, is an unstable and unfit mother. Can you provide specific examples of this instability?"
Phyllis lifted her chin. "She abandons her child to go to Austin for days at a time. She values her corporate career over her daughter’s upbringing."
"I see," Marcus said, pulling out a document. "And yet, according to these bank records, during those times she was in Austin, she was earning the money that paid for your mortgage, your electricity, and your sister’s groceries. Is it your position that providing financial stability for one’s family makes a mother unfit?"
Phyllis’s lawyer coughed. "Objection. Speculative."
"Let's move on to the events of October 14th," Marcus continued, ignoring the objection. "You called 911 because a five-year-old child pushed another child over a toy. The police report states you requested officers to 'scare' the child. Do you believe terrifying a toddler is an acceptable parenting technique?"
"Charlotte was out of control!" Phyllis snapped, her calm facade finally cracking. "Mallerie spoils her! She needed to know that the world has rules, and since her mother isn't home to teach her, I took it upon myself!"
"So you used the city’s emergency police force as a personal disciplinary tool for a toddler?" Marcus pressed, his voice rising slightly.
"She needed to be broken!" Phyllis yelled, banging her hand on the table. "She is just like Mallerie was—loud, stubborn, always thinking she’s better than everyone else! Someone had to put her in her place!"
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The room went dead silent. Phyllis’s lawyer put his head in his hands. My mother realized too late what she had admitted to. She hadn't called the police out of concern; she had done it out of pure, deep-seated malice and a desire to break my daughter’s spirit, just as she had tried to break mine decades ago.
Marcus looked at the court reporter. "Make sure you got that last sentence down perfectly."
