Chapter 9 - ROBERT DOESN'T APOLOGIZE
Robert refused a private meeting without cameras.
Emily laughed when Rachel told her.
“Of course.”
Then Robert released a statement through his attorney.
We regret painful decisions made under impossible circumstances. We reject efforts to portray two frightened young parents as criminals after twenty-five years.
Twenty-seven and thirty.
Not teenagers.
Then:
We have never demanded money from Emily.
Technically false on stage.
His lawyer later claimed “provide for us” was a joke.
Then Robert went on another television program.
He said Emily was being manipulated by attorneys.
“She’s surrounded by people who benefit if she stays angry.”
Emily watched.
Then he said:
“We gave her life.”
That sentence did something Linda’s tears could not.
Emily called Marcus Bell.
“I want to go back on Finding Home.”
Rachel stared.
“Why?”
“Not for reconciliation.”
The show panicked.
Ratings from the first episode had exploded after leaked clips of Emily shouting “DON’T TOUCH ME!”
The network wanted a follow-up.
Emily set conditions.
No paid audience prompts.
No surprise guests.
No physical contact.
Raw documents allowed on stage.
Live broadcast with legal review.
The network agreed.
Why?
Ratings.
Emily knew exactly what she was dealing with now.
Then Megan Blake asked:
“Do you want Robert and Linda invited?”
Emily said:
“Yes.”
Rachel asked afterward:
“Are you sure?”
Emily looked at the old police file.
Robert’s 2001 statement:
NO CHILDREN.
Then at his new interview:
WE GAVE HER LIFE.
May you like
“Yes.”
This time, Emily wanted him to say both stories in the same room.
