The photograph wouldn’t stop shaking in her hands.
Not from fear. Not even from grief.
From rage.
Her father — Daniel Veil — was declared dead the same night the empire he built was burned to ash. But here he was, alive in grayscale, holding a child who hadn’t smiled like that in years.
Seina pressed the photo against her chest.
If this was real, if he was alive...
Then everything — everything she’d been told, everything she’d lost — was a lie.
And someone wanted her to know it.
The “A” on the note. Annora?
No. Too obvious. Too neat.
This was someone else. Someone pulling strings from behind the curtain.
She lit a burner phone and sent a message to an old contact — someone she hadn’t spoken to in years.
"Need everything you can find on Daniel Veil. If he's alive, I need proof. Now."
—S
She stared at the screen until the reply came.
"Last trace: Argentine coast. 6 months ago. Disappeared after incident in Mar del Plata. Sending files."
She opened the file.
One image stopped her breath.
Daniel Veil, older now, with a cane and a scar over his eye, stepping off a private boat.
Behind him?
A member of Triangle
Somewhere across the city, Kaydence Drankworth stood by the harbor, staring down at a crate marked with a silver swan symbol.
The Pale Swan shipments were moving faster now. Too fast.
Someone was pushing the timeline.
His phone buzzed.
Another message from the unknown sender.
“Your empire isn’t yours. She’s using you. And she’s not the only one.”
He gritted his teeth.
Was this about Annora?
Or someone else?
And why the hell did the name Seina Sallow make the hair on his neck stand up?
He’d heard it before. Not in the streets.
In whispers.
Old files.
The Veil girl. The heiress that vanished when her family’s empire collapsed. A child with fire in her blood and secrets in her smile.
A ghost.
Could she be…
No. Impossible.
And yet—
He turned to his second-in-command.
“Find out who Seina Sallow really is,” he said. “I want her entire file. Birth records. Death certificates. I don’t care if it’s buried in CIA archives or rotting in a burned server.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And watch Annora.”
He didn’t say why. Didn’t need to.
His instincts were screaming.
Something was coming.
Seina returned to the warehouse the next night, slipping past two new guards. Kaydence had clearly tightened security — but not enough.
She had one goal.
Find the manifest logs for the next Pale Swan drop.
She made it into the server room and plugged in a flash scan.
Two minutes in, she heard footsteps.
Too heavy. Too fast.
She pulled her gun—
—and came face to face with Annora Fernsby.
Annora didn’t flinch.
“Was wondering when you’d show your face.”
“So you do know me,” Seina said coolly.
Annora smirked. “Of course I do. I was there the night your world burned.”
For a split second, Scarlet flared behind Seina’s eyes.
“You watched it happen?”
“No,” Annora said, stepping closer. “I lit the match.”
Seina lunged.
Seina lunged like lightning — her fist a blur aimed for Annora’s face.
But Annora wasn’t just some porcelain princess in diamonds. She blocked the punch with a sharp twist of her forearm and countered with a blow aimed at Seina’s ribs.
Seina dodged, barely.
“You’ve trained,” she muttered.
Annora grinned, breathless. “You’re not the only one with secrets, Scarlet.”
Hearing her real name from her lips triggered a fury Seina hadn’t tasted in years.
“You don’t get to say my name.”
She swept Annora’s legs out from under her, sending her crashing into a metal cabinet. The sound echoed through the empty halls like thunder.
Annora growled, grabbing a broken pipe as she scrambled up. “You should’ve stayed dead.”
“I could say the same for you.”
They clashed again — raw, ugly, close-range violence. Seina landed a punch to Annora’s jaw. Annora smashed her shoulder into Seina’s side.
But Seina was faster.
And more furious.
She pinned Annora to the wall, arm pressed to her throat.
“You framed my father,” she hissed. “You sold him.”
Annora didn’t deny it.
“Because he was weak,” she spat. “And you? You were just a pawn. A little girl playing dress-up in a kingdom of monsters.”
Seina’s grip tightened—
—but a cold voice cut through the chaos.
