Chapter 97 The War Before the Battle
Rowan
The moment I hang up with Devin, the office feels too quiet again.
That kind of quiet never lasts in a place like this. Somewhere outside my door phones are still ringing off the hook, reporters are still circling the building like vultures, and Violet is likely already buried under calls from investors pretending they’re “concerned.”
Concern is a polite word for panic.
I pick up my phone again.
There’s one more piece to move before this plan actually works.
The call connects on the second ring.
“Rowan,” he says, his voice carrying that same relaxed confidence he had yesterday when he walked into my office like he already knew the meeting was dangerous. “You sound alive. That’s encouraging.”
“I usually am.”
“Well that’s good,” Ricki replies, the humor already creeping into his voice. “Because after watching the morning news I wasn’t entirely sure.”
I lean against the edge of my desk and stare out the windows at the skyline. “So you’ve seen it.”
“Oh yes,” he says easily. “Rowan Ashcroft secretly housing a key witness in a police investigation. That’s headline gold.” I can practically hear the grin in his voice. “I do have to say though, the dramatic angle of you carrying her into the house? Very cinematic. If this whole business thing stops working out you might have a future in film.”
I close my eyes briefly. “Careful.”
“Relax,” Ricki chuckles. “You should see what they say about me during election cycles. One time a paper called me ‘a dangerous opportunist with questionable morals.’”
“And?”
“I had the quote framed.”
Despite myself, I smirk. “You always did have a strange sense of humor.”
“Politics will do that to you,” he replies. The humor fades slightly then, replaced by something more focused. “So tell me something honestly. Is everything actually alright?”
“No.”
“I figured as much.” There’s a brief pause on the line before he adds more quietly, “What do you need?”
Direct. Efficient. That’s why I chose him.
“I need your help.”
“Well that’s either flattering or terrifying.”
“Both.”
He laughs once under his breath. “Alright then. Talk to me.”
I push away from the desk and walk toward the windows again, watching traffic crawl through the streets below. “This situation with the press,” I begin.
“The one where you’re apparently running a witness protection program out of your guest bedroom?” he asks dryly.
“Yes. That one.”
“Well I’m listening.”
“It’s not random,” I say.
There’s a pause before he responds. “You think someone pushed it.”
“I know someone pushed it.”
“Hargrove,” Ricki says immediately.
“Yes.”
A quiet whistle comes through the speaker. “She really doesn’t like you.”
“That feeling is mutual.”
“Well,” Ricki replies with a chuckle, “now I feel special.”
“This isn’t a social call.”
“I gathered that.” His tone sharpens slightly. “So what’s really going on?”
I take a breath and start at the beginning. “Violet’s brother disappeared over a month ago."
Ricki goes quiet for a moment. “I didn’t know that.”
“Most people don’t.”
“What happened?”
“The police found his body.”
Silence settles on the line. Then Ricki says quietly, “You’re kidding.”
“They found him a week before she was officially notified.”
“Jesus.” The word comes out rough. “They sat on that information?”
“Yes.”
“And the detective handling the case?”
“Calder.”
Ricki exhales sharply. “That name’s already floating around in the reports this morning.”
“He didn’t just mishandle the investigation,” I continue. “He started showing up around her. Phone calls. Questions that didn’t make sense. Pressure.”
Ricki mutters something under his breath. “That bastard.”
“It escalated,” I say.
“How far?”
“He followed her into the women’s bathroom at work.”
There’s a long pause on the line before Ricki says slowly, “He did what.”
“He grabbed her. Left bruises on her arm.”
The silence that follows carries a different kind of weight.
“That man is sick,” Ricki finally says.
“Yes.”
“We have security footage of him following her down the hallway,” I continue, keeping my voice steady. “And an intern happened to catch the bathroom door opening on their phone.”
“So there’s video?” Ricki says.
“Yes.”
“Of him assaulting her?”
“Yes.”
Another pause. “And you stepped in?”
“Yes.”
“That’s when the bruises were documented?”
“Yes.”
Ricki exhales slowly again. “So why hasn’t this already blown up across every news network in the country?”
“Because if I release it,” I say, “it looks like retaliation.”
He understands immediately. “Ah.”
“If that footage comes directly from me, the narrative becomes ‘powerful billionaire manipulating the investigation.’”
“And that’s exactly what Hargrove wants,” Ricki says.
“Yes.”
He’s quiet for a moment before a low chuckle escapes him. “You sneaky bastard.”
“What?”
“You don’t want to release it.”
“No.”
“You want me to.”
“Yes.”
The chuckle turns into full laughter. “Oh I like this.”
“Good.”
“Hargrove won’t know what hit her.”
“That’s the idea.”
Ricki exhales slowly again, already shifting into strategy mode. “Alright. Here’s what we do. You send me everything. The footage, the photos, the timeline. My office calls a press briefing and frames it as a council inquiry into police misconduct. I demand to know why Internal Affairs failed to act sooner, and I publicly call for Calder to be arrested.”
I nod slightly even though he can’t see me. “Good.”
“And Rowan?”
“Yes.”
“When this drops, Hargrove is going to lose her mind.”
"Thats the plan."
Ricki laughs again, but there’s an edge of steel beneath it now. “You realize this destroys her narrative completely.”
“That’s the point.”
“And if Calder really did all of this,” he continues, “then I get to stand behind a podium and call him a predator in front of every camera in the state.”
“Yes.”
Ricki chuckles again, clearly enjoying the thought. “This might be the most fun I’ve had all year.”
“You’re easily entertained.”
“Politics is a miserable business,” he replies. “You take your victories where you can find them.” His voice sharpens slightly then. “Send me everything you have.”
“I will.”
“And Rowan?”
“Yes.”
“Hargrove started this war.” Ricki’s tone turns almost cheerful. "Let's finish it."