Chapter 107 Digging
Violet
The photo is clearly taken at some upscale restaurant downtown—white tablecloths, low golden lighting, crystal glasses on the table. Rowan is sitting in a chair, and Avery is leaning over him, kissing him hard. His hand is gripping her ass beneath the edge of her dress, pulling her closer while she practically melts into his lap.
It’s intimate.
Very intimate.
It looks like they don’t care who sees them.
Theo shifts awkwardly beside me. “That one’s from about… nine months ago.”
I swipe to the next picture.
This one is outside Rowan’s house.
The front walkway is unmistakable.
Avery is walking up the path toward the door while Rowan stands behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against him. She’s laughing in the photo, her head tilted back toward him.
It looks comfortable.
Familiar.
Like something that’s happened many times before.
I feel something unpleasant twist in my chest, but I ignore it and swipe to the last picture.
The moment the image appears on the screen, I go completely still.
It’s Rowan’s office.
I recognize it immediately... the desk, the massive windows behind it, the clean lines of the room. But the angle is wrong. Like someone took the picture secretly.
And the worst part hits a second later. Rowan is sitting behind the desk.
Avery is beneath it. Sucking his dick. Although, his face is still cold, still calculated, it seems to me that she is enjoying it more than he is.
My breath catches.
I lower the tablet slowly.
“That picture…” I say quietly, my voice tightening. “That’s inside the office.”
Rowan nods once.
“Yes.”
“But that’s impossible,” I say, looking back at the screen again. “No photos are allowed in there. It’s literally written into the employee contracts.”
Theo crosses his arms. “Exactly.”
I glance between them.
“So how the hell does that photo exist?”
Rowan’s jaw tightens.
“That,” he says coldly, “is the question I’m currently very interested in answering.”
I stare at the image again for a moment longer before locking the tablet and handing it back to Theo.
“So Hargrove plans to release those?” I ask.
Theo nods grimly. “That’s the threat.”
Then I sigh and rub my face with both hands.
“Well,” I mutter.
Theo tilts his head. “You seem… calm about that.”
I drop my hands and look at Rowan again. “She really is obsessed with ruining you, isn’t she?”
Rowan’s mouth tightens. “Yes.”
I cross my arms slowly. “Then I guess we ruin her first.”
Theo looks between us like he’s just been handed a grenade.
“…okay,” he says slowly. “I’m all for ruining Hargrove, but how exactly are we supposed to do that?”
A small smile pulls at the corner of my mouth.
The kind that makes Rowan narrow his eyes slightly.
“I need to talk to Camille,” I say.
Rowan frowns immediately. “What does Camille have to do with this?”
Instead of answering, I turn and head for the stairs.
Behind me I hear Theo mutter, “Oh boy.”
Rowan and Theo both follow me downstairs, their footsteps close behind as we move toward the kitchen.
Camille is exactly where I expect her to be.
She’s sitting at the kitchen table, legs tucked under the chair, absentmindedly munching crackers while staring at her laptop screen. Her hair is tied up messily, and the glow from the computer lights her face.
Perfect.
I walk straight over and drop my hands on the table.
“Camille,” I say.
She glances up mid-chew.
“Yeah?”
“I need a dig.”
She freezes.
The cracker stops halfway to her mouth.
Slowly, she lowers it.
“Absolutely not,” she says immediately.
Theo leans against the doorway. “This sounds promising.”
Camille looks at me like I just asked her to commit a felony.
“Violet,” she says, pointing at her computer. “I gave that life up four years ago.”
“I know.”
“For a reason.”
“I know.”
“So the answer is no.”
I lean closer across the table. “It’s important.”
She squints at me. “Define important.”
“Like serious important.”
Her eyes flick briefly toward Rowan and Theo standing behind me.
Then back to me.
She sighs.
“I can’t,” she says again. “If I get caught, I could go to jail.”
I lower my voice slightly. “And if you don’t do this, Calder walks free.”
Her jaw tightens.
“And Hargrove wins,” I add.
That one lands harder.
Camille’s lip curls slightly in disgust. “…I really hate that woman.”
“I know.”
She stares at her computer for a long moment.
Then with a frustrated groan she pushes her plate of crackers aside.
“God, I hate you,” she mutters.
Her fingers start flying across the keyboard.
Windows close. Programs shut down.
Within seconds she’s navigating through layers of encrypted software like she’s done it a thousand times before.
Theo walks farther into the room, staring at the screen. “…what exactly is she doing?”
“She’s digging,” I say calmly.
Camille opens a new browser that looks nothing like a normal one.
The screen flickers. Dark interfaces. Encrypted routing windows.
Theo raises both eyebrows. “Oh,” he says quietly. “Oh wow.”
Camille doesn’t even look up. “Let me work,” she mutters.
I step back from the table as she dives deeper into whatever digital rabbit hole she’s opening.
That’s when Rowan walks into the room behind me.
Before I realize what he’s doing, his hands slide around my waist.
I freeze instantly.
His body is warm against my back as he pulls me gently toward him.
“Relax,” he murmurs quietly near my ear. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
But I can’t relax.
My body stays stiff in his arms.
Because the moment he touches me... My mind flashes back to the photos.
Avery leaning over him. Avery walking into his house. Avery under his desk.
Something twists hard in my stomach.
And suddenly I don’t know what to do with the way his arms are still wrapped around me.