“Let her go, Seina.”
Kaydence.
Standing in the doorway.
Gun drawn.
Pointed at her.
For a second, none of them moved. The room crackled with betrayal and tension thick enough to slice with a knife.
Seina’s voice was low and calm. “So you’ve made your choice.”
Kaydence didn’t answer immediately. His eyes flicked between the woman he once loved… and the one he thought he knew.
“I don’t know who you are,” he said slowly, “but you know too much.”
Seina smirked, pushing off Annora and stepping back. “Oh, you’ll remember me soon enough.”
She turned to walk away, but Kaydence’s voice stopped her.
“One more thing,” he said.
She paused.
“Seina Sallow is dead,” he said. “I buried her ten years ago.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
The mask dropped just enough.
“Then dig her up,” she whispered. “Because she’s coming for everything.”
And with that, she vanished into the shadows — again.
The warehouse was silent after she disappeared — like the shadows were holding their breath.
Kaydence holstered his weapon, jaw clenched. Annora straightened, rubbing her bruised throat.
“You let her go,” she said.
“I had to,” he replied.
Annora narrowed her eyes. “You still have feelings for her, don’t you?”
He turned to her, cold. “I don’t even know her.”
“But you want to.”
Kaydence didn’t respond.
He stormed out of the room, the echo of Seina’s last words still ringing in his ears.
“Then dig her up…”
He didn’t go home.
Instead, he went to a locked storage facility on the outskirts of the city. There, in a sealed box marked V-File: Archive Level Black, lay the case file he swore he’d never open again.
He sliced the lock.
Inside were yellowing pages, redacted photos, and burned surveillance tapes.
At the top:
Subject: Scarlet Veil. Alias: Seina Sallow.
Status: Presumed Deceased.
He flipped through the pages.
There were photos of her as a child — wild eyes, red curls, a sharp intelligence even then. A girl too smart for her own good.
Then… a fire.
An explosion.
A body pulled from the wreckage. Burned beyond recognition.
Case closed.
Or so they thought.
But one report at the bottom caught his eye.
Dated: Two months after the explosion.
“Unconfirmed sighting in southern Marseille. Girl with red hair, traveling under the alias ‘S. Sallow.’ Disappeared before agents could intercept.”
Kaydence stared at the report.
She wasn’t a ghost.
She was a survivor.
And she’d been watching all this time.
Back in her apartment, Seina stitched the cut on her arm from the fight. Her fingers were steady — too practiced. Every scar on her body had a name.
She stared at the photo again. Her father. That little girl.
And then her eyes drifted to something new — the note that came with it, scanned under UV light.
A second message, hidden in the ink.
“He’s alive. But he’s not who you remember.
He’s with them now.”
Seina’s hands froze.
Triangle
They had her father.
Or worse…
He had joined them.
In the depths of the city, Kaydence stared at her file long into the night.
And at the bottom of it all, one last line handwritten in ink from someone he didn’t recognize:
“If the Veil girl rises again… nothing will stop her.”
He looked up, haunted.
Because now he knew:
She wasn’t here to protect anything.
She was here to burn it all down.
Ten Years Ago
Veil Estate – Midnight
The sound of violins drifted through the marble halls of the Veil mansion, delicate and sharp like the final breath before a storm. Scarlet — only fifteen then — sat high above in the east wing window, watching the party unfold below.
Men in tailored suits. Women dripping in diamonds. They toasted her father as if he were a king.
And in a way, he was.
Daniel Veil didn’t own just real estate. He owned silence. Secrets. Cities built on blackmail and blood.
Scarlet knew all of it. He never hid it from her.
He said she’d inherit it one day.
But that night, everything changed.
The lights flickered once.
Then twice.
Scarlet leaned forward.
She could feel it — the shift. Something wasn’t right.
Then the first explosion hit.
The east wing windows blew inwards, shattering glass like rain.
Scarlet was thrown back, slamming against the floor. Smoke and screams filled the air below. She scrambled to her feet, coughing, the floor beneath her trembling.
Another explosion rocked the south corridor.
