Chapter 46
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The deposition of Victor Thorne took place in a neutral, sterile conference room at the downtown courthouse. The room was tense, the air thick with the unspoken animosity between the two legal teams. A court reporter sat quietly in the corner, her fingers hovering over the stenograph machine, ready to permanently record every word.
Victor Thorne sat at the head of the table. He was a handsome man in his early forties, wearing a bespoke suit and radiating an aura of untouchable, arrogant wealth. He looked at Lily with undisguised contempt, entirely dismissing her as a threat.
Lily sat across from him, her posture perfectly straight, her files impeccably organized. Caleb sat beside her, ready to hand her the exhibits.
"Let the record reflect that this is the deposition of Victor Thorne," Lily stated clearly, her voice steady and commanding, officially beginning the psychological war. "Mr. Thorne, you have sworn an oath to tell the truth today. Do you understand the penalties for perjury?"
"I understand them perfectly, Ms. Vance," Thorne sneered, leaning back in his chair. "Let's get this over with. I have a company to run."
"Let's discuss your company," Lily pivoted smoothly. She held up a thick financial document. "Mr. Thorne, in your sworn financial declaration filed with the family court, you stated that your primary development firm, Thorne Enterprises, generated zero net profit last year. Is that correct?"
"That is correct," Thorne answered smoothly, glancing at his lawyer, Mr. Sterling. "The real estate market was volatile. We took significant losses."
"Significant losses," Lily repeated softly. She turned to Caleb and took the next document. "Exhibit D, for the record. Mr. Thorne, this is a ledger from Apex Holdings, an offshore LLC registered in the Cayman Islands. Are you the primary beneficiary of this LLC?"
Thorne’s arrogant smile vanished instantly. He sat up straight, his eyes darting toward the document in Lily's hand.
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"Objection," Sterling interrupted immediately, his voice tight. "Relevance. My client's offshore corporate holdings have nothing to do with his personal income."
"The relevance," Lily countered, staring directly into Thorne's panicked eyes, "is that Apex Holdings transferred three million dollars into a private, untraceable trust in Mr. Thorne's name exactly one week before he claimed poverty in family court."
