Chapter 7 - SARAH UNDER OATH
Sarah had never been asked a question that truly required a careful answer.
At least not in a room where the answer mattered.
During her deposition, she arrived in a pale pink blazer, perfect hair, and the unmistakable confidence of someone who still believed charm counted as evidence.
Then Marisol Vega began.
“At the time the Scottsdale villa was purchased, did you know your mother borrowed money from Chloe?”
Sarah smiled thinly.
“She helped us.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“She knew about the house.”
“How do you know?”
“Mom told her.”
“Before or after the wire?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Before.”
Marisol slid over phone records.
“Plaintiff and defendant had no conversation on the day before the wire, but did exchange thirteen text messages the day after. Would you like to revise?”
Sarah’s smile weakened.
“Maybe I meant around then.”
Marisol nodded pleasantly.
The real fracture came twenty minutes later.
“Did your mother ever tell you Chloe expected repayment?”
“No.”
Marisol placed a printed exhibit in front of her.
A screenshot Owen had extracted from Sarah’s own cloud backup through discovery.
Text from Sarah to a friend:
Mom says Chloe is freaking out about the bridge money lol. Whatever. She’ll survive.
Sarah stared at it.
Marisol folded her hands.
“Do you still maintain you were unaware Chloe expected repayment?”
Sarah’s face flushed.
“That text was private.”
“That is not an answer.”
Sarah’s lawyer objected weakly.
Too late.
The room already knew.
Then came the gift letter.
“Have you seen this document before?” Marisol asked.
Sarah looked at the forged gift affidavit and went still for half a second too long.
“No.”
Marisol raised an eyebrow.
“You paused.”
“I was reading.”
“It’s one page.”
Sarah glared.
“Are you accusing me of forging something?”
“No. I’m asking whether you saw it.”
Another pause.
“Mom said there was paperwork.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know. Lender stuff.”
“Did she say Chloe signed it?”
“I assumed—”
“Did she say Chloe signed it?”
Sarah closed her eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
That answer changed the room.
Not legally decisive on its own, but morally devastating.
Sarah had known there was paperwork presented as Chloe’s. She had gone ahead anyway.
When the deposition ended, she brushed past Chloe in the hallway.
“This is all because you can’t stand not being the center.”
Chloe turned slowly.
“You built a house out of my money.”
Sarah laughed, brittle now.
“You always had more.”
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“That assumption. That because I earned more, I owed you more.”
Sarah’s mouth tightened.
“You’re my sister.”
“And you were my thief.”
For the first time, Sarah looked hurt.
May you like
Not because Chloe was wrong.
Because the word fit.
