Page 28 of Interview with the Billionaire

Audio Transcription by All Access Enterprises

Annotations added by client: Spicer, Magdalena

Location: Stark Home, Malibu, CA, 1st floor living area

Subject(s): Evelyn Dodge, Frank Dunlop

Interview conducted by Maggie Bridge

Begin Interview

[Subjects are sitting on the sofa holding hands. These two are recently married—about a year—and their newlywed status is apparent.]

Bridge: Thank you both for agreeing to these interviews. Obviously, I want to get a solid picture of Nikki and Damien for the article, and your input is invaluable.

E. Dodge: Honey, you don’t have to thank me. I’m the one who arranged for the article, remember?

Frank Dunlop: Evelyn…

E. Dodge: He’s my rudeness checker. Keeps me in line. How I lived without him, I’ll never know.

[Were I only reading this interview, I might think she was being sarcastic. But I can hear the affection in her voice, and the tender way their hands touch tells the truth as well.]

Bridge: Evelyn, you’ve been representing Damien all his life. Been there for the good times and the bad.

E. Dodge: I have indeed.

Bridge: What would you say is the biggest challenge he’s overcome?

E. Dodge: Oh, come on, Maggie. We’re not going there.

Bridge: You mean the abuse? The trial?

E. Dodge: I’d say those two are intertwined. And I believe Damien took that topic off the table.

Bridge: It’s difficult to talk about Damien’s past without at least touching on those events.

E. Dodge: Fair enough. But you know what? I don’t think that was the hardest. Well, only tangentially. I think his biggest challenge was walking away from Nikki. Thinking that the reveal of those horrible photos and videos would destroy her. Turns out what destroyed them both was him walking. Idiot boy.

[I manage to hold back my laugh.]

Bridge: I spoke with them about that in our first interview.

E. Dodge: Then you already have a sense.

Bridge: Can you give me your broad impression of Damien?

E. Dodge: One of the best people I know. And one of the hardest to get to know. That boy protects his privacy. It’s hard to get to know him. But it’s worth it. And he will go to hell and back to protect the people he loves.

Bridge: You’re smiling.

E. Dodge: Just remembering something I told Nikki that day she met him at my house.

Bridge: What’s that?

E. Dodge: Think of Damien as an iceberg. Most of that boy is well under the surface. Honestly, I think Nikki’s the only one who’s truly seen the full essence of that man.

Frank Dunlop: Can’t blame him, though.