Rose moved fast.
With the IP in hand, she wasted no time gathering manpower—people loyal to her family, willing to do what needed to be done to "handle" a problem. She didn't care who these girls were anymore. She wanted them silenced.
Permanently, if necessary.
But when her plan went into motion… something unexpected happened.
They were gone.
No sign of Annie. No trace of Kayla. Not at school. Not at home.
Like ghosts, they had vanished.
And Rose? She was left staring at a blank screen, her jaw clenched.
Somehow… they were one step ahead.
And that scared her more than anything.
That night, Annie sat in Kayla's room, reviewing their anonymous account like she always did—checking views, comments, shares.
Then something changed.
A notification blinked onto the screen.
New login detected. Unknown device.
Annie froze.
"Kayla," she said quietly but firmly.
Kayla looked up from the bed. "What's wrong?"
Annie turned the screen toward her. "We've been hacked. Someone got into the account."
Kayla shot to her feet. "That means they're tracking us."
Annie nodded. "We have to leave. Now."
They didn't wait. They shut everything down, packed only what they needed, and slipped out the back door before anyone could spot them.
The streets were quiet. But their hearts were racing.
They didn't know who was coming—or when.
But they knew one thing:
They were being hunted.
As they walked briskly through the dim streets, Kayla finally broke the silence.
"Should we report this to the police?"
Annie stopped for a moment, her breath visible in the cold night air. "I thought about it."
Kayla glanced at her. "And?"
Annie looked down. "Her father's a well-known politician. You think the police are going to side with two students over him?"
The silence between them said enough.
"They'll ignore us," Annie continued. "Or worse—tip him off that we came forward. And then we really won't be safe."
Kayla clenched her fists. "So we're on our own."
Annie met her eyes. "We always have been."
"My house is nearby. Let's stay there first," Annie said softly. Kayle nodded without a word.
That night, silence settled between them like a heavy fog. Both lay awake, wrestling with the same question — was this all really worth it? The endless running, the hiding, the constant fear of being caught...
But there was no turning back. Taking down Rose and her corrupt family wasn't just a mission anymore. It was their only hope — the only way to reclaim the life they had lost, the normal life they deserved.
As exhaustion tugged at their minds, a quiet resolve took root. They would face the thorns in the rose garden together — no matter the cost.
As the first rays of sunlight spilled across the sky, Annie and Kayle were already back on their feet. There was no time to waste — every second mattered.
With weary but determined hands, they began crafting articles, carefully exposing the truth about Rose and her family's web of corruption. Every word they typed was a strike against the empire that had once seemed untouchable.
They posted the articles online, then sent them to media outlets and television stations, hoping to spark a chain reaction — to wake the world up to the rot hidden beneath the roses.
They didn't know how far their message would spread, or how long they had before Rose retaliated. But for the first time in a long while, they felt a flicker of hope.
The next morning, Annie and Kayla tried a new approach.
They sent the full article—photos, footage, audio, everything—to major TV stations. They hoped at least one would be brave enough to pick up the story.
But the rejections came fast.
> "Not from a verified source."
"Lacks credible attribution."
"Too risky to air."
They didn't say it directly, but Annie and Kayla knew the real reason.
Rose's father.
No one wanted to cross a powerful politician.
But the internet didn't care about politics.
The article continued to spread online. Shared, reposted, commented on—over and over. Students. Activists. Even strangers who didn't know Rose were speaking out.
And then… a small, independent station picked it up.
Local. Underfunded. But real.
They aired the story with everything included—uncensored and unfiltered.
It wasn't the biggest stage.
But it was enough.
The truth was no longer just a rumor. It was on the air.
Rose was boiling.
The article had gone viral. The footage was everywhere. And now—it was on television. Her name, her actions, her face—broadcast for the world to see.
She screamed at the screen, knocking a vase off her desk.
Downstairs, her house was in chaos. Her father was on call after call, barking orders, issuing threats, trying to contain the storm that had slipped past him.
He even made attempts to silence the small station that aired the footage—pressuring them to take it down.
But it was too late.
The story had already spread too far, reached too many. And if anything did happen to the station now, it would only raise more suspicion. More questions. More consequences.
For the first time, Rose's family was facing something they couldn't bury with power and connections.
They were bleeding publicly.
And the predators they once hunted were now the ones holding the knife.