The CEO Above My Desk (Mckenzie Shinabery) novel Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Devin swallows. “I’m so sorry.”

Something snaps.

“I don’t need sorry,” I say sharply. My hand slams against the counter, making the plates rattle. “I need this fixed.”

He reaches for my arm. “Violet, let’s just slow down for a second.”

I yank my arm away. “Don’t.”

The word comes out sharp enough to cut.

Before he can respond, a familiar sound cuts through the kitchen.

Beep. Beep. Click.

The security system disengaging.

The front door opening.

My head snaps up.

Rowan.

I am off the stool before anyone can stop me.

I stride down the hallway toward the entryway, my pulse roaring in my ears. Devin curses softly and follows after me.

“Violet, wait,” he says, trying to keep up. “Let him breathe for a second.”

I do

not slow down.

Behind us, I hear Camille’s voice, confused and alarmed. “What’s going on?”

Theo’s comes

right after, sharper. “Why is she running.”

I reach the entryway just as Rowan steps inside, shrugging off his coat. Ho43

in front of him.

barely has time to look up before I am standing

I do not give him a greeting.

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Chapter 70

I do not give him context.

I look straight at him and say, “I need you to fix this.”

He freezes.

Not startled. Not confused. Focused.

His eyes lock onto mine immediately, dark and intent, like everything else in the world just dropped away.

“Fix what?” he asks calmly.

“They separated them,” I say, my voice finally cracking. “They took my brother to a different funeral home. The police did

1. it. Calder did it. I just found out.”

Rowan’s jaw tightens.

“I don’t care how,” I continue, words tumbling out fast now. “I don’t care what it costs. Money, favors, leverage, whatever. I will pay it. I will sign anything. I will do anything. But I am not burying my mother and my brother apart.”

Devin catches up and hovers at my side, his hand half raised like he wants to steady me but knows better. “She just got off the phone with both funeral homes,” he says quietly. “Calder put a hold on the brother’s remains.”

Theo and Camille arrive behind us.

Theo’s face hardens instantly. “What the hell do you mean, separated.”

I do not look away from Rowan as I answer. “My mother is at Sunnyfields. Drew is at St. Thomas’s. Calder marked his body as restricted. They will not release him without authorization.”

Camille lets out a sharp, broken sound. “That’s sick.”

Theo swears. Loud. “That’s not procedure.”

Rowan

still

has not moved.

He is staring at me like he is memorizing every word, every breath, every fracture in my composure.

“They

treated him like a case file,” I say. “Not a person. And they treated my mother like collateral damage.”

My hands shake, but I do not lower them. “I am asking you. No. I am tell

you. I need this done.”

Rowan steps closer.

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Chapter 70

Not into my space. Just close enough that I can feel him there.

“Look at me,” he says.

I already am.

“You will bury your family together,” he says quietly.

The certainty in his voice steals the breath from my lungs.

Theo blinks. “Rowan-”

“I said together,” Rowan repeats, cutting him off without looking away from me.

My throat tightens. “You don’t know what you’re promising.”

“I do,” he replies. “And I don’t promise things I cannot deliver.”

For the first time since this started, my anger wavers. Something like hope slips in, sharp and dangerous.

“How?” I whisper.

Rowan finally exhales. “I will have the hold removed. Legally or otherwise. Calder no longer has jurisdiction, and if his

superiors forgot that, I will remind them.”

“And if they refuse?”

I ask.

His mouth curves into something cold. “Then I make it very expensive for them to keep refusing.”

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