Chapter 4 - SOMEBODY WANTED THE TRUTH OUT
I couldn’t move.
On the giant screen, the timestamp read:
SUNDAY — 11:42 P.M.
Andrew’s voice came through the speakers.
“You think you can humiliate me?”
Then mine.
“Andrew, let go of me.”
A gasp spread across the ballroom.
Andrew spun toward the screen.
“Turn that off!”
The video vanished.
Chaos erupted.
Reporters stood.
Phones appeared.
Andrew rushed offstage.
Ethan immediately moved in front of me.
“Marcus!”
Security surrounded us.
I stared at Ethan.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t.”
Andrew pushed through the crowd.
“You son of a bitch!”
He lunged toward Ethan.
Security grabbed him.
Cameras exploded with flashes.
“Get your hands off me!”
Senator Collins stepped backward.
Hospital board members looked horrified.
Andrew pointed at Ethan.
“You set me up!”
Ethan didn’t flinch.
“If I had set you up, there would’ve been more than twenty seconds of footage.”
Andrew’s face changed.
Because Ethan was telling the truth.
I knew it too.
Someone else had played that video.
Someone had access to my building’s security system.
Someone had been watching.
Reporters started shouting.
“Dr. Vaughn, did you assault your fiancée?”
“Miss Bennett, are you safe?”
“Mr. Carter, was the foundation aware of this?”
I couldn’t breathe.
The ballroom became too bright.
Too loud.
Too close.
Then Andrew shouted the sentence that destroyed everything.
“She’s unstable!”
Silence hit me harder than the cameras.
Andrew pointed at me.
“She’s been seeing a therapist for anxiety. She drinks. She hurts herself. That video is completely out of context.”
I stared at him.
He had prepared this.
Maybe months ago.
Maybe from the beginning.
Ethan’s face went cold.
Andrew kept talking.
“I have medical records.”
My stomach turned.
He was my doctor once.
Before we dated.
He had access to information no fiancé should have weaponized.
“Ava has episodes,” he said. “I’ve been trying to help her privately.”
Whispers spread.
I could see doubt entering the room.
Not everyone.
But enough.
Ethan leaned toward me.
“Is any of that true?”
“I saw a therapist after my mother died.”
“Do you hurt yourself?”
“No.”
“Does he have access to your medical records?”
My silence answered him.
Ethan turned to Marcus.
“Lock down the building.”
Andrew laughed.
“You can’t imprison everyone because your assistant has issues.”
“No,” Ethan said. “But I can preserve evidence.”
Police sirens began outside.
Andrew suddenly stopped smiling.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
I HAVE THE REST OF THE VIDEO.
My hands shook.
A second message arrived.
ANDREW KNOWS WHO I AM.
May you like
A third followed.
IF HE FINDS ME FIRST, I’M DEAD.
