Filed to story: Violet and Rowan Ashcroft Book PDF Free
I reach the desk and set my bag down, pulling up Rowan’s schedule automatically. Muscle memory. Survival instinct. Everything familiar I can cling to.
He arrives three minutes later.
As always.
Rowan stops at the desk without looking at me. I slide his schedule forward. Perfectly aligned. His coffee follows-black, no sugar, no foam, no mistakes.
Routine.
He reaches for both automatically.
Theo steps into his path just before he can move on. “Hey-before you disappear. Marketing needs a tweak on the west-side numbers. Five minutes.”
Rowan exhales, annoyed, but pauses.That’s when Avery sweeps in.
She doesn’t look at me.
Not even a glance.
“Rowan,” she says brightly, slipping into his space. “I was thinking lunch across the street today. That new place? I can make reservations.”
“I’m busy,” Rowan replies flatly.
She laughs like he’s teasing. “You’re always busy.”
She waves a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. I’ll just have Violet handle it for us.”
She turns.
And freezes.
Her eyes flick over me slowly. The dress. The heels. The posture. The fact that I exist differently today.
Her mouth curls.
“Well,” she says, loud enough for half the lobby to hear, “someone looks confused about what building they’re in.”
Theo’s brows knit. Camille stiffens.
Avery tilts her head, eyes sharp. “I mean, no judgment, but this isn’t exactly a 1-800-escort kind of workplace.”
Silence detonates.
I don’t react right away.
I let it breathe.
Then I lift my eyes to her and smile.
Not sweet.
Measured.
“Is that what you think professionalism looks like?” I ask calmly. “Because if so, I’d ask for a refund.”
Theo snorts so hard he nearly chokes on his coffee.
Camille’s mouth actually falls open.
Avery flushes. “Excuse me?”
I lean back slightly in my chair. “You’re the one confusing proximity with qualification, Avery. Easy mistake. Common, even.”And that’s always a mistake.
The lobby doesn’t stay quiet for long.
It never does.
Ten minutes later, my screen flickers.
My stomach drops.
Rowan’s afternoon calendar-meetings I confirmed not an hour ago-has been altered. Blocks shifted. One erased entirely. Another doubled. A legal call overwritten with a blank space that shouldn’t exist.
I don’t breathe.
I don’t react.
I pull the access logs.
And there it is.
Avery Quinneth.
Camille leans in beside me, eyes scanning the screen. “She didn’t even try to be subtle.”
Theo mutters, “She never does.”
I don’t look up when Rowan reappears in the lobby.
I don’t need to.
I feel him.
“Pierce.” he says.
I turn the monitor toward him without a word.
His eyes skim the screen once.
Twice.
Then they harden.
“Where is she?”
No one answers.
Avery answers for herself.
She storms out of the elevator like she’s rehearsed this moment, chin lifted, fury barely contained. “I want to talk to you-“
GOTue, May 5
“You already did,” Rowan cuts in. “With my calendar.”
She freezes.
Then laughs. Sharp. Defensive. “Oh my God. That’s what this is about?”
“Yes,” Rowan says calmly. Too calmly.
She throws her hands up. “Fine. I moved some things. Big deal. It’s not like she hasn’t fucked up before.”
The lobby stills.
She points at me. “She forwarded a call to you. You lost your mind over that. But suddenly she’s untouchable?”
Theo stiffens. Camille swears under her breath.
Avery’s voice rises. “I’m sick of it. I’m sick of you having favorites.”
That’s when Rowan explodes.
“Favorite?”
The word cracks through the lobby like a gunshot.
Every head turns.
“My favorite,” Rowan snarls, stepping forward, “was you.”
Avery falters. “Rowan-“
“I don’t buy dresses for just anyone,” he continues coldly. “I don’t cancel plans for just anyone. I don’t do lunch dates for just anyone.”
Her face drains of color.
“You should be fucking thankful for what I handed you,” he says, voice cutting. “Considering you can’t even make a cup of coffee without flooding the break room.”
A ripple of shock runs through the crowd.
“And yet,” Rowan goes on, eyes burning, “you stand here attacking the one person in this building who holds this company together with her bare hands.
I don’t move.
I don’t blink.
I don’t need to.
Rowan looks at her like she’s already gone. “You’re done.”
Avery stares at him. “You can’t-“
“Pack your things,” he says. “Security will escort you.”
She collapses.
Actually collapses.
Knees buckling. Hands scrambling for the floor. A sob rips out of her chest, ugly and loud.
Rowan doesn’t react.
“Security,” he says calmly.
They arrive within seconds.
Avery screams as they lift her, clawing at the marble, mascara streaking down her face as she’s dragged away. “This isn’t fair! She shouldn’t even be here!”
The doors close behind her.
Silence slams down.
Rowan turns back to me.
Not soft.
Not kind.
But steady.
“Fix the calendar,” he says. “Then come to my office.”
Rowan
You’re done. Pack your things.
I fired Avery Quinneth in front of half my staff.
Not quietly. Not behind closed doors. Public. Final. The kind of ending people whisper about.
I should feel relief.
Instead, I feel… something else.
Annoyance, for one. Avery was easy. Predictable. Disposable. I kept her because she looked good on my arm and followed one rule-don’t make my life harder.
And then she did.
But what I can’t stop circling back to is the moment I said Violet’s name. The moment I put her above Avery with witnesses watching.
I don’t give public validation. It creates expectations. Leverage. Entitlement.
Yet the words left my mouth like they’d been waiting.
I roll a pen between my fingers, staring out at the skyline, telling myself the same thing I always do when something feels too personal.
It’s business.
Violet is a system. She keeps this place from collapsing. Avery tried to sabotage it. I removed the sabotage.
Simple.
So why does my jaw still feel tight?
The door opens.
Violet steps inside like she’s entering a courtroom.
No fidgeting. No awe. Shoulders straight, expression neutral, eyes forward.
Except today she looks… different.
Emerald dress. Clean lines. Fitted without trying. The color warms her skin, brings her to life. Her legs look longer in heels I’ve never seen her wear, and the neckline shows just enough that I’m aware of it without wanting to be.
Her body was always there.
She just hid it.
May
And now I’m the one noticing.
I don’t like it.
I like it too much.
