[Rosella – First Person POV]
They said I had to deliver the proof in person.
In public.
In the old ballroom, beneath the stained-glass crest of Saint Augustine's.
Like it was some twisted trial.
They gave me a red envelope. Told me to seal my evidence inside.
Veronica would be there. So would the rest of the Thorns. And if I failed? If I hesitated?
Expulsion.
Not just from the society.
From the system.
From everything I fought for.
But here's the thing no one gets about me:
I don't fold. I flip the table.
---
[Veronica – First Person POV]
They thought she'd break.
That she'd flinch at the final moment. That she'd melt under pressure.
But when Rosella walked into that ballroom, she wasn't trembling.
She was glowing.
Controlled. Cool.
Terrifying.
Veronica felt her first flicker of doubt.
But she smiled anyway.
Fake it until you bury them.
---
[Julian – Third Person POV]
"Let the record show," Julian announced from the elevated platform, voice smooth and theatrical, "that Thorn Initiate Rosella Grey is here to deliver her first offering."
The room fell silent.
All eyes on her.
Rosella stepped forward and placed the red envelope on the silver tray.
"Do you confirm the contents to be real, unaltered, and obtained without manipulation?" Julian asked.
Rosella nodded once. "Yes."
Julian sliced the seal with a blade shaped like a rose stem.
He pulled out the photo. The sticky note. The witness statement.
Read it. Blinked. Then smiled — not kindly.
"Well," he said. "Looks like even roses grow from dirt."
Gasps.
Whispers.
And then—
Veronica laughed.
---
[Veronica – First Person POV]
They thought this would break her?
A scissors scandal from middle school?
She was already seventeen steps ahead.
"Should I cry now?" she said, voice echoing. "Should I beg for forgiveness for being twelve and angry?"
The crowd was stunned. She stepped forward, chin high.
"I won't. Because I was that girl. And I did that thing. But guess what?"
Pause.
"No one in this room got here clean."
Silence.
Then, slowly, a few nods. A few murmurs. Even a shrug from Florence.
Veronica turned to Rosella.
"Well played, darling. But if you come for my crown again—"
"I'm not coming for your crown," Rosella interrupted, calm as ice.
"I'm building my own."
---
[Damien – First Person POV]
Oh, she won.
Not by exposing Veronica.
But by surviving her.
And doing it with dignity.
Rosella walked into that ballroom like a shadow.
She walked out a legend.
And for the first time since I joined the Thorns, I didn't feel bored.
I felt... awake.
---
[Lara – Third Person POV]
Lara watched it all from the side, wide-eyed.
She expected screaming. A breakdown. Maybe even a slap.
Instead, she saw two queens on the same chessboard, moving pieces in silence.
And suddenly, the rest of them?
Just pawns.
---
[Rosella – First Person POV]
I didn't want to humiliate her.
I just wanted them to know: I'm not here to be forgotten.
I'm not disposable.
I'm not weak.
And I'll play this game — but on my terms.
Veronica didn't speak to me after the ceremony.
She didn't need to.
Her look said everything.
She saw me now.
Not as a nuisance.
But as a rival.
And honestly?
I preferred it that way.