LOGINShare
CHAPTER 27A: The Deposition (Part I)
publish date:
2026-04-21 19:30:19POV: Selene Castellano Pierce
The deposition room looked exactly like it had on the video feed.
Worse, actually—because this time, Selene was sitting in it.
The beige walls felt closer than they had on screen, pressing in like they had something to prove. The fluorescent lights hummed faintly overhead, a steady, irritating buzz that settled somewhere behind her eyes. The long table stretched between her and Sullivan like a line drawn in the sand.
On one side: him. Prepared. Armed. Hunting.
On the other: her….With nothing but the truth.
Diana sat beside her, composed as ever, a quiet, steady presence. Not intrusive. Not overbearing. Just there—solid in a way Selene could lean on without thinking.
The court reporter adjusted her machine, fingers hovering, ready.
Sullivan arranged his files with meticulous precision. Each page aligned. Each movement is deliberately controlled
He looked younger in person than she’d expected. Early forties, maybe. Clean-cut. Sharp. The kind of man who didn’t raise his voice because he didn’t need to.
“Good morning, Mrs. Pierce,” he said, offering a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you for your time today.”
As if she’d had a choice. Selene straightened slightly in her chair.
“Please state your full name for the record.”
“Selene Maria Castellano Pierce.”
“And you’re married to Avalon James Pierce?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Seven weeks.”
His pen moved.
“Seven weeks,” he repeated lightly. “That’s quite recent.”
Selene said nothing.
She could feel Diana’s approval beside her.
Sullivan glanced up, waiting.
When she didn’t respond, he simply moved on.
“Let’s start with some background. How did you meet Avalon Pierce?”
“We were students at Stanford. Freshman year. Economics seminar.”
“And you dated?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
“Serious relationship?”
“Yes.”
“Marriage serious?”
Selene paused.
Not because she didn’t know the answer but because she knew what it would sound like.
Still—
“Yes,” she said. “We talked about it. We were young, but we believed we’d get married someday.”
Sullivan nodded slowly, like he’d expected that.
“And what happened?”
“I left.”
“When?”
“Senior year. Three months before graduation.”
“And after you left?”
“No contact.”
“Why?”
There it was.
The first real shift.
Selene felt her pulse pick up, just slightly. She drew in a slow breath, grounding herself.
“I was pregnant,” she said.
The words settled heavily into the room.
Sullivan didn’t react outwardly—but his pen paused.
Then resumed.
“And Avalon knew this?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because his mother found out first.”
“How”?
“She came to my apartment, told me if I told Avalon about the pregnancy, she would destroy his future. His trust fund, his career and everything he was building.”
“Did she make specific threats?”
“Yes.”
“Financial?”
“Yes.”
“Professional?”
“Yes.”
“Did she offer you anything in return for your silence?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
Sullivan’s brows lifted slightly.
“Did you accept it?”
“No.”
“But you still left.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling Avalon.”
“Yes.”
“You made that decision for him.”
Selene held his gaze.
“Yes,” she said. “And I’ve regretted it every day since.”
Sullivan let that sit.
Then flipped a page. “What happened to the pregnancy?”
Selene’s fingers tightened in her lap.
“I miscarried,” she said. “Three days later.”
“Where?”
“San Francisco General Hospital.”
“Were you alone?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t contact Avalon?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
This was the part that twisted. That made her sound like the villain in her own story.
But she didn’t look away.
“Because I thought I was protecting him,” she said quietly. “Because I was grieving. Because I was twenty-two and convinced that telling him would only cause more damage.”
“For ten years.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a long time to keep a secret.”
“Yes,” she said again. “It is.”
Silence.
Then Sullivan moved on.
“Let’s talk about your reconnection. When did you see Avalon Pierce next?”
“Five days after his grandmother’s death.”
“And he came to you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To tell me about the will.”
“The condition requiring marriage.”
“Yes.”
“And your reaction?”
“Shock. Confusion. A lot of questions.”
“Did you agree immediately?”
“No.”
“How long did it take?”
“About an hour.”
“And what convinced you?”
Selene hesitated.
Then answered honestly.
“My sister,” she said. “She has lymphoma. She needed treatment I couldn’t afford.”
“How much money did Avalon offer?”
“Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
“And in exchange?”
“Marriage.”
“For how long?”
“One year. With the option to reassess.”
