“Snipers? Are you even hearing yourself?”
“I’m not the one giving a fucking press conference twelve hours after there’s been an attempt on my life. That kind of stupid is all you.”
“You’re so sodding dramatic. Come on, buttercup, we are supposed to be a couple in love. Let’s go put on a show.” He takes a big deep breath, nods his head, and leaves me standing like an idiot as he walks towards the waiting chaos.
I join him and am momentarily stunned as cameras and shouts of“Mr Cooper”coming from every direction. It’s like a bloody zoo out here, and Owen is the main attraction.
“Mr Cooper, what happened last night?”
“Mr Cooper, can you tell me how you’re feeling?”
“Mr Cooper, is it true that one of the victims was one of your staff? Does their family know?”
Vultures.
I join Owen who is walking down the steps, holding his hands up.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he shouts over the crowd. Questions still fly at him, but he continues to hold his hands up, trying to calm them down.
“I will answer your questions, but if I can ask that you all take a step back.” He holds his hand out to me, and I join him by his side closer. Eyes scanning the crowd. “We are practically on top of each other. Let’s give each other a bit of space.”
The faces start to look around themselves and step back. Owen’s eyes are on me, so I nod. Not breaking my attention away from the crowd.
If any of them do lunge, I have a pretty good vantage point and can push him out of the way quick enough. Guns? Well, guns I’d have to…wing it.
“That’s better. I’ve had enough chaos to last me a lifetime. Now, you had some questions.”
Voices and shouts start again, peppering the questions they are desperate to get answered. All of them trying to get his attention. All of them talking over each other. Owen points at someone, and everyone shuts up and lets the person speak.
A middle-aged balding man jostles in the crowd and sticks forward his phone.
“How are you feeling this morning, Mr Cooper?”
“Tired. Shaken up. Sad. Confused. Angry. There are many conflicting emotions if I’m being completely honest with you. A charity dinner! I can’t quite get my head around it.”
“Some say it’s because of you, Mr Cooper,” someone shouts from the back, and Owen laughs a humourless laugh. “Because of your announcement.”
“I’ll leave the motive to the police, but I will say this—last night, a room full of people from all walks of life came together for one reason: to make a difference for those this system has forgotten. And they were killed for it. Innocent men and women. Gone. For what? Speaking out? Believing something different? Disagreeing—religiously, politically? For challenging the status quo? For daring to hope things could change? For choosing compassion over power?”
He pauses, his words hanging heavy in the silence.
“This is not acceptable. This will not get you what you want. Violence won’t win you support—it will drive people away. Because if everything you stand for starts with fear, then no one will stand with you. Not the public. Not me. You don’t scare us. You don’t scare me. The British people will stand together—like we have before, and like we will again. Because what makes this country great…is us. You. Me. All of us.”
He glances over at me. I’m scanning the crowd, but everyone’s still locked onto him, listening. His voice is steady. Sincere. Every word is being heard, and I’m as enraptured as everyone else.
“But we’ve lost sight of that. We’ve forgotten. Now it’s North vs South. It’s black vs white. Rich vs poor. Right vs Left. Are we so broken that we’ve stopped seeing our differences as strength? That we’ve stopped listening—not to reply, but to understand, to truly listen?”
He pauses and lets the sentiment sink in.
“We can’t fix this alone. I can’t fix this alone. But together? Maybe we stand a chance.”
Another beat.
“So, members of the press. Are you listening? Not just waiting to ask your next question. Are you really listening to the voices of the people? Because I am. And they’re calling for change.”
He steps back; his gaze unwavering.
“And here’s the thing about change—it’s inevitable. Thank you.”
