Chapter 5 - THE WITNESS
I showed Ethan the messages.
His entire focus shifted.
“Marcus, trace this.”
Marcus took the phone.
Andrew was escorted into a private conference room while police questioned witnesses.
The award ceremony was over.
The gala was finished.
My life had exploded in front of six hundred people.
And somehow, things were getting worse.
“Who could have that video?” Ethan asked.
“My building manager?”
“Anyone else?”
I thought.
Then remembered.
“Lena.”
“Who’s Lena?”
“My neighbor.”
We left through a private elevator with two security officers.
Andrew shouted behind us.
“Ava!”
I kept walking.
“Ava, if you leave with him, we’re done!”
I stopped.
For months, that threat would have terrified me.
Tonight, something inside me finally snapped.
I turned.
“We were done the first time you hit me.”
Every camera in the hallway captured it.
Andrew’s face went white.
Ethan gently touched my back.
“Come on.”
We reached Lena’s apartment twenty-two minutes later.
The door was open.
Ethan stopped me from entering.
“Stay behind me.”
“I’m not a child.”
“I know.”
“Then stop treating me like glass.”
He looked at me.
“I’m treating the situation like it’s dangerous.”
We stepped inside.
The apartment was destroyed.
Drawers pulled out.
Furniture overturned.
A lamp smashed.
“Lena?”
Nothing.
Then I saw blood on the kitchen floor.
“Oh my God.”
Ethan immediately called 911.
A sound came from the bedroom.
We froze.
Someone moved.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Carter, stay back.”
The bedroom door slowly opened.
Lena stumbled out.
Blood covered the side of her face.
“Ava?”
I ran to her.
She collapsed into my arms.
“He came here.”
“Andrew?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan crouched beside us.
“Who?”
Lena looked terrified.
“A man from the hospital.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know his name.”
Her fingers grabbed my wrist.
“I started recording Andrew because I heard you screaming through the wall.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
She looked toward Ethan.
“He’s done this before.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Lena swallowed painfully.
“A nurse contacted me after she saw Andrew coming into your building.”
Ethan leaned closer.
“What nurse?”
“She said there were other women.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“How many?”
Lena’s eyes filled with fear.
“At least three.”
Sirens approached outside.
May you like
Then Lena whispered something that changed the case completely.
“One of them died.”
