The Hidden Queen

Two years.

That was all it took.

Two years to turn ashes into gold.

To take a dead girl’s name and replace it with one the world would someday worship… or fear.

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VIREYA HOLDINGS.

A symbol of vision and innovation.

A conglomerate with countless branches — fashion, beauty, tech, lifestyle, and even entertainment — that touched every age, every gender, every social class.

It grew like a blooming tree, each petal kissed by progress, each root buried deep in society.

Young professionals looked up to it. Teenagers worshipped its products. Adults relied on it.

It was everywhere — and yet, no one ever questioned where it came from.

Just a name: Vireya.

Fresh. Warm. Bright.

As if it had always existed.

Then there was its opposite.

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NOVARE CORPORATIONS.

Not a name spoken casually.

Mysterious. Clean. Surgical.

It operated in the shadows of the elite — an entity whispered about in boardrooms, political circles, and crime syndicates alike.

Where Vireya seduced the world, Novare controlled it — with secrets, information, and influence.

It was the hand behind powerful men, the ghost that buried scandals, the whisper in a rival’s downfall.

You didn’t seek Novare. Novare found you — and if you crossed it, you vanished.

The public only knew its CEO: a cold, brilliant man who never showed a hint of mercy.

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He sat now in a darkened conference room, sleek black suit tailored to perfection, the city skyline glowing behind him.

Felix Delgado.

The quiet, ever-smiling CEO of Novare Corporations.

He wore his long brown hair tied loosely and neatly to one side, the tail draped over his shoulder like a soft ribbon of silk. His green eyes could melt into pure gentleness when he looked at her…

Yet to the rest of the world, those eyes were unreadable — cold, chilling, inhuman.

He adjusted his glasses, the subtle glint on the lenses hiding his expression.

His lips curled into a polite smile — one that was perfectly measured, always business-appropriate…

And somehow still enough to make grown men’s hands tremble.

Felix Delgado didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.

“We’ve handled the internal leak,” an executive stammered. “The source has been erased— I mean, relocated. No one will connect it to us.”

Felix didn’t speak for a moment.

Then the corner of his mouth curved — a subtle, deliberate twitch.

“Good.”

The meeting ended. Everyone filed out with barely concealed relief. The room emptied like air escaping a sealed box.

Then, and only then, did Felix speak again — to the air.

“He said ‘relocated,’ huh?”

“You trained him well,” came the reply, smooth and amused.

From the shadows behind a two-way glass, a figure emerged. Poised. Regal. Untouchable.

She walked like royalty — slow, elegant, commanding. Her presence filled the room even before she sat.

Shana Rivera.

The woman behind everything.

The true founder of Vireya Holdings and Novare Corporations.

She had left her name in the grave… and risen wearing a crown of thorns.

Her hair, long and cascading like liquid snow, shimmered faintly under the light — a unique shade of blue-white, impossible to mistake.

Her eyes were oceanic, vast and deep, framed by thick lashes that cast shadows like secrets.

Her skin, pale and soft, glowed with quiet power.

She wore black — always — like mourning, like power, like armor.

Beautiful wasn’t enough to describe her. She was divine.

And yet behind that beauty was a fire that had never been extinguished — only sharpened.

She poured herself a glass of wine, the silence between them companionable.

“And Vireya?” she asked, voice low and velvet smooth.

“Expanding. Seoul and Paris this month. Our influencer campaigns broke three records.”

She raised her glass in a small salute.

“To the flower they called ugly.”

Felix raised his as well, eyes soft only for her.

“To the girl they left to die.”

Their glasses clinked.

Behind them, the city kept moving — unaware that the most powerful hands shaping it belonged to the girl no one mourned.

End of chapter 3

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