Where the Past Ends Chapter 07
Naomi called the same day the legal notices went out.
The second I answered, she came at me.
“Elliot, haven’t you done enough?
“Derek’s so scared of you he won’t leave his apartment.
“His health is already bad. Are you only going to be satisfied when he’s dead?
“You got your own grandmother killed, and now you want to drag the rest of us down with you?
“Elliot, how did you turn into this?”
I laughed coldly.
“You didn’t understand a single page of that notice before you called to defend him, did you?”
She cut me off.
“I don’t need to read it.
“The screenshots are right there. You know what you sent him.
“Withdraw the notices and apologize to him publicly.
“Otherwise I’ll put every message from our relationship online.
“Everyone can see how you made me check in and kept me away from other men.”
I was quiet for two seconds.
“Post them.
“Then everyone can see you calling me your future husband while you were seeing someone else for three years.
She didn’t have an answer ready.
“Stop twisting things.”
“I’m not the one who twisted them.”
I ended the call and blocked her.
Not long after, somebody added me back into the class group chat.
Owen tagged me right away.
“Elliot, what’s this about you sending legal notices to everybody?”
Kevin came in behind him.
“Everything we said was true.
“You act shameless and then nobody’s allowed to mention it?”
Dr. Reese sent a voice message too.
“Elliot, don’t burn every bridge you have.
“Your classmates and your professors were trying to help you.
“Blowing this up doesn’t do you any good.”
I replied with one line.
“Then we’ll settle it somewhere evidence counts.”
Owen jumped on it.
“Who do you think you’re scaring?
“There are dozens of us who’ll testify there’s something wrong with your character.
“Go ahead. Sue all of us.”
I answered, “All right.”
The group went quiet.
Kevin posted a photo of Derek hooked up to an IV.
“Look what you did.
“You put him in the hospital.
“If anything happens to him, you’re a murderer.”
I saved the photo and left the group.
The next day, Derek went live.
He was in a hospital gown with a strip of tape on the back of his hand.
“I don’t blame Elliot.
“He just lost his grandmother. He isn’t himself.
“If suing me makes him feel better, I’ll take it.”
Every comment praised how big-hearted he was.
Someone asked whether the screenshots were real.
He bit his lip and nodded.
“They’re real.
“I still have the original conversation.
“I just don’t want to set him off any worse.”
I logged in, went into the stream, and posted one line.
“Then produce the original.”
His face changed the moment he saw my name.
Naomi moved in front of the camera.
“Elliot, stop harassing him.”
I kept typing.
“There’s no matching conversation anywhere in the platform’s records.
“The timestamp format in your images isn’t even right.”
Derek’s eyes went red.
“Elliot knows all this technical stuff, so of course he can say my evidence is fake.
“I don’t know any of that. I only know what showed up on my phone.”
I sent one last message.
“Take your time.
“Forensic examiners are pulling the data off my grandmother’s phone right now.”
The glass in Derek’s hand hit the floor.
The stream cut out instantly.
Half an hour later, Booth called me.
“We recovered the full message history off her phone.
“Derek sent forty-seven messages and twelve videos.
“He rotated through three different numbers while he did it.”
I closed my eyes.
“Can you tie the numbers to him?”
“Subscriber records, payment history, and device logins all line up.
“There’s also a voice message.”
Booth paused.
“You should hear this one yourself.”
The recording came through a moment later.
Derek’s voice came out of my phone.
“Old woman, your grandson is the homewrecker here.
“Naomi stopped wanting him a long time ago.
“I hear you’ve got a bad heart.
“So watch the videos again. Watch them until you see how much we love each other.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Send it out, with the authenticated record.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
