Chapter 12 - The DepositionTwo months later, inside the high-security federal remand facility in downtown Denver, Adrian Cole sat across a metal table from me in Deposition Room B.
He wore a dull orange jumpsuit. His hair was greasy, his face thin and sunken, his posture broken. His legal team sat beside him, looking exhausted and thoroughly defeated.
Luca sat to my left, while Dominic stood quietly in the corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, his shadow looming over the entire space.
"Elena..." Adrian stammered, his voice raspy, his shackled hands trembling on the table. "Elena, please... look at me. I know I made a mistake... a terrible, unforgivable mistake. But thirty-five years in federal prison? My life will be over!"
I sat back in my leather chair, adjusting my cuffs, looking at him with complete detachment.
"It wasn't a mistake, Adrian," I said coldly. "A mistake is spilling wine on a dress. What you did was an act of brutal, calculated cruelty designed to break my spirit in front of fifty people."
Luca opened a thick blue binder on the table.
"We are here today to execute the final property settlement and corporate divestiture," Luca announced in his sharp, clinical lawyer’s tone. "Under the terms of the irrevocable plea agreement offered by the United States Attorney, Adrian Cole will surrender all remaining equity, property titles, intellectual rights, and personal trusts to Elena Moretti."
"What about my mother?!" Adrian cried out, turning to Luca. "She has nothing! You evicted her from the estate! She’s living in a two-bedroom rented apartment!"
"Your mother spent ten years treating my sister like a servant while laundering construction kickbacks through her art foundation," Dominic spoke up from the corner, his deep voice sending a shiver through Adrian's spine. "She should consider herself fortunate that she isn't sharing a cell with you."
Luca slid the final settlement document across the table along with a pen.
"Sign the surrender, Adrian," Luca commanded. "Or we pull the plea deal, and the prosecutor adds four counts of interstate racketeering to your indictment tomorrow morning."
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Adrian looked at the document, tears spilling down his pale cheeks. With shaking fingers, he picked up the pen and scribbled his signature on the bottom line.
He had given up everything. The estate, the wealth, the empire—all transferred into my hands.
