The Lin Estate was quiet, but Veronica knew better than to trust silence.
She stood barefoot in the west corridor, one hand trailing the ornate paneling of the old family estate. The house was awake tonight. Not in the creaking pipes or shifting shadows way—but something deeper.
Older.
Lucas's voice echoed in her memory. "This estate was built by your great-grandfather. Every hallway has a purpose. Every wall hides a secret."
Veronica paused before a carved wooden frame inset in the wall. It looked decorative—like everything else in this house that pretended to be ordinary. But something about it felt… off.
She pressed her palm against it.
Nothing.
Then she leaned her weight in.
Click.
The panel shifted. A breath of stale, cold air brushed her face as the wall creaked open a sliver, revealing a narrow, hidden passage.
She didn't hesitate.
She stepped inside.
Hidden Corridor – Lin Estate
The passage was pitch black, the air laced with dust and forgotten whispers. Veronica moved forward with the confidence of someone who'd once ruled cities beneath cities.
Her fingers grazed the wall until they found what she was looking for: a light switch. Dim bulbs flickered to life, revealing old blueprints, faded photographs, and a string of aging documents pinned across the walls.
It wasn't just a hallway. It was a shrine. A conspiracy board in physical form.
At the center: a photograph.
Young Mr. and Mrs. Lin—Veronica's parents—are smiling. But behind them, partly cropped out, was a tall man with cruel eyes and a symbol on his lapel. A ring of thorns around a crown.
Veronica's breath hitched.
She'd seen that symbol before.
Once, in a memory from her first life, on a box delivered to her family's compound hours before it was blown to hell.
And again, more recently… on a pendant Lucas had confiscated from a rival assassin weeks ago.
She stared at the symbol now, burnt into a wax seal stamped on a decade-old document.
"Lucerne Holdings," she read aloud. Shadow investments. Funded schools. Purchased political debts."
This wasn't just a mafia or a corporation.
This was the ghost pulling strings behind both.
Student Council War Room – Midnight
Lucas entered the student council room through the back door, with the usual scowl on his face. But the second he saw Veronica's empty chair, his eyes narrowed.
She hadn't returned any of his texts. And for her, that was a message in itself.
He reached under the desk, typing in a rapid code sequence on the secure laptop.
Surveillance feed. Estate perimeter. Living room. Dining room. All clear.
West corridor—offline.
His jaw clenched. "Damn it."
Lin Estate – Secret Room
Veronica flipped through the files in the drawer beneath the photo board. The papers were old, many in her grandfather's handwriting. He'd been a titan of business, but also paranoid. Smart.
Each file cross-referenced names with initials: investment projects, school board members, hospital mergers.
They all pointed back to one name.
Alexis Wu.
Veronica stilled.
The ghost of Elite High. The one they forgot.
A dusty envelope was stapled to the final page. Her hands trembled slightly as she opened it.
Inside: a photograph of a younger Alexis. Bright smile. School uniform.
And a sealed document labeled:
"Testimony—To Be Opened If I Disappear."
Veronica blinked rapidly.
Whatever had happened to Alexis… it hadn't been an accident. She hadn't just been "transferred."
She'd been erased.
Outside the Passage
Footsteps. Soft but deliberate.
Veronica shoved the documents into her coat as the panel behind her opened again.
Lucas.
His eyes scanned her in an instant—no injuries, but something raw in her expression.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" His voice was low. Dangerous.
"I found her," Veronica replied.
Lucas frowned. "Who?"
"Alexis Wu. Or what's left of her. She was a witness. Maybe more."
Lucas crossed the room in three steps. "This is bigger than Victoria. Bigger than student council power plays."
Veronica nodded. "It always was."
She pulled out the photo of the man behind her parents. "You recognize him?"
Lucas stiffened.
"Yes," he said. "And so will my father."
Veronica met his gaze. "Then we're out of time."
The Next Morning – Elite High, Rooftop
Veronica leaned over the edge of the rooftop garden, watching the courtyard below fill with students.
They were still whispering about Victoria's downfall, still trying to gauge where the power now sat.
But Veronica wasn't thinking about power anymore.
She was thinking about the girl with the bright smile in the photo. The girl who once walked these halls.
And the thorns behind every smile she'd trusted.
Lucas joined her, coffee in hand.
"She's not on any official transfer records," he said. "Not in-state, not out. It's like she was never enrolled."
Veronica's lips parted, then closed.
"Someone made sure of that."
Lucas hesitated. "Do you want me to call in one of my people?"
Veronica turned to him slowly. "No."
His brows rose.
"I want to call in mine," she said. "The ones who owe me blood."
Evening – Veronica's Bedroom
The last light of the sun painted her walls gold as she sat at her desk, writing something by hand.
Not in a notebook.
But on parchment.
A name. A symbol. A map of every elite's pressure points.
And at the bottom, one sentence in blood-red ink:
"If they erased her, they'll try to erase me too."
Veronica folded the paper, slipped it into a crimson envelope, and sealed it with the crest of her first life—the mark of the queen they buried.
Then she whispered to the wind:
"Let the puppeteers know. Their stage is mine now."