Chapter 109
Rowan's POV
The elevator descended too slowly. I pressed my palm against the wall, trying to breathe through the rage that had been building since Emily's call last night.
"Rowan? It's Emily. Something's wrong. Lena was supposed to meet me hours ago but she's not answering her phone and—"
The panic in Emily's voice had sent me flying out of my office, breaking every traffic law on the way to the Sterling Hotel. Finding Lena unconscious in that room, Nora standing there with guilt and horror written across her face...
My phone buzzed. Jack's name appeared on the screen.
"The footage is on your private server," he said without preamble. "I wouldn't recommend watching it in public."
I'd asked Jack to pull the surveillance from the hotel room while Lena was still unconscious. I needed to know exactly what had happened, needed to see the full scope of what had been done to her.
Now, sitting in the back of the car, I pulled up the encrypted file.
The timestamp showed 9:47 PM. The angle captured most of the room—the bed, the door, the small seating area. Nora appeared first, practically carrying an unconscious Lena through the door. My hands clenched around the phone.
A man entered the frame. Mid-forties, average build, unremarkable except for the predatory way he looked at Lena's limp form on the bed.
The video had no audio, but I watched him approach. Watched his hands reach out. Watched the moment he started to—
"Stop." Nora's lips formed the word. She moved between him and Lena, pushing him back. He argued—I could see it in his body language, aggressive and insistent. Nora pushed harder, practically shoving him toward the door.
He left. Nora collapsed onto the floor, her face in her hands.
I closed the video, bile rising in my throat.
The man had been arrested, but arrest wasn't enough. Nothing legal would be enough for what he'd intended.
I dialed Colin's number.
"Tell me you have something," I said when he answered.
"Your guy's being held without bail pending trial. The DA's office is treating it seriously—attempted assault, conspiracy, the works." Colin paused. "Why do I have the feeling you want more than that?"
"Because you know me." I kept my voice level. "Your uncle still has people at the precinct?"
"Rowan—"
"I need you to arrange something. This man tried to assault my..." I stopped. My what? Ex-wife? Former contract spouse? "He tried to assault Lena. He needs to understand that wasn't acceptable."
"You want me to arrange for him to have an accident in holding." Colin's voice was flat. "You know what you're asking me to do?"
"Yes."
A long silence. Then: "Fine. But you owe me. And if this blows back—"
"It won't."
I ended the call and immediately dialed again. This time Lucas answered on the first ring.
"Rowan, I need to talk to you about—"
"If you're calling to ask me to go easy on Nora, save your breath." I cut him off, not interested in whatever justification he'd prepared.
"She's in custody," Lucas said, his voice strained. "Facing serious charges. I'm not asking you to drop anything, I'm just—she's not in her right mind, Rowan. She needs help, not—"
"The only thing she needs is to face consequences." I was already out of the car, stalking toward my office building. "What she did to Lena was calculated. Premeditated. She drugged her, Lucas. She hired someone to—"
"I know what she did." Lucas's voice cracked. "God, I know. But you don't understand the full picture. What she went through—"
"I don't care what she went through." The words came out harsh, final. "Whatever trauma she has doesn't give her the right to traumatize someone else."
"Rowan, please. Just listen for one minute."
Something in his tone made me stop. I pressed the elevator button harder than necessary. "One minute."
"Nora was kidnapped when he was little, you know that. But there's something I've never told anyone. And Nora herself barely even remembers it." He took a shaky breath. "But last night, when she saw Lena, when she saw what was happening—it all came back. She remembered."
I stepped into the elevator, let the doors close. "What are you saying?"
"She nearly got assaulted during that kidnapping. She was terrified, traumatized. Her brain protected her by making her forget. But seeing Lena in that situation..." Lucas's voice dropped. "She told me everything this morning. She's destroyed, Rowan. She knows what she did was unforgivable. She's sick over it."
"Good," I said coldly. "She should be."
"I'm not asking you to forgive her. I'm not even sure I can forgive her. But I'm asking you to understand—"
"Understanding doesn't change what she did." The elevator reached my floor. "She made a choice, Lucas. Whatever her reasons, whatever her trauma, she chose to hurt Lena. She chose to conspire with Marcus. She chose all of it."
"She's my sister," Lucas said quietly. "I have to try."
"Then try with someone else. Not with me. And especially not in Lena's name." I stepped out into the hallway. "If you bring this up again—if you even suggest I should show mercy—we're done. I mean it, Lucas. Our friendship won't survive you defending what she did."
"I'm not defending—"
"You are. By asking me to understand, to contextualize, to see her side—you're defending her." My voice dropped. "The victim is Lena. The only person whose trauma matters right now is Lena. And even if she were inclined to show mercy, which she has no obligation to do, I wouldn't let this go."
"You don't get to decide that for her."
"I'm not." I reached my office door. "I'm deciding it for myself. Nora planned to destroy Lena. She drugged her, arranged for photos that would have ruined her reputation and career, hired a man who fully intended to—" I stopped, couldn't finish the sentence. "Whatever Nora's been through, it doesn't excuse any of that."
Lucas was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was barely audible. "You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called."
"No, you shouldn't have."
I ended the call and stood there in the hallway, staring at nothing.
Nora's trauma was real. I didn't doubt that. But Lena's was too—both from last night and from a lifetime of being used, manipulated, and treated as less than human by her own parents.
And nothing—nothing—would make me let the people who'd hurt her walk away unpunished.