His Number Changed So I Changed My Life Chapter 28
“You knew after I called the police. And you knew after my mother was hospitalized.”
He didn’t answer.
Outside the glass wall, someone pushed a delivery cart past, its wheels bumping rhythmically over the seams in the floor.
After a long silence, Victor said, “Parker didn’t tell Madison to go to your mother’s house.”
“The story won’t say he did.”
“He wasn’t involved with the anonymous accounts.”
“The record only shows that he knew what Madison had done and didn’t stop her. She said so herself.”
“She was angry when she said that.”
“The security footage preserves the full conversation. Your lawyer can request a copy.”
Victor finally seemed to understand that I wasn’t planning to speculate in the article.
Speculation could be denied.
A signed receipt for a restraining order, verified video footage, and the messages he had sent with his own hands could not.
He put the NDA back in the folder.
“You weren’t like this before,” he said. “You used to put Parker first in everything.”
“I did.”
“Don’t you think you’ve changed awfully fast?”
“For five years, I put him first when he asked me to quit my job. Now, I’m just putting myself first again.”
Before he stood up to leave, he asked one last question. “Are you going to write about the termination?”
My fingers went cold.
“No.”
He seemed to relax.
“Not for Parker’s sake,” I said. “But because that story belongs only to me.”
After he left, I told my editor about the unsigned agreement and everything that had happened during the meeting.
My editor reminded me that Victor’s words couldn’t be quoted as a formal interview.
“I know,” I said. “I’m a reporter. I don’t need to steal a quote to prove a point.”
That evening, I got an email from Parker.
He didn’t ask me to stop the story.
He wrote:
*If you still need an on-the-record response from someone involved, I’m willing to do a named interview.*