Content Warning: This chapter includes scenes of abduction, implied violence, and psychological trauma. Reader discretion is advised.
Annie and Kayla worked tirelessly—scouring old forums, reaching out to past victims, even tracking the digital footprints of Rose's former inner circle. But every lead withered to nothing.
Then, the first disappearance happened.
Lena Cho—one of the few who had spoken up about the message online—vanished three days after her post. Her last update was a blurry photo of an empty street at night, captioned:
"They're watching. The Garden never died."
By morning, her accounts went dark. Her apartment was unlocked, her phone left charging on the counter. Like she'd stepped out for air… and never came back.
The police called it a runaway case.
Annie and Kayla knew better.
They found Lena in an abandoned greenhouse on the city's outskirts.
Too close to dead to be lucky.
Pale as wax, lips cracked with dehydration, her wrists bound with thorned wire—*Rose Garden colors*. A single fresh-cut rose lay across her chest, petals still damp with dew.
Like a funeral offering.
The paramedics said another hour, and she would've been gone.
THE HOSPITAL
(Later, in whispers)
Lena's voice was a raw scrape, her pupils dilated with lingering terror.
"It's the Garden… but not like before."
Annie leaned in. "Who took you? Rose?"
Lena's fingers twitched around Kayla's wrist, her nails biting in."Not her. Worse."
A shuddering breath. Then—
They have weapons now. Guns. Knives. They kept talking about… pruning."
Kayla and Annie exchanged a glance.
Pruning.
A word that once meant *humiliation*.
Now, it meant something far darker.