Fractured [SHAWN MENDES]

~30~

"Winter was cheating on you with one of your best friends. That came out in the trial, and she's talked about it since then. Did you destroy her house as some kind of punishment?" Gretchen asked after they sat back down in the living room once they'd eaten some breakfast.

Shawn had choked down a spinach and feta pastry to appear more at ease than he was, but he could feel it in his throat. "I didn't try to destroy the house. I only wanted to damage the car, and yes, the fact that she was cheating was part of that. I didn't want him to get my car. It was a snap decision and not something I'd planned on doing when I went there that day."

"I read your testimony, so I'm aware that's your claim, but surely you considered that the car could hit the house. It's hard to believe that wasn't your goal."

"I can't control what you believe, but I am not lying when I say I didn't want the car to destroy the house. When I saw that it was going to, I was horrified," he told her. "I turned myself in and accepted full responsibility."

She clicked her ballpoint pen several times. "Indeed you did. One could argue that calling the police was a clever PR move. Running would have looked worse."

"It had nothing to do with PR. I was guilty, and it made sense to own up to that. It's not like turning myself in helped me; I went to jail and my career was still ruined."

"Yet you didn't plead guilty, did you?"

Shawn ran his hands through his hair. "No. I considered it, but my lawyers insisted that a trial was the way to go."

"Have you ever felt that Winter deserved to have her beautiful home destroyed, whether you did it intentionally or not?" Gretchen asked.

"No. I was, and still am, heartsick over it. That was my home, too."

Gretchen was feeling somewhat frustrated. Shawn wasn't giving her any information that she didn't already have and was handling her questions really well. He was nothing like the pathetic rattled man who she'd seen on the stand in the archived trial videos she'd watched. "Back to an earlier question...what behaviors did you have during your relationship with Winter, or any other relationship, that justify her saying that there were signs pointing to your potential to be toxic?"

"Winter was my first real love. I'd been involved with other women prior to her, but those relationships were different. Almost immediately I wanted to marry her, and I know that I probably rushed things. I may have pushed her to commit."

"Did you give her ultimatums?"

"Never."

She clicked the pen again. "Would you describe yourself as smothering?"

Shawn sighed. "I didn't think so when we were together. I wanted to be with her all the time, and I believed the feeling was mutual. In hindsight, I was probably too intense and needy. If I'd relaxed a little and let things happen organically, things could have turned out very differently."

Gretchen felt the little tingle journalists often got when maybe they've uncovered something. "Are you saying you'd still be together?"

"I can't know for sure, but if I pushed her away, then it's possible that we would be if I'd not done that."

"Do you still love Winter?"

"Like I just said...she was my first love. We were going to get married. She's always going to have a place in my heart," he said honestly.

"Holding onto someone who is married and has a child is toxic in and of itself," Gretchen purported. "Do you agree with that?"

He got up and made himself another coffee to buy some time to come up with an answer to her very leading question. "I think it's toxic for me, but I don't think it impacts anyone else."