The security system failed.
She bolted for the hallway.
Gunshots cracked like thunder in the distance.
Downstairs, people screamed. Some ran. Some were gunned down on the spot.
Scarlet moved like instinct. She grabbed the hidden blade from her dresser, tucked it in her boot, and ran toward her father’s office.
But when she reached it—
It was already too late.
The door was open.
And her father… was kneeling.
Annora stood behind him.
Holding a gun to his head.
Scarlet froze.
She couldn’t breathe.
Annora turned — saw her.
Smiled.
“Hi, Scar.”
And then, with the softest voice, she said:
“You were never supposed to see this.”
Scarlet’s feet moved before her mind did.
She lunged—
—but the room exploded in fire and glass.
When she woke up, she was half-buried under rubble. Blood in her mouth. The sky above her black and silent.
Everything was gone.
And her father’s body?
Never found.
Only ashes. And a single ring left behind — his signet.
Scarlet took it. Burned the rest. Vanished.
That night, Seina Sallow was born.
And Scarlet Veil?
Buried beneath the flames.
Kaydence stood in the lower levels of the mansion — his private quarters, sealed from the rest of the crew. Only Annora had ever been allowed in here.
But tonight, she was not a guest.
She was a suspect.
She leaned casually against the edge of the dark oak table, wine in hand, too composed for someone who’d just had her face nearly broken.
“I’m not going to apologize for defending myself,” she said, sipping.
“You knew who she was,” Kaydence said flatly.
Annora tilted her head, a smirk playing on her lips. “Did I?”
He stepped forward, eyes dark. “Cut the games. You said Scarlet. You knew.”
She took another sip, then set the glass down. “Fine.”
A beat.
Then: “Yes. I knew it was her.”
“How long?”
“Since the moment I saw her eyes,” she said. “No one looks at the world like that. Like it owes them blood.”
Kaydence stared at her, silent. His hands curled into fists.
“You were there the night the Veil estate burned.”
Her expression barely flickered. “Yes.”
“Did you kill her father?”
Annora let the silence hang. “I was following orders. Your orders.”
Kaydence flinched.
“That’s not possible.”
She leaned forward. “Isn’t it? Ten years ago, you were still climbing. You needed the Veil empire gone. Convenient, wasn’t it, that their estate blew up just as the Triangle started funding you?”
Kaydence’s voice dropped. “I never ordered a hit on Daniel Veil.”
“Maybe not directly,” she said. “But you knew the Triangle wanted him out of the picture. You turned a blind eye.”
She walked around him, slowly, like a panther circling prey.
“Let me ask you something, Kay: Why do you think they gave you power so fast? Why do you think you rose higher than anyone else your age?”
He turned to her, ice in his blood.
“Because you were supposed to replace Daniel Veil.”
Annora smiled.
“And now Scarlet’s back. To take it all back.”
Outside, the rain poured like war drums.
Inside, Kaydence stood in silence, his world cracking at the edges.
He had blood on his hands.
Not from action.
From inaction.
And now the girl he once might’ve saved had come back a weapon.
A storm.
Scarlet Veil hadn’t come to ask questions.
She’d come to tear down everything built from the ashes of her name.
The underground auction was held once a year.
Invite-only.
No names. Just masks, numbers, and secrets wrapped in silk and sin.
Seina stood at the back of the room, face hidden behind a delicate black lace mask, a glass of champagne untouched in her gloved hand. The gold number pinned to her collar: #13.
Appropriate.
She always had been unlucky.
Or maybe cursed.
The auctioneer stood on the stage beneath a spotlight, surrounded by luxury and low lives. Weapons, blood diamonds, rare identities, and — the real prize — information.
Lot 17 was a dossier.
Stamped in red:
Project Scepter – Code: T
And Seina’s blood ran cold.
That symbol… she’d seen it on her father’s old letters.
TRIANGLE
She moved forward as the bidding began.
“Lot Seventeen, starting bid — one million.”
Hands went up. Prices rose.
Three million. Four. Five.
She raised her hand. “Ten.”
