He Watched Me Freeze Now He Begs For My Return Chapter 22
After Elaine was subpoenaed, Paige suddenly contacted the media.
She sat in a hotel suite, a framed photo of her mother in front of her, and declared herself the Bennett family’s biggest victim.
“I lost my mother when I was young, and then I was adopted by the person who killed her. I had no idea what they had done to Nora.”
When the reporter asked about the “family laugh history” videos, Paige lowered her head, her voice catching.
“I was under their control, too. A lot of those things were done because they told me to. I hope Nora can understand that in a way, we’re both victims.”
I closed the browser after watching the interview.
Paige deserved to reclaim her trust fund. She deserved to leave her adoptive parents.
But now she wanted more than just her money.
She wanted to take my pain, too, and turn herself into the only person worth pitying.
Half an hour later, her lawyer emailed mine, asking if I would publicly confirm that Paige had been “manipulated by her parents” and had never voluntarily harmed me.
In exchange, she was willing to cooperate fully in Elaine’s case.
I looked at the word *exchange* and thought of the group chat from the blizzard night.
No one had held a gun to Paige’s head when she watched my live location and took bets.
No one forced her to dump wine on my dress, lock me in the basement, or switch out my cover letter.
It was true that Robert and Elaine had harmed her.
But being a victim didn’t erase the fact that she had also been a tormentor.
I told my lawyer to send back a single sentence.
“Nora will not provide a false statement for anyone.”
That night, Paige posted a statement on social media.
She called me cold-blooded, saying I knew her mental state was unstable yet still refused to give her a chance to rebuild her life.
This time, I didn’t stay silent.
From the materials my lawyer had sealed, I selected three complete, raw videos.
In the fake break-in, it was Paige hiding in the closet with the GoPro. In the lost-dog prank, it was Paige filming me as I shouted in the rain. After the cover-letter sabotage, it was Paige laughing into the camera that she’d finally get to watch me embarrass myself in an interview.
I didn’t edit the footage.
I didn’t add a single word of explanation.
My lawyer sent the videos, along with the full group chat record from the blizzard night, to the same station that had interviewed Paige.
The next day, her interview was removed from the front page.
She turned off her comments and deleted the post accusing me.
In the last frame of the video, she was still smiling.
This time, no one stepped in to tell me it was only a joke.