Chapter 15 - Victoria’s Marriage
Discovery forced Victoria to answer questions under oath.
The deposition lasted nearly seven hours.
Ethan did not attend in person.
Maya insisted.
“You will react.”
“I can sit quietly.”
“No.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Not remotely.”
He waited in another office while Maya questioned Victoria.
Later they reviewed the transcript.
Victoria admitted she knew the Carter Heritage Trust existed before marrying Jonathan.
Ethan stopped.
“She knew before?”
Maya nodded.
Victoria testified Jonathan had explained Eleanor left Carter Hall in trust for Ethan.
At first Victoria said she accepted that.
Over time resentment grew.
She spent twenty-two years living at Carter Hall.
She managed staff.
Hosted charity events.
Cared for Jonathan through heart disease.
Yet legally she possessed no right to remain after Jonathan’s death unless Ethan allowed it.
Maya had asked:
“Did you consider that unfair?”
Victoria answered:
“Yes.”
“Did that belief give you authority to alter the trust?”
“No.”
“Did Ethan Carter sign the beneficiary consent in your presence?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you verbally he consented?”
A long pause.
“No.”
Ethan stared at the transcript.
There.
Under oath.
She could not claim he agreed.
Maya continued reading.
Victoria admitted sending Lydia the prior corporate release containing Ethan’s signature.
She claimed she believed Ethan’s consent had already been obtained informally and that Lydia was merely creating a clean administrative copy.
Maya challenged her.
“Why would an administrative copy require a false notarization?”
Victoria answered:
“That was Lydia’s decision.”
Lydia’s messages contradicted that.
Then Maya asked about Jonathan.
“Did Jonathan know Ethan had not signed the document?”
Victoria said:
“Jonathan knew Ethan would have refused.”
“That was not my question.”
“He understood the reality.”
“Did he know Ethan had not signed?”
Eventually:
“Yes.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Jonathan had participated by silence.
Again.
Maya asked why Jonathan did not reverse the transfer.
Victoria described North Line’s financing pressure.
Then her testimony became personal.
“Jonathan told me we would fix the trust later.”
“What did you understand ‘fix’ to mean?”
“That he would provide for me.”
“Through Carter Hall?”
“Yes.”
“Did he promise you ownership?”
Victoria hesitated.
“He promised security.”
“Those are different.”
“To you.”
Ethan felt an uncomfortable sympathy.
Twenty-two years in a home she could legally lose overnight.
That insecurity had been real.
Her response had still been wrong.
Maya asked about Harlow.
Victoria admitted negotiating the sale.
“Why sell?”
“To repay North Line obligations and create liquidity.”
“Did you personally benefit?”
“I owned North Line.”
“Did your family trust receive payments from Green Ash?”
Victoria initially said she did not remember.
Bank records refreshed her memory.
“Yes.”
“What were those payments for?”
“Investment returns.”
“On what investment?”
“I don’t recall.”
Maya said the deposition room had gone very quiet.
Victoria’s lawyer objected repeatedly.
But documents existed.
Then came the most important exchange.
Maya:
“Did you know Claire Donnelly had not notarized Ethan’s consent?”
Victoria:
“No.”
Maya:
“Did you ask Lydia Ames to obtain Claire Donnelly’s stamp?”
Victoria:
“No.”
Maya produced Lydia’s texts.
Victoria asked for a break.
Afterward she changed her answer.
“I asked Lydia to complete the file.”
“Using a stamp without the notary present?”
“I did not use those words.”
“Did you know Ethan had not appeared before Claire Donnelly?”
“Yes.”
“Then what did you believe the notarization represented?”
Victoria had no good answer.
Ethan closed the transcript.
“That’s enough.”
“For the title case, it is very strong.”
“Enough to win?”
Maya refused certainty.
“It substantially improves our position.”
“What about the money?”
“Separate.”
Ethan stood at the window.
“What happens to Victoria if we win the house?”
“She loses any ownership claim through JVC, subject to final ruling.”
“Does she have anywhere to go?”
Maya looked at him.
“That is not your legal problem.”
“I didn’t ask legally.”
Maya softened.
“She has personal assets, though less than she portrayed. She will not be homeless.”
Ethan nodded.
He hated that he cared.
But Jonathan’s final message remained with him.
Do not turn her into a monster to make me innocent.
Victoria had cared for his father.
She had also helped manufacture a false document.
Both were true.
That evening Victoria requested to speak with Ethan without lawyers.
Maya said absolutely not.
Ethan compromised.
Video call.
Both counsel present but silent.
Victoria appeared from Carter Hall’s library.
The room behind her had belonged to Eleanor once.
“You read my deposition?”
“Yes.”
“You know Jonathan knew.”
“Yes.”
She waited, perhaps hoping Ethan’s anger would move fully toward his father.
It did not.
“Dad made a terrible choice.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“But he didn’t forge my signature.”
“No.”
“You initiated that.”
“I believed Jonathan wanted the transfer.”
“Then you could have asked me.”
“You hated him.”
“I was angry.”
“You said you wanted nothing.”
“Not the same.”
Victoria looked exhausted.
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“I stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any idea what caring for a sick man is like?”
“No.”
“He would wake at three in the morning unable to breathe.”
Ethan looked down.
“I know you cared for him.”
Her eyes filled.
“I did.”
“I believe you.”
She looked surprised.
Then Ethan continued.
“That still does not make my mother’s trust yours.”
Victoria began crying.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
“I gave that house twenty-two years.”
Ethan’s voice softened.
“Houses don’t repay people.”
“He promised me.”
“He should have planned for you properly.”
That was Jonathan’s failure.
Perhaps one of the largest.
“He left financial accounts,” Ethan continued. “Insurance. Personal assets.”
“Not enough.”
“For what?”
“For my life.”
Ethan stared.
Victoria heard herself.
Maybe for the first time.
“How much is a life supposed to cost?” he asked.
She looked away.
After the call Ethan walked outside.
Samuel was waiting beside his truck.
“How’d it go?”
“She loved him.”
Samuel nodded.
“And she betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
“And he betrayed me.”
“Yes.”
Ethan gave a tired laugh.
“You’re very comforting.”
Samuel looked toward Carter Hall on the distant hill.
“Families would be easier if love made people good.”
Ethan followed his gaze.
The mansion lights glowed against the dark.
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For the first time, he did not want to win it.
He wanted to understand what winning should mean.
