Chapter 14 - Denise’s ReasonDenise finally testified.
For the first hour, she remained controlled.
The barn punishment had been excessive.
She acknowledged that.
The ghost comment was inappropriate.
She acknowledged that too.
Then questions moved to Cedar Hollow.
“Did you believe Wyatt’s thirty-percent interest was unfair to your son?”
Denise hesitated.
“I believed our blended family needed a long-term plan.”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell Wyatt Mason deserved part of the farm?”
“I may have discussed fairness.”
“With a seven-year-old?”
“He asked questions.”
“Did you create the restructuring proposal?”
“Yes.”
“Why reduce Wyatt’s voting percentage?”
“To make Cedar Hollow financeable.”
“Why issue ownership to yourself?”
“Because I worked there without equity.”
That answer was true.
And understandable.
Then counsel asked:
“Why not negotiate that openly with Clayton?”
Denise’s face changed.
“Because Emma always won.”
The room became still.
Clayton stared.
Emma had been dead five years.
Counsel asked:
“What does that mean?”
Denise laughed bitterly.
“She was everywhere.”
“Mrs. Mercer—”
“Her picture. Her trust. Her percentage. Her rules.”
Clayton’s chest tightened.
Denise continued.
“I married a man whose dead wife still owned thirty percent of our life.”
There it was.
Not poverty.
Not only greed.
Resentment.
She had entered a family whose history existed before her and mistook that history for rejection.
Counsel asked:
“Did Wyatt cause that?”
Denise’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then why punish him?”
She looked toward the table.
“I was angry.”
“At whom?”
No answer.
“Clayton?”
Silence.
“Emma?”
Her jaw tightened.
“Your lack of ownership?”
Denise finally whispered:
“All of it.”
“And Wyatt?”
She looked toward the door.
“He was always there.”
That answer ended whatever sympathy Clayton still carried.
Not because Denise admitted hating Wyatt.
May you like
Because she admitted something worse.
She had turned a child into a symbol of everything she believed she had been denied.
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