Chapter 13 - The Deposition of the Patriarch
Despite the federal wire fraud indictments looming over Richard, his civil defense team refused to abandon their original, desperate lawsuit: the Emergency Petition for Conservatorship challenging Arthur Kensington’s mental competency. They believed that if they could somehow prove in civil court that Arthur was cognitively impaired when he signed the trust restructuring documents, they could invalidate Julian’s executive appointment and use the corporate chaos as leverage to negotiate a plea bargain with federal prosecutors.
The formal video deposition was scheduled for a Tuesday morning in the high-security conference room of Sterling & Partners, the Consortium’s outside legal counsel.
Arthur Kensington sat at the head of the mahogany table, immaculate in a three-piece suit, his hands resting calmly on the silver handle of his cane. Sitting opposite him was Richard’s lead litigation attorney, a formidable, high-priced civil bulldog named Marcus Vance (no relation to Julian), known for breaking elderly witnesses on the stand with aggressive, rapid-fire questioning.
"State your name and current corporate title for the record," Attorney Vance began, his digital recorder running and the videographer’s camera pointed directly at Arthur’s face.
"Arthur William Kensington," the patriarch replied in a clear, unwavering baritone. "Chairman Emeritus and majority controlling shareholder of the Kensington Real Estate Consortium."
"Mr. Kensington, you are eighty-four years of age, correct?" Vance asked, pacing slightly behind his chair. "And isn't it true that following your motor vehicle accident three years ago, you suffered a Grade 2 concussion and spent four days in an intensive care neurological unit?"
"That is a matter of public medical record, Counselor," Arthur replied smoothly. "As is the fact that my attending neurologists cleared me with perfect cognitive scores five days later."
"Be that as it may," Vance pressed, leaning over the table and pointing a finger toward the trust documents. "Isn't it true that on Sunday, July 26th, following a minor family disagreement at a birthday party, you abruptly and without prior board consultation altered sixty years of generational succession planning to hand operational control of a multibillion-dollar empire to Julian Vance—a man with zero formal business education, zero corporate experience, and no blood relation to your family?"
"I did," Arthur stated simply.
"And would you not agree, Mr. Kensington, that handing a three-hundred-billion-dollar real estate portfolio to a South Side auto mechanic represents an erratic, irrational, and highly impulsive decision consistent with vascular cognitive decline and undue influence?" Vance barked, attempting to trap the old man in a soundbite.
Arthur did not flinch. He slowly leaned forward, his piercing eyes locking onto the aggressive attorney with such formidable, intimidating intensity that Vance instinctively took a half-step backward.
"Let us discuss rationality, Counselor," Arthur said, his voice dropping into a cool, analytical register that filled the room with absolute authority. "For forty years, I employed individuals who possessed degrees from Harvard, Wharton, and Yale. I paid them millions of dollars to manage my assets with prudence and fiduciary fidelity. Do you know what those highly educated, 'rational' gentlemen did with my trust?"
Arthur reached into his folder, pulling out a certified copy of the federal wire fraud indictment against Richard Kensington and slapping it onto the mahogany table.
"They utilized their Ivy League educations to construct offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands," Arthur stated coldly. "They systematically stole fourteen point eight million dollars from affordable housing funds designed to shelter working-class families in this city. They leveraged commercial properties to the brink of default to fund personal luxury penthouses and private jets."
Arthur tapped the desk with his index finger, every beat echoing in the silent deposition room.
"I appointed Julian Vance as Executive Vice President not despite his background as a mechanic, but because of it," Arthur declared proudly into the video camera. "A mechanic understands cause and effect. A mechanic knows that if you put cheap, contaminated oil into an engine, the friction will eventually tear the block apart. Julian Vance possesses the structural integrity, the moral discipline, and the work ethic that my own privileged descendants traded away for cheap social status."
Arthur looked directly at Attorney Vance, a razor-sharp smile touching his lips.
"You wish to test my cognitive capacity, Counselor? Ask me the exact square footage, current debt-to-equity ratio, and quarterly net operating income of any of our forty-two commercial properties in North America right now. I will recite them from memory down to the last decimal point. Can your client, Richard, do the same without consulting his fraudulent offshore ledgers?"
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Attorney Vance stood frozen for five agonizing seconds, staring at the eighty-four-year-old titan who had just completely demolished his legal strategy in a single, unshakeable three-minute monologue. The attorney quietly gathered his legal pads, looked at the court reporter, and muttered the only words left available to him:
"No further questions at this time. The deposition is concluded."