“So it was temporary.”
“It was undefined.”
Sullivan tilted his head slightly.
“But you knew you needed the money.”
“Yes.”
“And that influenced your decision.”
“Yes.”
He made a note.
“So financial necessity played a significant role in your agreement to marry Avalon Pierce.”
“It was a factor,” Selene said. “Not the only one.”
“What were the others?”
She didn’t hesitate this time.
“Nene. She believed in us. She thought we belonged together.”
“And that was enough?”
“No,” Selene said softly. “But it mattered.”
“And?”
Selene’s voice dropped slightly.
“And I still loved him.”
Sullivan’s pen stilled again.
“For ten years?”
“Some feelings don’t disappear just because time passes.”
“So you saw this as a second chance.”
“I saw it as complicated,” she said. “Which it was.”
Sullivan studied her for a moment and then shifted his question.
“When did you move in together?”
“The day we got married.”
“Did you share a bedroom?”
“No.”
“For how long?”
“A few weeks.”
“That doesn’t suggest a genuine marital relationship.”
“That suggests caution,” Selene replied evenly. “We hadn’t seen each other in ten years. We needed time.”
“Or you needed appearances without reality.”
Diana’s hand brushed her arm lightly.
Selene breathed through the irritation.
“We needed space to build something real.”
“And have you?”
Selene met his eyes.
“Yes.”
Sullivan leaned back slightly.
Then asked, almost casually—
“Do you love Avalon Pierce?”
The room went still. Not physically. But something shifted.
The air. The weight….
The question landed differently than all the others.
Not about contracts.
Not about money.
Not about timelines.
About truth.
Selene opened her mouth and for a moment—
The answer felt heavier than the room itself.
Latest chapter
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 129: Auntie Grace
POV: Maya CastellanoKofi’s family arrived on Thursday.Kofi had decided that the airport was not the right place for Maya to meet his family. He thought it would be too overwhelming, with all the noise and crowds, and the hassle of dealing with luggage and jet lag. He wanted their first meeting to be more low-key, so he had made it clear that the airport was off limits. Maya, it seemed, had respected his wishes and was not there to greet them.She had agreed, mainly because fear was holding her back and she needed someone to tell her it was okay to wait a little longer.Instead she cleaned her apartment for three hours and then sat on the couch and stared at the wall.Kofi called at noon."He told me they're all at the hotel now, just taking it easy. We're having dinner together tonight at 7, just a family thing."“Just family,” Maya repeated.“You’re family,” he said.“I meant just your family, without me.”A pause.“Maya.”“I’m fine,” she said. “ I’m completely fine.”“You cleaned
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 128: Six Weeks
POV: Maya CastellanoThe dress fitting took place in a tiny studio nestled in Hayes Valley, a space that was steeped in the scent of fabric and the sweet hint of flowers. It was clear that this was a place where attention to detail was paramount, where every stitch and every fold was taken seriously.Selene settled into the corner chair, the one where people usually sat to share their thoughts and opinions.Kofi wasn't there, and Maya had made it pretty clear that she didn't want him to be. Apparently, it was bad luck for him to see the dress before the big day, a tradition that Kofi didn't really believe in, but Maya did, and that was all that mattered. He had tried to argue that it wasn't something he personally observed, but Maya had shut him down, saying that she did observe it, and that was enough for him to respect her wishes.Maya loved him for that.She stepped onto the small platform and looked at herself in the three-way mirror while the seamstress worked at the hem.“Well,”
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 127: Three Weeks Later
POV: Selene CastellanoThe advisory board meeting had gone exactly as Selene hoped.Everything was out in the open and clearly recorded. But the two members who had been compromised decided to step down before things got ugly, opting for a quiet exit instead of a public showdown. James took it upon himself to apologize to the entire board for the mistake in their vetting process. Meanwhile, Amara had already put a new screening process in place, which was making waves in the nonprofit sector - it was even featured in two newsletters as a model for how to be transparent and accountable.A week after that, Henderson Capital made a quiet move to shut down its philanthropic division. The SEC investigation was gaining speed, and Richard Henderson decided to step down from his own company instead of waiting to see what the results would be.Diana's name was finally in the clear, it turned out she had never actually been implicated - the calls made using her phone number had been tracked and
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 126: What We Lost