Gasps.
The crowd shifted. Someone laughed nervously.
But she didn’t blink.
She needed that file.
Then another voice called out from the shadows:
“Fifteen million.”
The room went still.
Seina turned slightly, eyes narrowing behind her mask.
A man in a gray suit. Mask of solid chrome. No number.
Not on the guest list.
He shouldn't have been there.
And yet…
He stared straight at her. Unblinking.
Like he knew her.
She didn’t bid again.
The file was handed to the chrome-masked man. He left the stage.
And she followed.
She tailed him through the winding corridors of the auction’s back halls — a maze of marble and smoke.
He led her to a quiet courtyard — moonlight on stone. Then stopped.
And waited.
“You can come out now,” he said.
She stepped from the shadows, fingers already sliding toward the blade in her coat.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He pulled off his mask.
Her heart stopped.
Daniel Veil.
Older. Scarred. Eyes just as sharp as hers.
Her voice broke. “Father?”
But he raised a hand.
“No,” he said.
“Not anymore.”
Before she could speak, armed guards swarmed in.
Four. Six. Eight.
Daniel didn’t flinch.
“You’ve made yourself a threat, Scarlet. The Triangle wants you gone. I’m giving you one chance.”
Her voice shook with fury. “You left me. You let me think you were dead!”
“It was the only way to protect you.”
“You call this protection?!”
He stared at her — a mixture of guilt and steel.
“You were never supposed to come back. Not like this. You were supposed to disappear.”
“Well,” she whispered, eyes blazing, “I’m not done until every last one of them burns.”
He nodded.
A flicker of something like pride… and grief.
“You really are my daughter.”
Then he turned away.
“Let her go.”
The guards hesitated.
“Let her go,” he repeated.
And they vanished into the shadows, as fast as they came.
Leaving Seina alone.
In the moonlight.
Shaking.
And more dangerous than ever.
Midnight. Drankworth Estate.
Kaydence stood on the balcony, the city glowing beneath him like a living beast — breathing secrets, bleeding lies.
Behind him, a secure call buzzed to life.
Triangle HQ.
A voice crackled through. Filtered, distorted, ancient.
“Drankworth. The girl’s alive.”
“I know,” Kaydence said, calm.
“You were supposed to confirm her death. Ten years ago.”
“And yet here we are.”
A pause. Then: “You’ve become soft.”
Kaydence’s jaw tightened.
“She’s dangerous.”
“She’s a myth,” he said coldly.
“She just infiltrated our auction. Faced Daniel. Took down our men. Do you still think she’s a myth?”
He didn’t answer.
“She knows, Kaydence. She knows the Circle framed her father, used you to do it, used Annora. If she lives—”
“She won’t expose me.”
Silence.
Then, quieter:
“You’re compromised.”
He turned, his voice steel. “No. I’m calculating.”
“She must die.”
The line went dead.
Kaydence’s fists clenched.
Not yet, he thought.
Not until he knew the full truth.
The Next Night – Downtown Safehouse
Seina paced the room. Scarred maps lined the walls. Red strings. Pins. Photos.
All of them led to one place:
The Core Triangle hidden fortress, masked as an offshore research lab.
Impossible to access.
Unless…
She stared at a photo of Kaydence.
He had access. Untraceable codes. Keys.
He was the last piece.
She didn’t need him to love her.
She just needed him to remember.
Remember the boy who once taught her to throw knives.
The boy who saved her from drowning.
The boy who said he’d burn the world if anyone hurt her.
Back at the estate, Kaydence was alone.
Annora had left — or more accurately, vanished. No note. No signal. And he didn't believe for a second she was gone for good.
She was too much like a spider.
Waiting.
Watching.
Plotting.
He poured a drink.
And froze when he saw it.
A photo slid beneath his door.
No envelope.
Just one image.
Him. Scarlet. Age 14.
In a field of red flowers.
Smiling.
Together.
Scrawled on the back in handwriting he knew too well:
You promised you’d protect me.
Now I’m coming for what’s mine.
—S
His grip trembled.
