Chapter 4 - The Hero on Stage
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I nodded slowly, the motion feeling like a final surrender.
Downstairs, the booming voice of the gala announcer resonated through the building's sound system.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the main stage as we honor a man whose surgical brilliance has saved over two hundred children this year alone... Dr. Andrew Vaughn!"
Thunderous applause erupted beneath us, a roar of admiration from three hundred of the state's most prominent citizens. Moments later, Andrew’s smooth, charming voice came through the speakers, thanking the board, the city, and the families who had trusted him with their children's lives.
Ethan reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out his encrypted smartphone.
I lunged forward, catching his wrist before he could touch the screen. "Ethan, stop! If you accuse him right now without ironclad proof, he will ruin us both. He'll call me mentally unstable. He has medical records."
Ethan froze, his gaze dropping to where my hand gripped his cuff. "What medical records?"
"Ones he forged himself," I whispered. "He's a chief surgeon. He wrote psychiatric evaluations claiming I suffer from severe paranoia and self-harming tendencies. He told me if I ever tried to leave him or speak to the police, he would have me involuntarily committed to a private facility in upstate New York."
For the first time since I had met him, Ethan Carter looked genuinely horrified—not of Andrew’s power, but of the silent nightmare I had been living in while sitting just outside his glass office every day.
Before Ethan could answer, heavy footsteps echoed down the carpeted hallway outside the dressing suite.
The brass doorknob rattled violently.
"Ava?" Andrew’s voice called out from the hallway, dripping with possessive authority. "Are you in there? We're needed backstage for the press photos."
May you like
My fingers went completely numb against Ethan’s wrist.
Without a word, Ethan stepped smoothly behind the heavy mahogany door, melting into the shadows of the suite just as I pulled the door open.