POV: Avalon PierceThey sat at the kitchen table with a blank document open between them, the cursor blinking, neither of them writing anything yet.“I don’t know where to start,” Selene said.“Start with what’s true,” Avalon said. “Not what sounds right.”She nodded slowly, then began typing.My name is Selene Castellano Pierce. Thirty years ago, a man decided that protecting his own interests mattered more than a young father’s life. I never met Jonathan Pierce. But I married his son, and I have spent the last year learning what his absence cost this family.She looked at Avalon.“Your turn,” she said.He took the laptop.My father died when I was eight years old. I grew up believing it was an accident. I built walls around that loss because grief without explanation has nowhere to go. This year, I learned the truth— he died because he refused to look away from something wrong, and that my grandmother spent thirty years protecting me from a danger she couldn’t eliminate but only del
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 125 : Our Own Board
POV: Selene CastellanoAmara was already sitting at her desk when Selene and Avalon walked in the next morning at 7 am. She had three pieces of paper laid out on the table in front of her, covered in colorful notes and symbols that only made sense to her. It was clear she had been up late, coming up with some kind of system that only she could understand.“Sit down,” Amara said, not looking up. “ This is bad.”“How bad,” Avalon said."Amara pointed out that two names on Ross's list which were familiar, they belonged to members of their community advisory panel, not the executive board, but rather a group of people they had specifically chosen for their connections to the city government."Selene sat down slowly.“Who,” she said.Amara turned one of the printouts around.Two names, highlighted.Selene read them."They've been a part of our lives from the very start," she said in a soft voice, "even before we held the symposium, they were already here with us."“I know,” Amara said.Jam
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 124: Why Me
POV: Selene Castellano“No,” Avalon said immediately. “ Absolutely not.”“Avalon—”"She’s not going to be having a one-on-one conversation with him, not after what happened last night."Nunez raised her hand, signaling for attention. "This is a federal facility we're talking about," she said. "There are cameras everywhere, and agents are always present in the room. I would be there myself, overseeing everything."“Why me,” Selene said, looking at Nunez. “ Did he say why?”"Nunez spoke up, saying 'He told us you'd get it once you heard the story,' but that's all he was willing to share."“What’s his name?” Selene asked."Daniel Ross," Nunez explained, "A former private investigator who spent nearly fifteen years working with Whitmore's network, and he was actually Reeves' go-to guy for fieldwork."The name meant nothing to her.Avalon didn't agree at first, but then Nunez made a deal with him - he could watch everything that was happening from another room, see and hear every single wo
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 61: Still Choosing
POV: Selene CastellanoDiana picked up on the first ring.That told Selene everything—she’d been waiting, already aware. And that meant the conversation ahead would be worse than she’d braced herself for.“Talk,” Selene said. It was Avalon’s word. She hadn’t realised she’d started using it until no
The Inheritance Clause Chapter 60: Slightly Past Their Best
POV: Avalon PierceLight changed how the hotel room appeared.Beige walls, maybe meant to feel calm at some point, now just dull under the weak light. Up near the window, the ceiling holds a mark - water found its way through and left a shadow with no name. The room feels tighter than it is, like t
The Inheritance Clause Chapter 59: Fear Sat Different
POV: Selene CastellanoBarefoot on the floor, Avalon left the room without another word.Out of the corner of her eye, he shifted toward the glass - positioning himself just beside it, like characters in movies often do, which she used to find exaggerated… yet suddenly felt entirely logical. Silenc
The Inheritance Clause CHAPTER 58: The Name
POV: Avalon PierceHe called Diana at 1:07 AM.She answered before the second ring, which meant she’d been sitting with her phone, waiting, and that alone told him something about what she was about to say.“Talk,” he said.“The name the prosecutor has.” A pause. “Gerald Whitmore.”Avalon said noth
You may also like
Meet My Brothers
Red Thirteen5.7M viewsThe CEO's Ex-Wife Is A Famous Doctor
LiLhyz4.1M viewsBillionaire's Match
Tangy Candy3.2M viewsSpoiled by Mr. Russell
Luminous Night1.0M viewsBreeding His Stepdaughter
Sandiwrites204 viewsWhispers of Ruin: A Taboo Collection
Liah🥰141 viewsThe Nanny Is the Billionaire's Missing Wife
Everglory76 viewsFROM HIS SILENT WIFE TO HIS GREATEST REGRET
Sweetbite77 views
