The CEO Above My Desk (Mckenzie Shinabery) novel Chapter 180

Chapter 180

Violet

I take a breath before continuing.

“These documents are for one purpose.” My voice hardens. “To expose Councilwoman Hargrove and her assistant.”

Leah’s brows pull together immediately. “Assistant?”

“Yes.”

Now she looks genuinely confused.

I can practically see her trying to piece together why the hell Rowan Ashcroft’s wife just walked into her office carrying corruption files tied to a city councilwoman and her assistant. “You’re going to need to explain-”

“Just look at the photos.”

Silence.

Leah stares at me for another second longer before finally reaching for the flash drive slowly.

She plugs it into her computer. The loading screen pops up almost instantly.

Folders. Downloads. Metadata files. Email archives. Images.

Her eyes narrow immediately. “Oh my God,” she mutters under her breath.

Camille looks away slightly the second the photo folder opens. I don’t blame her.

Leah clicks the first image. Then freezes. “What the fuck?”

Theo. Avery. Hotel entrance. Timestamped.

Leah clicks another. Then another. Her expression changes rapidly with each photo she opens.

Confusion, Shock. Calculation.

Then suddenly… Recognition.

“Wait,” she whispers.

She opens another image. Devin. Another. Marcus. Then Calder. And suddenly the entire room goes silent.

The only sound is the quiet murmur of the television in the background while Leah stares at the screen like she physically cannot process what she’s looking at.

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Chapter 180

“What…” She looks up at me slowly. “What the hell is this?”

I feel exhausted suddenly. Bone deep exhausted. “It’s blackmail,” I say quietly.

Leah’s eyes snap back toward the computer screen instantly. I continue before she can interrupt.

“We found emails between Hargrove and Avery going back two years. Thousands of them.” My voice tightens. “Avery was feeding information from inside Ashcroft Industries.”

Leah slowly stands from her chair. “No.”

“Yes.”

“She was spying on Rowan?”

“On everyone.”

Leah starts opening files faster now. Email chains. Schedules. Attachments. Photos.

Her breathing grows slightly uneven the deeper she goes. Then suddenly Leah stops scrolling. Completely.

“Holy shit.” Her voice comes out barely above a whisper.

Camille immediately straightens slightly in her chair. “What?”

Leah slowly turns the monitor toward us.

The watermark beneath one of the photographs glows clearly against the bottom corner of the image.

Drew Pierce Photography. The second I see the name again, my stomach twists violently.

“You know him?” I ask sharply.

Leah looks up at me slowly and I can literally see the moment the pieces start connecting inside her head.

“Wait…” Her eyes flick between me and the screen again. Then back to me. “Pierce,” she says quietly.

My chest tightens immediately.

Leah stares at me harder now. “Drew Pierce,” she repeats slowly. “Your last name is Pierce.” Leah’s expression changes completely. “Oh my God.”

The room feels suffocatingly quiet.

“I covered his death,” Leah says softly.

My stomach drops. Of course she did. She’s a journalist. Of course she covered it.

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Chapter 180

Leah looks back toward the screen again before zooming in shakily on the metadata beneath the attached image.

Councilwoman Evelyn Hargrove authorization. Payment processing approved.

Her breathing visibly changes. Faster now. More uneven.

Because suddenly she’s not just looking at blackmail photos anymore. She’s looking at a dead photographer connected directly to Hargrove.

A murdered detective. A corruption scandal. An explosion. A billionaire under attack.

And now… Me. Someone sharing the same last name as the dead man who took the photos.

Leah slowly leans back in her chair. “Oh my God,” she whispers again.

I can literally see the entire story assembling itself behind her eyes now.

The surveillance. The manipulation. The blackmail. The corruption. The dead photographer. The dead detective. Everything suddenly threading together into one horrifying picture.

Camille sinks heavily into the second chair near the wall, rubbing both hands over her face tiredly. “I feel sick,” she mutters.

Honestly? Same.

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the updates are incredible and more chapters than most authors post- but I’m still counting down for updates. I have a reminder set to check for updates everyday

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