All Chapters of Wounded Rose of Garden Metro: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The deeper Elara dug, the more Garden Metro felt like a grand illusion.Its perfect buildings. Gleaming marble halls. Well-funded school programs. All a polished facade built over corruption that ran deep and wide.And at the center of it all—The Halser Development Trust.Trent’s father, Gregory Halser, wasn’t just a property tycoon. He was the largest private donor to both the Monroe campaign and the “Better Schools for Tomorrow” initiative Valerie Monroe chaired.On paper, the initiative funded educational spaces and resource centers across Garden Metro.But Elara had questions. And Splice had answers.One foggy afternoon, Damien met Elara in the strategy room. The walls were covered in pinned documents, maps, wireframes of digital accounts.Splice’s face appeared on the main monitor.“Found something nasty,” she said, eyes gleaming. “You ready?”Elara nodded.Splice pulled up a series of bank statements and architectural blueprints. “This—right here—is the budget filed for the Linc

The Monroe Foundation’s annual Women’s Leadership Summit was just a week away.It was supposed to be the stage where Valerie Monroe paraded Cassidy as her redemption project—a way to recover from scandal by showcasing a “resilient young woman” who had learned and grown.But now?Now Elara Quinn was the keynote speaker.And Cassidy Monroe was conspicuously absent from the promotional materials.The world had turned upside down.Elara sat at a long conference table surrounded by publicists, sponsors, and committee members. Her image was projected on a slideshow, paired with the tagline: “From Silence to Strength: A Journey of Healing and Empowerment.”It felt surreal.She wasn’t just in the spotlight anymore.She was the spotlight.Valerie Monroe sat at the head of the table, perfectly composed, nodding along to every suggestion. Her tone was smooth, her demeanor diplomatic. But behind her eyes, Elara could sense it—tightness. Calculation.This wasn’t the proud architect of Garden Metr

The air in Garden Metro felt charged.Like something just beneath the surface had finally snapped.It wasn’t the media storm that shook the city. Not the headlines that trended for days. Not even the voice memo of Cassidy Monroe that flooded every corner of the internet.It was the silence that followed.The kind that comes before collapse.Elara stood at the press podium two days later, in the Garden Metro Community Center—the very building Gregory Halser claimed to have “donated and developed” in the city’s name.The media turnout was massive.Cameras. Livestreams. Journalists from every district.Damien stood off to the side in a tailored black coat, eyes locked on her like a silent shield. Marcus lingered nearby, arms folded. Splice, unseen, controlled the technical side from a van across the street.And Elara?She wore no makeup.No designer brand.Just a simple white blouse, sleeves rolled to the elbows, and her voice.“They told us this city was built on generosity,” she began,

Victory never tasted like champagne for Elara Quinn.Not in Garden Metro.It tasted like rust and adrenaline. Like sleep she didn’t get and silence that hummed just a little too loud.The takedown of Gregory Halser was all over the news."Concrete King’s Empire Exposed." "Deadly Corners Cut on City Housing Projects." "Whistleblower Quinn Strikes Again."Halser’s lawyers scrambled for statements.City regulators ordered inspections.But even with the win, Elara didn’t celebrate.Because something inside her said this isn’t over.That morning, she entered the war room and immediately sensed it.Marcus wouldn’t meet her eyes.Splice was unusually quiet.Only Damien acknowledged her with his usual nod, but it was stiff.“Tell me,” she said.Splice cleared her throat and tapped a few keys. “Someone leaked our internal footage to the press. Specifically, the part where we discussed timing the exposé to interrupt Halser’s speech.”Elara froze. “Who?”Splice looked apologetic. “We’re still

The first video dropped at 9:00 a.m.It was simple. Unedited. Just a girl—Mia Holloway—sitting in her sunlit kitchen, voice trembling but determined.“My name is Mia. I used to go to Saint Halcyon. Cassidy Monroe made my life hell. She spread rumors that I slept with a teacher, forged messages, even sent screenshots to my parents. I almost didn’t survive it.”“No one believed me. Not the principal. Not my friends. But now… I believe Elara. And I want the world to know the truth.”No dramatics.Just scars.It hit harder than any exposé.And it was only the beginning.By noon, two more videos followed.One boy, Logan, recalled being framed for hacking the school’s grading system.Another, Hailey, described being locked in a janitor’s closet for two hours during a school lockdown—as part of a “prank” Cassidy orchestrated.The hashtag #IWasThere began trending by evening.Dozens of anonymous testimonies surfaced.“Cassidy told me to drop my best friend or she’d ‘ruin my college apps.’ I d