The Air I Would kill to Breathe

CHAPTER 21 (The monster and his claws)

I banned Ethan from entering the law firm and my bosses are asking me why he's been making trouble in the reception area. I just made up a lot of stories and they bought it. He's a huge problem right now and I'm having difficulties handling him myself. He's been blasting off with emails, phone calls and texts. He can't get inside our apartment because Mike forbade him. He's also banned in our building.

Another dilemma just made this day a lot worse. The famous crime and drama series featured Andrew Fox's case about all the women he raped, especially the diligent unnamed law student from an unknown prestigious university. The people are curious as to why she is remained unnamed all these years and that's what they're trying to unfold; my identity.

My throat ran dry just by reading all the articles that are coming out because of this special features. Why would they even feature a rapist? A drug dealer and a known bastard? He doesn't deserve the spotlight. He committed a lot of crimes.

People are curious who is this student he raped back then because she's the reason why he got locked up. My father was a great lawyer and he made sure to take down the mighty Amdrew Fox with a huge blow. He didn't expect to be convicted and now, he's enjoying the fame. He wants to get back at me, by bewitching female viewers with his beautiful face.

I felt my stomach turn as his face is shown all over the internet. There are people calling him handsome, that no one would object sexual advances from him. Regardless of appearances, no one must force anyone for sex. No one should be violated like that. Sexual intercourse should always be consensual. Actually, it's just sex. If it's not, then it's rape.

The people who are actually questioning my rape claim are all disgusting. They make me want to set them on fire. My blood is boiling from all these stupid theories that maybe Andrew was just framed. He was a fucking serial rapist! He raped 10 college students including me. Why would they take his word instead of us? We were wrongfully violated and exposed publicly for humiliation.

One of the victims allegedly attempted suicide, but it never crossed my mind because I have a purpose in life and it's to save women like me who were violated. No one deserves to be coerced to something she doesn't like.

He's smiling in his orange jumpsuit and he disgust me in every bit. He deserves to be in prison and his life sentence won't be changed. His parents accepted that and didn't pursue the case. No appeal was made and it made things a lot easier for us. His parents knew back then that he was capable of the things that were charged against him.

A knock came from the door.

"Come in." Jenna the receptionist entered. She smiled at me and handed me some papers I have to sign. She looked at my computer, puzzled.

"What do you think of him?" I asked and she bit her lip. 9

"Oh that guy is definitely a monster. Who rapes ten women? He makes my skin crawl to be honest. He's the reason why America is full of sex offenders." She said while looking at the screen. It made me a little happy lto know she's on my side.

"He is a monster and stupid teenagers glorify him because of his looks and wealth. Why would you be in favor of a rapist? He's a drug addict and was a drug dealer as well. He destroyed a lot of lives." I can't hide the bitterness in my voice. I want to scream right now. I want to slap him so hard. I want to kill him. I want that grin erased from his face. How dare he? How can he grin like that? How can he still get under my skin? How? All I want is for him to be out of my life and now, he's slowly crawling back like a parasite.

"I would never associate with a man like that. He's trouble. Just looking at him gives me chills. I never bought his claims that everything was consensual because he drugged a lot of women. Being rich and handsome doesn't make you a saint. I remember that time when this was being aired, I was around my last year in high school and my mom actually started to drive me to school. It made a huge impact back then." She said.

"He was like a devil in TV. He's smiling when the victims were in the stand. He's taunting like he wanted to torment them inside the courtroom. It was really creepy and that made me so much aware of the guys I choose to date. It goes to show everyone can rape." She added.

I quickly signed the papers and handed it over back to her. She just smiled at me.

"I'll just send these back to the district attorney's office. Have a good day." She left and carefully closed the door.

What should I do? He is going to cause an uproar in the internet with allbthe statements he released. I won't let the demons eat me up again. This isn't happeninh because I won't let it. He won't destroy my life for the second time because if he tries to, I might have to get him killed and it's not a threat. I'm just saying what can happen.

Then another problem came in.

The phone rang, connecting to Atty. Solomon's office. I picked it up.

"Yes?"

"We need to talk. You have to get here in the conference room now in ten minutes. We'll all be waiting for you." Then he quickly dropped the call. Why does it feel like something horrendous is bound to happen? Why does it feel like nothing good will happen today?

I put my blazer on and went to the third floor in the conference room, where five of our lawyers are waiting. The air feels heavy and everyone looks strictly formal.

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked and they remained silent until one of them spoke.

Atty. Ferguson spoke. "Kindly sit down, Atty. Park." I sat in the middle and carefully placed my hands on the table. My heart is racing so fast I don't know what to do. I'm dying of anticipation.

"A local reporter made claims that you are the rape victim in the Andrew Fox case. Is that true? She's trying to get to know you earlier at the reception but we declined. We have to hear this from you first. Is it true?"

I cleared my throat and directly looked him in the eyes. "Yes it's me. Is there a problem? Will it affect my position here in the firm?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Definitely not. We just want to know so we can protect you. You've done great things for this firm especially with the Jessica Miller case. You made things better since we got funding from the Sunset Air CEO. We actually want to help you sue the reporter. All you have to do is publicly humiliate her. She's been in and out of the office but the security won't let her in so she gave up. That's the only way we can turn this around." I shifted on my seat and sat straightly.

"Humiliate her, but why?" I asked. He took a deep breath.

"She's glorifying the rapist, Atty. Park. She wants to ruin your reputation to make it look like Andrew Fox was unfairly convicted. This would launch a thousand ships on the internet and we want to help you out. He's making his move on you. I had this investigated already and that's the plan we came up. You have to expose yourself. Tell your own version. We need to make sure you're symphatized with. You have to be that woman who ended up writing an autobiography." I took a deep breath and reached for a bottle of water. I stood up.

"Will this work? I'm scared. It's all over the local news and he released a statement. There are people siding with him."

Atty. Higgins smiled. "Of course it will work. We already asked Jenna the receptionist to take video to make it viral. You just have to make it incredibly dramatic. You don't have a say in this, actually. Just take a shot of bourbon, face her in the lobby and we shoot the video. It's easy. You just have to make it look like that she violated you."

I took a deep breath and shrugged. "Okay, I will do my best. I'm so sorry to have dragged the firm's name in all these malicious news. I'm so sorry."

Atty. Solomom spoke. "We're going going to make sure she goes down."

They stood up to shake my hand. I felt relieved. Someone is actually there to help me. They will support me no matter what happens. I can make this work. I will make this work.