“I can’t give specifics but.... He allegedly assaulted a woman at the university. She was his friend’s girlfriend. He told his friend she hit on him and…that they had consensual sex.” The room tilts. I grip the edge of the desk, nails digging into the wood.
“She didn’t press charges. Landon managed to makeher a pariah with everyone, branding her as someone who sleeps around. The harassment became intolerable. She dropped out and went back home.”
I hear papers rustling on the other end.“She died by suicide two years later.”
I moan involuntarily. “No.” Tears roll down my face. This can’t be happening. “If I had stopped him…,” I sob. “If only….”
“You couldn’t stop him. Neither couldthatwoman, who I think was the one after you. Neither could the intern who thought she’d been invited to a networking dinner and ended up locked in a hotel room with Landon Mercer.”
Her words slash like a whip.
“I should’ve tried harder,” I whisper, forehead on the table. “I could’ve helped so many others.”
“Sarah, listen. You were young. These girls…they were all young.”
I raise my head. “How young?”
“Eighteen or nineteen years old.”
Children. My worst fear.
“You know what else they have in common, Sarah?” There’s a pause, then a low sound of movement on her end.
I’m afraid to know.
“They all look like you.”
I can’t make sense of what she’s saying. “What?” I choke.
“Landon Mercer is a serial rapist. He has a type. I think it started with you and….”
He’s violating me again and again in the pattern he picked—young women who look like I did.
“Sarah, Landon wants to run for a higher office. He’s not just a small-town politician. If his history isn’t exposed, he’ll only be able to hurt more people.”
I feel nauseous. I know I have to tell the truth, but….
“No one will believe me, Marnie. Even my father didn’t. Cade….” My throat tightens at his name. “He was my boyfriend…Landon’s younger brother. He didn’t believe me. Landon is popular, charismatic. He won his seat seventy to thirty.”
“Yes.” Marnie sounds resolute. “He has money, power, lawyers who’ll paint you as bitter, unstable, attention-seeking. It won’t be easy.”
She’s not wrong. I already know all of that.
“What happens if I tell you everything?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“You’ll be heard,” she says. “But you’ll also be seen. Your name will be in print. People will take sides. And it won’t always feel safe.”
My gaze drops to the exam table where I took care of Bandit. Even after the life he’d had, which was awful, he still trusted me…Evie. That dog has more courage and faith in the universe than I do.
“I need to think,” I whisper.
“I understand,” Marnie replies. “Call me when you decide—or just to talk. Whatever you tell me is confidential. I will never use a word unless you give mepermission.”
“Thanks, Marnie.”I hang up, press both hands to my face, and try to breathe.
He’s still hurting women.
I think back. Kaz was the one who hinted I was his first victim. How did he know? How does he know about Marnie?