For the first time in years, Kaydence Drankworth wasn’t sure which side he was on.
And that terrified him.
Abandoned Cathedral – Outside the City
The stained-glass windows were shattered long ago. Only shards remained, catching moonlight like broken promises.
Seina stood in the center of the ruined aisle, her black coat swirling in the cold wind, hair tied back, mask gone.
Tonight wasn’t about hiding.
It was about luring.
She left the photo for Kaydence on purpose.
She knew him too well.
He'd come alone.
He’d always come for her.
The heavy oak door creaked open.
Footsteps echoed.
Seina didn’t turn.
“Thought you’d bring backup,” she said.
Kaydence’s voice came low, steady.
“If I did, you’d already be gone.”
She smirked but didn’t look at him.
“I almost forgot how good you are at reading me.”
“I never stopped,” he said. “You just stopped letting me try.”
Now she turned.
And the sight of him — standing in a place so ruined, yet somehow still regal — nearly undid her.
He hadn’t changed.
Except his eyes.
They were colder now. Like he'd buried too many pieces of himself.
Just like her.
“Why are you doing this, Seina?” he asked.
“Don’t call me that.”
He paused. “Scarlet, then.”
Her voice cracked. “That name’s dead.”
“No,” he said quietly. “She’s very much alive. I saw her at the auction. I saw the way she moved. That wasn’t Seina. That was a Veil.”
She didn’t deny it.
“You think I came here for closure?” she said. “I came for keys. To the Core. You have them.”
“And if I say no?”
She stepped forward, slow, deliberate.
“Then I’ll take them.”
He didn’t flinch. “You’d fight me?”
“I’m not the girl you remember.”
“I know,” he whispered.
“But I also know you didn’t bring a weapon.”
She froze.
His eyes flicked down — to her hands. Empty.
No blade.
No gun.
Just rage. And pain.
“You didn’t come here to kill me,” he said. “You came here to see if I’d still choose you.”
She hated how true it sounded.
Then he stepped closer.
And for a heartbeat — just one — she let herself remember the softness.
The boy who once stitched her wounds with trembling hands.
The boy who said, I’ll never leave you, even if the world burns.
But then he whispered:
“They told me to kill you.”
She stiffened.
“And?”
“I told them I’d think about it.”
He was too close now.
They were breathing the same air.
Her voice was a whisper. “Are you going to?”
He looked down at her. “Not tonight.”
And then he handed her the chip.
Encrypted. Access to The Core.
She blinked.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because I need answers too,” he said.
“To what?”
“To whether I helped kill the girl I loved ten years ago.”
He stepped back. Just once.
“But be warned, Scarlet,” he said, voice harder now.
“If I find out you’re working with anyone else... if you betray me—”
She cut him off. “I’ve been betrayed by the best, Kaydence. You’d be a poor encore.”
He gave a tight smile.
Turned.
Walked out into the night.
And as the doors creaked shut behind him, Seina — Scarlet — held the chip to her chest.
For the first time in ten years… she had a real way in.
But so did he.
And now, the game was no longer Hunter and Prey.
It was them vs. the Triangle
And only one side would come out whole.
A Penthouse in the Sky –Triangle Safehouse
Annora Fernsby stared at the glowing city below, swirling a glass of red wine that matched the color of her lips — and the blood that still stained the edge of her blade.
A voice buzzed in her earpiece.
“She got the chip.”
“I know,” Annora said calmly.
“Kaydence gave it to her.”
“I know.”
“Orders?”
She turned, eyes gleaming.
“I’ll handle it.”
Meanwhile – Scarlet’s Hideout
Scarlet sat alone with the chip, running scans and decrypting layers of security so thick they might as well have been walls of steel.
Access codes. Employee logs. A list of Veritas Circle executives.
And one name highlighted in red:
Kaydence Drankworth.
Her stomach dropped.
He was part of them.
Not just connected.
Branded.
The door creaked.
She stood, weapon in hand — only to lower it.
Kaydence.
His coat was dusted with ash. His eyes, darker than usual.
