With the attacks escalating and the victims stacking up, the authorities finally acted.
Rose was captured.
She was the first and most obvious suspect. The Garden bore her name, after all—and the methods mirrored her past in disturbing ways.
The headlines were immediate.
"Rose L. Reeve in custody for suspected connection to violent revival of Rose Garden."
But when questioned, Rose denied everything.
> "I don't know who's doing this. I have nothing to do with it," she told investigators. "I was done with the Garden years ago. I'm not the one behind this."
She didn't resist arrest. She didn't protest.
She just looked… tired.
The police had nothing concrete. No footage. No digital trail. No motive beyond assumption.
So while Rose remained in custody, the investigation stalled.
The public felt safer—but Annie and Kayla knew better.
This wasn't Rose.
This was something born in her shadow.
And the real danger was still out there.
Even with Rose in custody, Annie and Kayla didn't slow down.
They continued digging—through old connections, archived posts, even buried conversations between the former inner circle.
But there was nothing.
The old Garden was silent.
No movement. No coded messages. No signs of secret regrouping.
Jenny and Lily, once Rose's loyal dogs, were living quietly—one managing a café, the other finishing college. Not even a hint of darkness in their new lives.
So if it wasn't them…
Who was it?
Annie leaned over her desk, red circles under her eyes. "We've searched every piece of the old Garden. Everyone who was part of it."
Kayla, arms crossed, stared out the window. "Then maybe it's not someone from the Garden."
Annie looked up. "What do you mean?"
Kayla turned slowly. "Think about it. The name... Rose Shadow Garden. It's not just reviving her image. It's built around it."
Annie's eyes narrowed. "So not Rose. But someone who followed her. Watched her. Became her shadow."
A shiver ran through both of them.
Because sometimes, the most dangerous people weren't the ones in charge.
They were the ones watching in silence.
Annie rubbed her temples. "We've been looking at this all wrong."
Kayla raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"We're digging through the past. But this new Garden—whatever it is—it's happening now. And that means the answers might not be in the old members…"
She looked at Kayla, her voice steady.
"They might be in the new victims."
Kayla straightened. "You think someone's pattern of targets might give them away?"
Annie nodded. "Lena. Marin. The ones who were taken… they weren't random. Maybe there's a connection between them. Something they saw. Someone they knew."
Kayla grabbed her bag. "Then let's go. Hospital records. Social media trails. We talk to the ones who are still able to speak. We find the pattern."
Annie looked toward the window, a shadow flickering across her thoughts.
"If we're right… the leader of the Rose Shadow Garden is hiding right in plain sight."
But once again… their investigation hit a wall.
No shared patterns. No direct connections. Just a string of terrified victims and silence where answers should have been.
Until one thread finally tugged back.
A post—buried in a private online chat group, encrypted but not invincible.
A single message from one of the suspected new members of the Garden:
"Black Rose gave the order. They bloomed in silence, and she pruned the noise."
Annie's blood ran cold as she read it aloud.
Kayla sat beside her, whispering the words again. "Black Rose…"
Annie looked it up immediately—flower language. She read the meanings aloud as they appeared on screen:
Death. Revenge. Evil. Rebirth through ruin.
Kayla leaned in. "It's not just a name."
"It's a symbol," Annie said. "And maybe… it's a clue."
For the first time, they had something to work with.
Not a face.
But a name that carried weight.
Black Rose.
And whoever she was, she wasn't hiding anymore.