Chapter 55 Going to War
Rowan
I sink back into my chair slowly, the weight of it pressing down on my chest.
“I don’t do this,” I say quietly. “I don’t… need people.”
Theo shrugs. “Everyone needs someone.”
“I replace people,” I snap. “That’s how this works.”
“And yet,” he says, gesturing toward the glass, “she’s irreplaceable.”
I swallow.
“She makes everything work,” I mutter. “The company. My schedule. My life.”
Theo tilts his head. “You hear yourself?”
“I don’t need her emotionally.”
Theo snorts. “Sure. And I read contracts for fun.”
I rub my temple. “This is not funny.”
“It kind of is,” he says. “In a cosmic, you’re-finally-human sort of way.”
I glance at Violet again.
She’s laughing now—really laughing—at something Camille whispered to her. It’s brief. Gone almost immediately. But I see it.
That smile.
It hits me right in the sternum.
“I can’t lose her,” I say before I can stop myself.
Theo goes still.
Not teasing now. Not joking.
“Lose her how.”
“Any way,” I answer honestly. “To Calder. To the press. To this mess. To burnout. To someone else.”
Theo studies me. “You don’t get to cage her.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to own her.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to decide what she feels.”
“I know,” I say again, voice rougher now. “But I get to protect her.”
Theo nods slowly. “That part you’re allowed.”
I laugh quietly, bitter. “I don’t even know how this happened.”
Theo smiles faintly. “You watched her hold the world together while hers fell apart.”
I close my eyes.
“I can’t live like this,” I admit. “Waiting for the next phone call. The next threat. The next thing that hurts her.”
Theo stands. Walks to the glass. Watches Violet for a moment himself.
“You already are,” he says.
I open my eyes.
“When she walked back into this building after her mother died,” he continues, “you didn’t tell her to go home. You didn’t tell her to rest. You let her sit at her desk because you knew that’s how she survives.”
He looks back at me.
“That’s not control, Rowan. That’s knowing someone.”
I exhale shakily.
“Congratulations,” Theo adds dryly. “You’re fucked.”
Despite everything, I laugh.
A real laugh. Short. Broken. Human.
“Don’t tell her,” I say quietly.
Theo smirks. “Please. She already knows.”
I glance back at Violet one more time.
She meets my eyes through the glass.
Just for a second.
And something unspoken passes between us—recognition, maybe. Or understanding.
I look away first.
Theo hasn’t even finished settling back into the chair when my phone vibrates on the desk.
Unknown number.
I already know who it is.
I pick it up. “Talk.”
There’s a pause on the other end. Not hesitation—weight.
“Yeah,” the PI says. “So… you’re not gonna like this.”
Theo leans forward instantly. “That bad?”
“Worse,” the PI replies. “I dug deeper into Calder. Not the surface-level shit. The buried stuff.”
My jaw tightens. “Start talking.”
“He didn’t transfer,” the PI says. “Didn’t resign. Didn’t get reassigned.”
I straighten slowly in my chair.
“He was fired.”
Theo mutters, “Holy shit.”
“Different department. Different state,” the PI continues. “He used his wife’s last name when he moved up here. Clean slate. New badge. Somehow slipped through the cracks.”
I let out a sharp breath through my nose. “Why was he fired?”
Silence.
The kind that crawls.
Then—
“For killing a CI.”
Theo freezes. “What?”
“DEA informant,” the PI says. “Young kid. Twenty, twenty-one at most. They brought him in to feed information on a cartel pipeline. Calder was his handler.”
My stomach drops.
“He went off-book,” the PI continues. “Interrogation that wasn’t logged. Location that wasn’t approved.”
My computer pings.
Incoming file.
Video attachment.
Theo’s eyes flick to the screen. “Rowan—”
I click it anyway.
The video opens shaky. Grainy. Night-vision green.
An abandoned building. Concrete walls. Pipes dripping somewhere out of frame.
A boy on his knees.
Hands zip-tied behind his back.
He’s crying. Not screaming. Crying in that quiet, broken way people do when they already know there’s no way out.
Then Calder steps into frame.
Younger. Thicker. Same eyes.
Same calm.
Theo swears violently. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
I don’t move. Don’t blink.
Calder crouches in front of the kid. Says something the mic doesn’t catch. The boy shakes his head, sobbing harder.
Calder sighs.
Then his hands come up.
Around the kid’s throat.
It’s not frantic. Not rushed.
It’s controlled.
Theo looks away. “Fuck—Rowan, turn it off.”
I don’t.
Calder leans in close, says something else. Almost gentle.
Then the kid goes limp.
Calder releases him and stands like nothing happened.
The video cuts.
Silence crashes into the room.
My chest feels… hollow.
Theo drags a hand down his face. “That motherfucker.”
“He was buried,” the PI says quietly. “Internal affairs hushed it up. Calder took the fall quietly, but not publicly. No charges. Just termination.”
“And now,” Theo says slowly, “he’s playing detective hero with Violet.”
“With Evan,” the PI corrects. “Your girl’s brother wasn’t just mixed up in shit. He was valuable. Which means Calder didn’t see him as a victim.”
I feel something cold settle into my bones.
“He saw him as leverage,” I say.
“Exactly,” the PI replies. “And when Evan disappeared, Calder didn’t investigate. He hunted.”
Theo clenches his jaw. “And Violet?”
The PI exhales. “Collateral. Or bait.”
My hands curl into fists on the desk.
“You said you’re being followed,” I remind him.
“Yeah,” the PI says. “That tracks now, doesn’t it?”
I close my eyes for half a second.
Then open them.
“Send everything,” I say. “Every file. Every alias. Every badge number he’s ever used.”
"Already done,” the PI replies. “And Rowan?”
“Yes.”
“This man doesn’t stop,” he says. “He escalates.”
Theo looks at me. “We need to pull Violet out.”
“No,” I say immediately.
Theo blinks. “What?”
“She doesn’t disappear,” I continue. “That’s how predators win. They isolate.”
Theo studies my face. “You’re serious.”
“I’m furious,” I correct. “And I’m done reacting.”
I end the call and stand.
Theo rises too. “What are you doing?”
I look through the glass again.
Violet is still at her desk.
Still working.
Still holding everything together.
“Calder crossed a line,” I say quietly. “Now I erase him.”
Theo swallows. “You’re going to war.”
I don’t look at him.
“I already am.”