CHAPTER 3 – The Woman They Turned Into a Weapon
The courtroom exploded into chaos.
Victoria stood frozen beside the prisoner, her hand still holding the blood-stained bandage against his face.
Ten years.
For ten years, she had believed Elias Kane was dead.
She had watched his coffin lowered into the ground.
She had cried over an empty grave every anniversary.
And now he was sitting in front of her in chains.
Alive.
Broken.
And accused of betraying the country.
The prosecutor shouted again.
“Remove Ms. Hale from the defendant!”
But before the guards could move, Elias lifted his head and spoke loudly enough for the entire courtroom to hear.
“I was never the traitor.”
A cold silence fell.
Victoria turned slowly toward the judge.
“Your Honor,” she said, her voice shaking but sharp, “this trial is a setup.”
The judge’s face went pale.
Because behind him, on the large evidence screen, a new file suddenly appeared.
No one had uploaded it.
No one touched the system.
The title read:
PROJECT BLACK VEIL – TRUE SUSPECTS
Then a video began to play.
The courtroom watched in horror as secret footage showed Elias being beaten, drugged, and forced to sign a confession ten years earlier.
But the worst part came next.
A familiar voice was heard in the recording.
Victoria knew that voice.
Everyone knew that voice.
It belonged to Senator Malcolm Graves — the silver-haired man sitting quietly in the back row.
All eyes turned to him.
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
Victoria stepped toward him.
“You buried an innocent man,” she whispered.
Graves adjusted his tie.
“No,” he said calmly. “I buried the only man who knew your real identity.”
Victoria stopped breathing.
Elias looked at her with pain in his eyes.
“Victoria… he knows.”
The senator stood slowly.
Then he revealed the secret that shattered the entire courtroom.
“Victoria Hale is not an investigator,” he said. “She is the daughter of the man who created Black Veil.”
Gasps filled the room.
Victoria staggered back.
Her whole life had been built on a lie.
But before she could speak—
The lights went out.
A scream tore through the darkness.
When the emergency lights flashed back on…
Senator Graves was lying on the courtroom floor.
Dead.
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And in his hand was a note written in black ink:
“SHE WAS NEVER THE DAUGHTER. SHE WAS THE WEAPON.”
