THE WITNESS

THE WITNESS
Hayden's Pov

Agent Walsh called me three days after Victor Kane was arrested. She said someone wanted to talk to me. One of the victims from Elliot's files.

"Her name is Sarah Martinez," Agent Walsh said. "She was seventeen when she met your father at one of Victor Kane's parties. She's willing to testify but she wants to meet you first."

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because you're Elliot's son," Agent Walsh said. "She wants to look you in the eye and make sure you're not like him."

That hurt but I understood it. "Okay. When and where?"

"Tomorrow. Two PM. At our office. I'll be there the whole time."

I told Michelle about the meeting and she insisted on coming with me.

"You don't have to do this," I said. "It might be hard hearing what she went through."

"I want to be there," Michelle said. "For support. For both of you."

The next day we drove to the FBI office. Ted stayed with the twins. We had moved back into a hotel near the city now that Victor was in custody but we still did not feel completely safe.

Agent Walsh met us in the lobby and brought us to a conference room. A woman was already sitting there. She looked to be in her early thirties with long dark hair and sad eyes.

"Sarah," Agent Walsh said. "This is Hayden Winter and his wife Michelle."

Sarah stood up and looked at me. Really looked at me. Like she was searching for something in my face.

Not just for doubt or hesitation—but for resolve. For cracks. For the kind of fear that makes people back out at the last minute. Her eyes were sharp, assessing, the way someone’s are when they’ve built a career on reading between words.

“You understand what this means,” she said quietly. Not a question. A confirmation.

I held her gaze, forcing myself not to look away. She needed to see that I wasn’t wavering. That I knew the cost.

After a long moment, she gave a small nod. Whatever she had been looking for, she’d found it.

"You look like him," she said finally. "Your father. You have his eyes."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know that's probably hard for you."

"It is," Sarah admitted. "But Agent Walsh showed me what you did. How you exposed Victor Kane and all the others. That took courage."

"It was the right thing to do," I said.

We all sat down. Agent Walsh had water and tissues on the table. Like she knew this was going to be difficult.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," Sarah said. "I know this is weird. But I needed to see you before I decided whether to testify."

"I understand," I said. "Ask me anything you want."

Sarah took a deep breath. “Did you know what your father was doing? When he was alive, did you know about the parties and the girls?”

The question didn’t come gently. It came clean. Precise.

For a second, the room felt too small. I could hear the faint hum of the air conditioner, the scratch of her pen hovering above the page, waiting. This wasn’t accusation—it was due diligence. She needed to know whether I had been complicit, whether this story included me in ways I hadn’t admitted.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. The truth mattered now more than ever. Not just for the case—but for who I was going to be when this was over.

"No," I said honestly. "I had no idea. My father and I were not close. We barely spoke."

"Good," Sarah said. "I was worried you might have known. Might have been part of it."

"Never," I said. "If I had known I would have gone to the police immediately."

Sarah nodded. "Agent Walsh said the same thing. She did a background check on you. Said you're clean."

"Sarah can you tell us what happened to you?" Agent Walsh asked gently. "Only if you're comfortable."

Sarah looked down at her hands. "I was seventeen. My mom was sick and we needed money. A friend of a friend said she knew someone who could help. A businessman who hired young women as waitresses for fancy parties."

"Victor Kane," I said.

"Yes," Sarah confirmed. "But I didn't know that at first. I thought it was a legitimate job. The pay was good. Two hundred dollars for one night of work."

"What happened when you got to the party?" Michelle asked.

“At first it was fine,” Sarah said. “I served drinks. Made small talk with the guests. But then one of the men—your father—he started paying a lot of attention to me. Asking me questions. Being really nice.”

Her voice thinned slightly on the last words, as if nice had edges to it now. “He told me I was smart. That I didn’t belong working parties like that. Said he could introduce me to people who could change my life.”

She let out a slow breath, eyes fixed somewhere past me.

“I didn’t see it for what it was,” she admitted. “Not at first. It felt flattering. Important. Like I’d been chosen.”

The silence that followed wasn’t confusion. It was recognition—of how easily manipulation can wear the mask of opportunity.

She paused and wiped her eyes. Agent Walsh pushed the tissues toward her.

"He said he could help my mom," Sarah continued. "Said he knew doctors who could treat her cancer. All I had to do was be nice to some of his friends. Keep them company."

"Oh no," Michelle whispered.

"I was so stupid," Sarah said. "I believed him. I thought he was actually trying to help me. But he was just grooming me. Making me feel special so I would do what he wanted."

"You were not stupid," I said. "You were young and scared for your mother. He took advantage of that."

"That's what my therapist says," Sarah said. "But it's hard not to blame myself."

"What happened next?" Agent Walsh asked.

"Your father introduced me to Victor Kane," Sarah said looking at me. "Victor was very charming. Very friendly. He said he wanted to help me too. That he had connections to the best cancer treatment centers in the country."

"But there was a price," I said.

"Yes," Sarah said. "I had to attend more parties. Be available when certain men requested me. Victor said it was just companionship. That nothing bad would happen. But he was lying."

She started crying. Michelle reached across the table and held her hand.

"You don't have to tell us everything right now," Michelle said. "Take your time."

Sarah shook her head. “No. I need to say it. I need people to know what they did to me. To all of us.”

Her hands were trembling, but her voice was steady now—anchored by something deeper than fear. Not revenge. Not even anger. Truth.

“For years I carried their silence like it was mine,” she continued. “Like I was the one who should be ashamed.” She lifted her chin slightly. “I’m not carrying it anymore.”

The room felt different after that. Lighter, somehow, even under the weight of what she’d revealed.

This wasn’t just about exposing powerful men. It was about returning stolen voices. And Sarah was done whispering.

She took a drink of water and continued. "The parties got worse. The men got more aggressive. Victor and your father had cameras everywhere. They recorded everything. And then they used those recordings to blackmail me. Said if I told anyone they would send the videos to my family. To my school. They would ruin my life."

"How long did this go on?" Agent Walsh asked.

“Two years,” Sarah said. “Until I turned nineteen and they said I was too old. Then they just dropped me. Like I was nothing. Like those two years never happened.”

Her voice didn’t break this time. It hardened.

“They stopped calling. Stopped inviting me. The doors that had been wide open just… closed.” She gave a small, humorless laugh. “No explanation. No goodbye. Just silence.”

I felt something twist in my chest. Not just anger—grief for the version of her who had believed she was stepping into a future, not being used as part of someone else’s game.

“They made me feel disposable,” she said quietly. “And for a long time, I believed I was.”

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I'm so sorry my father did that to you."

"It's not your fault," Sarah said. "You didn't know. And you're trying to make it right now. That's more than most people would do."

"Will you testify?" Agent Walsh asked. "At Victor Kane's trial?"

Sarah looked at me and Michelle. Then she looked at Agent Walsh. "Yes. I'll testify. I'll tell everyone what Victor Kane and Elliot Winter did to me. What they did to dozens of other girls."