BEYOND THE SHADOWS OF FAITH / Chapter 5 / 60

Chapter 5 - The Deposition TrapFour days later, I was discharged from the hospital into Marcus’s private estate in River Oaks, Houston. Under the care of a full-time private nurse, my body began to heal rapidly. The physical wounds were closing, but my focus had shifted entirely toward the war ahead.

Garrick and Miriam had tried frantically to reach me. My original phone had been bombarded with over two hundred text messages and voicemails ranging from pathetic apologies from Garrick to fiery, damning threats from Miriam, claiming I was “destroying a sanctified union.”

Marcus ignored every single message until Thursday morning, when he issued an official summons.

Instead of filing a standard divorce petition in Dallas County court, Marcus filed an emergency petition for Asset Freezing and Spousal Protective Orders in the Federal District Court of Houston, citing cross-county medical endangerment and multi-state financial fraud.

Garrick and Miriam were forced to fly down to Houston for an expedited emergency deposition at the Sterling & Associates law tower.

At 10:00 AM on Friday, I sat at the head of a massive mahogany conference table on the 40th floor. I wore an elegant cream-colored silk blouse that comfortably concealed my bandages, my hair styled impeccably, my posture straight and dignified. Beside me sat Marcus and three of his senior partner attorneys.

The heavy glass doors opened, and Garrick stepped in, accompanied by his high-priced Dallas defense attorney, Arthur Pendelton. Miriam followed close behind, dressed in a pastel pink suit, clutching her leather purse like a weapon.

Garrick looked disheveled. The arrogance that usually defined him was replaced by dark circles under his eyes and a nervous twitch in his jaw.

When his eyes landed on me—looking healthy, radiant, and completely composed—his breath hitched.

“Maya...” Garrick started, taking a step toward me. “Thank God you’re okay... I’ve been out of my mind with worry—”

“Sit down, Mr. Vance,” Marcus commanded sharply, pointing to the leather chairs across the table.

Pendelton, their attorney, cleared his throat uncomfortably, pulling out a stack of papers. “Mr. Sterling, this entire proceeding is an outrageous abuse of jurisdictional power. My client is a respected businessman. This is a private marital dispute that belongs in Dallas family court!”

“This ceased to be a private marital dispute the moment your client flushed prescribed narcotics down a toilet and attempted to force a double-mastectomy patient into manual labor,” Marcus fired back, his voice cutting through the room like a razor.

Miriam slammed her hand on the table. “She is a drug addict! We were performing an intervention in accordance with our moral duty!”

Marcus turned his head slowly toward Miriam. He clicked a button on the conference room console.

A massive wall monitor flared to life.

On the screen was high-definition 4K video footage from the security camera hidden inside the master bathroom vanity—footage recorded automatically by the burner phone’s encrypted backup system.

The audio filled the room with pristine clarity.

“We do not tolerate addicts in a Christian home,” Miriam’s recorded voice shrieked on the monitor.

The video clearly showed Miriam snatching the bottle, flushing the pills, and Garrick dumping the sterile bandages into the trash can while telling me to go mow the lawn.

Miriam’s face drained of all color. She gasped, covering her mouth with her manicured hand. Garrick froze, his eyes wide with absolute horror as he watched himself on the screen.

“That... that was recorded without consent!” Pendelton stammered, sweating profusely through his collar.

“Texas is a one-party consent state for audio and video recording, Mr. Pendelton,” Marcus replied with a icy smile. “And this video has already been authenticated and submitted as primary evidence to the Harris County District Attorney and the Texas Medical Board.”