“There’s something you should know,” he said, voice rough.
She stared at him, silent.
“You were right. I was there. That night. The fire.”
Her hand twitched at her side.
“I didn’t light it,” he said. “But I didn’t stop it either. I thought… if the Veils were gone, they couldn’t pull you into that world.”
“You made that choice for me?” she whispered.
“I made it for both of us.”
“No,” she said coldly, stepping back. “You made it for you. Because you were scared of what I could become.”
His silence was the only confession she needed.
Before the rage could explode, the glass window shattered.
A sharp sound — thwip!
A blade embedded itself in the wall, inches from Scarlet’s throat.
She dove for cover — but it was too late.
Annora was already inside.
Moving like smoke and venom, dressed in all black, two knives in her hands, smile sharper than her weapons.
“Miss me, darling?” she purred.
Scarlet growled, rising.
“You don’t belong here.”
Annora tilted her head. “Neither do you.”
The two women circled each other, like wolves ready to draw blood.
Kaydence stepped forward, but Scarlet held up a hand.
“No,” she said. “This is mine.”
The fight was fast.
Vicious.
No wasted movements — only strikes designed to kill.
Annora slashed low — Scarlet blocked.
Scarlet countered — Annora flipped, landing with a spin, grinning.
“You’ve learned a few tricks,” she teased.
“I’ve learned how to end people like you.”
Another clash — metal on metal, breath on breath.
But then, Scarlet landed a blow — a hard kick to the ribs.
Annora stumbled back, coughing blood, but smiled.
“You think Kaydence is yours?” she whispered. “He was always mine.”
Scarlet didn’t answer.
She just moved.
Fast. Final.
A blade at Annora’s throat.
But she didn’t push it in.
“Go,” she hissed. “While I still remember what mercy is.”
Annora stared.
Then laughed — bitter and broken.
“I’ll be seeing you again, Seina Sallow.”
She leapt through the broken window, vanishing into the night.
Kaydence moved toward Scarlet.
“Are you—”
“Don’t,” she said.
He froze.
“I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t.
Not even close.
She’d just let her greatest enemy walk away — not because she couldn’t kill her.
But because some part of her wasn’t done hurting.
Or being hurt
Outside, rain began to fall.
And the war between the girl who lost everything…
And the man who gave it up…
was only just beginning.
Underground Bunker – Edge of the City
The chip was hot from overuse, its surface flickering as the last line of code unlocked the hidden core server.
Scarlet stared at the monitor.
Thousands of files. Years of lies.
She filtered through them—her fingers moving like she was trying to outrun the panic building in her chest.
Then she saw it.
OPERATION VEILFALL
Status: EXECUTED
Target: Alaric Veil, Yuna Veil
Order Signed By: Kaydence Drankworth
Approved By: Annora Fernsby
Scarlet’s heart shattered.
"No..."
Her parents hadn’t died in an accident.
They had been targeted.
Wiped from existence by the very people she once trusted.
She stumbled back, bile rising in her throat.
Kaydence didn’t just fail to stop it…
He signed the damn order.
A moment later, the bunker’s door burst open.
Kaydence stormed in, eyes wild.
“You shouldn’t be here—”
But he saw her face.
And the screen behind her.
And everything fell silent.
Scarlet pulled a gun.
“Don’t say a word.”
“Scarlet—”
She fired.
Bang.
A warning shot. Inches from his head.
“Don’t you dare say my name like it still belongs to you.”
He raised his hands. “I didn’t know—Annora—she used my seal. She forged—”
“LIES!” she screamed.
The pain cracked her voice. She couldn’t breathe.
“You made me think I was crazy. That it was grief. That my family’s death was a tragedy. But it was all planned. By you.”
He stepped forward slowly, desperately.
“I was trying to protect you. They were going to take you too—”
She shook her head. “And instead, you became them.”
Her finger hovered over the trigger.
One second from rewriting their story in blood.
But then...
The monitors shifted.
A live feed blinked to life.
 Author's note : Please follow and don't forget to react. Love lots, Veil!!