Chapter 112 Incomplete
Violet
The alarm doesn’t stop ringing in my ears even after it actually stops.
That high-pitched, violent sound still echoes through my body, leaving everything shaky, raw, exposed.
For a moment, none of us move.
Not me. Not Rowan. Not Theo or Camille.
We’re all just… standing there in that small, suffocating safe room, staring at the monitors like if we look long enough, something will make sense.
It doesn’t.
The feeds show nothing.
No movement. No shadow. No intruder.
Just an empty house that no longer feels like a house.
It feels violated. Wrong.
Rowan is the first one to move. Of course he is.
His hand tightens around mine for a fraction of a second before he releases it, stepping forward toward the panel, scanning each feed again with a precision that feels almost surgical.
Controlled. Too controlled.
“They’re gone,” Theo says quietly behind us, his voice tight.
Rowan doesn’t answer right away.
He switches through the feeds again. Slower this time. More deliberate. “They’re not on camera anymore,” he says flatly.
Not relief. Not reassurance. Just a statement.
My stomach twists.
“That doesn’t mean they’re gone,” Camille whispers.
No one argues with her.
Rowan exhales once through his nose, sharp, measured.
Then he reaches for his phone. “Devin,” he says the second the call connects. “Status.”
There’s a pause.
“I'm two minutes out,” Devin replies. Calm. Always calm. “Police are en route as well.”
“Good.”
Rowan ends the call without another word.
Then he turns. “Stay behind me.”
It’s not a suggestion. It’s not even a command.
It’s a fact.
And for some reason… I listen without hesitation.
The door unlocks with a heavy mechanical click.
The kind that sounds like it shouldn’t be opened. The kind that makes you feel safer when it’s closed.
Rowan opens it anyway. Steps out first. Theo right behind him.
Camille grabs my wrist, squeezing tight, and I realize her hands are shaking.
Mine aren’t.
That thought hits me strangely.
They should be. But they’re not.
The house is quiet. Too quiet.
The kind of quiet that feels like it’s watching you back.
We move slowly down the hallway.
Every creak. Every shift of air. Every flicker of shadow feels amplified.
Rowan checks corners first.
Doors. Sightlines. He moves like this is second nature.
Like he’s done this before.
We reach the main level. The kitchen.
The same place we were standing just moments ago.
But now...
A chair is slightly out of place.
A drawer is cracked open.
The back door is unlocked.
“They were here,” Theo mutters.
Rowan doesn’t respond.
He already knows. He steps forward, checking the lock, then the handle, then the floor, scanning for anything out of place.
“They didn’t take anything,” Camille says, her voice small.
Rowan straightens slowly. “No,” he agrees.
And somehow… That feels worse.
Headlights cut across the windows.
Bright. Blinding. Too sudden.
Camille jumps. Theo swears under his breath.
Rowan doesn’t flinch. “Police,” he says.
The next ten minutes blur together in a way that doesn’t feel real.
Doors opening. Voices entering. Boots on tile. Radios crackling.
Flashlights sweeping across walls that already feel exposed.
Two officers. Then a third.
They move through the house with the kind of casual indifference that immediately sets something off in my gut.
They look around. Sure. But not like they care. Not like this matters.
“Ma’am, can you walk me through what happened?” one of them asks me.
His tone is bored.
Like I just interrupted his night.
I glance at Rowan. He’s watching. Not the officer. Me. Always me.
“Alarm went off,” I say carefully. “We saw someone on the cameras. They cut through the fence.”
“Did you see their face?”
“No.”
“Height? Build?”
“No.”
He nods like that’s exactly what he expected.
Like that’s… enough.
Another officer is talking to Theo.
Barely writing anything down.
Just nodding.
“Mm.”
“Right.”
“Okay.”
Camille is answering questions too, her voice tighter than usual.
I notice one of the officers doesn’t even open his notebook.
Just stands there. Watching.
Something feels off.
Wrong.
Incomplete.
Devin arrives right as one of the officers is wrapping up.
He steps inside like he belongs here, taking everything in with one sweep of his eyes.
The officers notice him. Their posture shifts slightly. Not respect. Recognition.
That makes something cold settle in my stomach.
Devin steps closer to me. “Miss Pierce won’t be answering any further questions without representation,” he says calmly.
The officer shrugs. “Wasn’t planning on pushing.”
That’s the problem. He should be.
One of the officers finally closes his notebook.
“Well,” he says, clapping it lightly. “We’ll follow up if needed.”
If needed. Not when. Not how. If.
They leave. Just like that. No urgency. No plan. No concern.
The door closes behind them.
And the silence that follows? It’s worse than the alarm.
Devin exhales slowly. Then says it. “They’re not investigating this.”
The words land heavy. Sharp. Final.
Something shifts in Rowan. It’s subtle at first. A stillness. Too still.
Like everything inside him just… locks into place.
Then... He moves. Fast.
His phone is already in his hand. “Get every single member of my security team here,” he says, voice low and lethal. “Now.”
No hesitation. No room for questions.
Theo steps forward immediately. “Rowan—”
“Now,” Rowan repeats.
And something in his tone makes even Theo stop. Camille takes a step back.
Theo moves in front of her instantly. Shielding her. Protective.
“Hey,” he murmurs low to her. “Not your battlefield.”
For once… She doesn’t argue.
Rowan starts pacing. Not frantic. Not wild. Measured. Controlled. But there’s something underneath it now. Something dangerous.
“The fence doesn’t fail,” he says, almost to himself. “The system doesn’t glitch.”
No one interrupts. No one dares.
He stops. Slowly. Turns. And when he speaks again... It’s colder. Sharper. More final than anything I’ve heard from him before.
“Someone turned it off. They didn’t break in,” Rowan continues, voice quiet but cutting. “They were let in.”
Camille inhales sharply behind Theo.
I feel it more than hear it. Something shifts in my chest. Not fear. Not exactly. Something else.
I watch him. Really watch him.
The control. The anger. The precision of it. This isn’t chaos. This isn’t panic. This is a man identifying a threat. And preparing to eliminate it.
And instead of being afraid… My pulse spikes.
What is wrong with me?
Camille is scared. I can feel it in the way she’s standing behind Theo. Theo is cautious. Careful. Measured.
But me? I’m not.
I should be. I know I should be. Any normal person would be.
But I’m not looking at Rowan like he’s dangerous.
I’m looking at him like... Like he’s the only safe thing in the room.
And that thought… That realization… Sends something sharp and hot curling low in my stomach.