That is not paranoia; it is sense.

And I want any woman who reads this to know that I do not think less of myself for having felt it, nor would I think less of her.

But I also want to record what came next, which is that the fear was answered not by more fear but by the truth, and that the truth, when it arrived, was not a predator’s truth at all.

It was a frightened old man handing a frightened young woman the one thing he had left to give, which was his trust.