Chapter 8: What He Thought He Had
"I'm listening," I said.
Grace was already on her feet, moving to stand beside me.
She pointed at the phone and raised her eyebrows.
I nodded and switched it to speaker, keeping the volume low.
"I know things have felt tense," Andrew said.
"I understand that.
The gala was a difficult night and I think some things were said and done that we both need to step back from."
"All right."
"I want you to come home, Sophia.
We can sit down together and talk through this properly.
Whatever Ethan told you, whatever he's suggested — he doesn't know our relationship.
He doesn't know you."
"What did Ethan tell me?" I asked.
A brief pause.
"I'm sure he painted a very particular picture."
"He opened a door," I said.
"That's all."
Another pause.
Longer.
"Victor has advised me that there may be some legal confusion around the agreement you signed," Andrew said.
"I want to clear that up directly, between us, without attorneys involved.
The document was never meant to feel restrictive.
It was protective — for both of us."
"Protective," I repeated.
"Yes.
Our financial lives are intertwined now.
The agreement simply ensures that if things become complicated, we handle them privately.
That's reasonable, isn't it?"
Grace wrote something on her legal pad and turned it toward me: *He's fishing.
He doesn't know what we have.*
"It sounds reasonable when you say it that way," I said.
"Because it is." His voice warmed slightly.
"Sophia, I know the last few months have been hard.
I know I haven't always handled things well.
I want the chance to make that right.
Come home tonight.
We'll talk."
"I need a little more time," I said.
"Of course." Smooth.
Patient.
"Take the time you need.
But don't let other people make decisions for you.
Ethan Carter has his own interests.
He always has."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that men like Ethan don't involve themselves in other people's lives out of pure generosity.
He wants something.
He always wants something." A pause.
"Think about why he was at that gala.
Think about why he was in that corridor.
Think about why he's suddenly very interested in your welfare."
I looked at Grace.
She was writing steadily.
"I'll think about it," I said.
"Good." He sounded satisfied.
"I'll be home this evening.
Come when you're ready."
He ended the call.
I set the phone down.
My hand was completely steady.
I was slightly surprised by that.
"He doesn't know about Claire," Grace said immediately.
"He doesn't know about the storage unit inquiry.
He thinks this is still containable — that it's you and Ethan and a recording he believes may not be usable."
"He's trying to separate me from Ethan."
"Yes.
And he's planting doubt.
That line about Ethan having his own interests — he'll use that.
He'll tell people Ethan is pursuing you romantically and that you're confused, that you've been influenced." She set her pen down.
"We need to move faster."
She picked up her phone and called Detective Chu directly.
The warrant for Meridian Storage came through thirty-six hours later.
I wasn't there when they opened the unit.
Grace was, along with Detective Chu and two officers.
Ethan waited with me in Grace's office.
We didn't talk much.
He made coffee.
I sat at the table with a blank piece of paper in front of me and wrote down everything I could remember about the document I'd signed, for the fourth time, because writing it again felt like doing something.
Grace called at eleven forty-seven in the morning.
"We have the files," she said.
I closed my eyes.
"How bad?" Ethan asked.
He'd taken the phone from me gently, without asking, when my hand started to shake.
"There are records going back nine years," Grace said.
"At least four women that we can identify from the documentation.
NDAs, financial agreements, internal correspondence between Andrew and Renner about managing 'personnel situations.' There are also files relating to billing irregularities at the hospital — patient records with altered procedure codes." A pause.
"This is significantly larger than we thought."
Ethan looked at me.
"The hospital board needs to be notified today," Grace continued.
"And Detective Chu is escalating this to the DA's office.
This is no longer a civil matter."
"Andrew," I said.
My voice came out strange.
"Does he know?"
"Not yet.
But Chu wants to move on that quickly, before he's tipped off." Another pause.
"Sophia.
You did the right thing.
All of it."
I didn't answer.
Ethan handed my phone back.
He sat across from me at the table.
"You all right?" he asked.
"Four women," I said.
"At least four."
"Yes."
"And Renner helped him.
For nine years."
"Yes."
I looked at the blank paper in front of me.
Nine years.
Four women.
A storage unit full of careful, organized evidence of what Andrew Holt had done and how thoroughly he had planned to never face it.
"He was going to honor him," I said.
"Last week.
Your foundation was going to put his name on an award."
Ethan was quiet for a moment.
"Yes."
"And if you hadn't opened that door—"
"I know." He said it quietly.
"I know."
We sat there for a moment in the silence of that.
Then my phone buzzed on the table.
A text from an unknown number.
*I know what you've done.
This isn't over.
— A*
I showed it to Ethan.
He photographed it immediately and forwarded it to Grace.
"He knows," I said.
"Yes." Ethan stood up.
"Grace.
May you like
He's been tipped off." He was already dialing.
"We need Chu to move now."
