Chapter 6 - THE WOMEN HE ERASED
Andrew left my mother’s apartment six minutes before police arrived.
He told her he had only been worried about me.
He apologized for raising his voice.
He even straightened a picture frame before leaving.
That was Andrew.
He could leave a room looking more civilized than when he entered it.
My mother called me crying.
I told her enough.
Not everything.
Just enough to make her understand that Andrew could not be trusted and that she should stay somewhere else for a few days.
Her silence after I said the word bruises almost destroyed me.
“Ava.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, baby.”
Her voice broke.
“How long?”
I looked across the room at Ethan.
“Too long.”
By noon, Naomi had secured an emergency temporary protection order.
Andrew was prohibited from contacting me directly.
The order was not magic.
But it was paper backed by consequences.
For the first time, a line existed that Andrew had not drawn himself.
At 2:00 p.m., Naomi received a call.
The former surgical resident wanted to meet.
Her name was Dr. Lena Park.
We met in a private conference room in a law office twenty blocks from Carter Tower.
Lena entered wearing navy scrubs beneath a wool coat.
She looked younger than I expected.
Maybe thirty-three.
When she saw me, she stopped.
Neither of us knew what to say.
Naomi introduced us.
Lena sat across from me.
Then she stared at my left wrist.
A faint bruise remained beneath the sleeve.
Her eyes filled with recognition.
“He twists.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“The wrist.”
She swallowed.
“He twists instead of striking where people can see.”
Every hair on my arms rose.
I nodded.
Lena looked down.
“Andrew supervised my fellowship.”
Her voice was flat.
“He started inviting me to private dinners.”
“When I refused, my evaluations changed.”
“He said I wasn’t emotionally stable enough for cardiac surgery.”
I listened without interrupting.
“One night after a conference, he cornered me in a hotel hallway.”
Her hands tightened together.
“I pushed him away.”
“He grabbed my wrist.”
My eyes closed.
Same grip.
Same controlled pressure.
Same method.
“I reported him.”
“To the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They opened an internal review.”
Lena laughed bitterly.
“Three weeks later, they found documentation problems in two of my patient files.”
“Were there problems?”
“No.”
“Andrew had access to the files.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“Can you prove that?”
“I couldn’t then.”
“What changed?”
Lena looked at me.
“Your gala.”
“My gala?”
“When the foundation postponed his award, I thought maybe someone finally knew.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“So I called Naomi.”
A second woman arrived an hour later.
Rachel Bennett.
Former communications director for Heartwell.
Andrew had described Rachel to me as a woman who became obsessed with him.
Her version was different.
They had dated briefly.
When she ended it, he began threatening her career.
Then he leaked private messages to colleagues and told people she had mental health problems.
She left New York.
The civil complaint had ended in a confidential settlement.
“How many women?”
I asked.
Naomi closed the conference room door.
“At least four that we can identify.”
My stomach dropped.
“Four?”
Lena shook her head.
“Probably more.”
I wanted to leave.
I wanted to run back to the strange safe apartment and bury myself beneath blankets until none of this existed.
Then Rachel reached across the table.
She did not touch me.
She left her hand there.
Halfway between us.
“If you stop now, I understand.”
Her voice shook.
“I stopped.”
Lena looked at her.
Rachel continued.
“I took the settlement because I was scared.”
“I moved away.”
“I changed jobs.”
“I told myself surviving was enough.”
She looked at me again.
“And it was enough.”
I felt tears burn behind my eyes.
“But I always wished someone had stood beside me.”
Silence filled the room.
Lena slowly placed her hand beside Rachel’s.
Still not touching me.
Waiting.
Giving me the choice.
For months Andrew had made every decision.
What I wore.
Where I went.
Who I called.
When I slept.
Whether I could leave.
This decision would be mine.
May you like
I placed my hand beside theirs.
“I’m not stopping.”
