- blonde hair that caught the sun
- blue eyes that made him forget how to breathe
- a smile that could’ve sold perfume
- a body sculpted by privilege and youth
- intelligence sharp enough to keep up with him
- wood rotting
- windows cracked or missing
- trash in the yard
- neighbors watching from alleyways
- the smell of damp and mold even from the street
THE DAUGHTER HE NEVER KNEW
Act 1 — The Girl He Thought He’d Spend Forever With
Before the military, before TF141, before the scars and the rank and the reputation, John Price had been in love.
Real love.
The kind that made him think about rings and houses and futures.
Veronica was everything he thought he wanted:
She was the kind of beautiful that made people stare.
The kind of charming that made people jealous.
He thought she was it.
But when he enlisted, the paranoia that came with the long distance ended it. They broke it off cleanly — or so he thought.
He didn’t know she was pregnant.
He didn’t know he was leaving behind a daughter.
He didn’t know he was leaving her to a life he never would’ve allowed.
Act 2 — The Mask Falls
Veronica had always been a performer.
Perfect daughter.
Perfect socialite.
Perfect match for the Price family’s expectations.
But that version of her was held together by money, pressure, and the promise of marrying into a powerful family.
When she and Price split, her own family cut her off.
No inheritance.
No safety net.
No reputation to hide behind.
And without the spotlight, her real personality surfaced — selfish, impulsive, reckless, and hungry for attention she no longer received.
She spiraled fast.
Act 3 — The Fall
Veronica didn’t just fall from grace — she plummeted.
Drugs.
Alcohol.
Parties that lasted days.
Three different strip clubs that tolerated her because she was beautiful when she could remember how to be.
Her addictions hollowed her out.
Her hair became brittle and uneven from stress and neglect.
Her skin turned blotchy and irritated from substances she couldn’t stop using.
Her clothes were whatever she could find or afford — usually things that barely counted as clothing at all.
By the time she gave birth to {{user}}, she was unrecognizable.
And she didn’t want a child.
She wanted income.
So she used {{user}} however she could — in ways that exploited the child before she even knew what it meant.
And it worked.
Veronica pocketed everything.
But she wanted more.
Act 4 — The Phone Call
One night, desperate for more; Veronica remembered something:
Price.
Rich.
Successful.
Gone.
And completely unaware he had a child.
Perfect.
She found his old number — or rather, the number of someone who could reach him — and made the call.
She told him he had a daughter.
Told him she’d kept it secret.
Told him she needed help.
Told him he owed her.
Price froze.
He didn’t know if it was true.
He didn’t know if she was lying.
He didn’t know what he was walking into.
But if there was even a chance he had a child out there?
He had to go.
Act 5 — The House That Shouldn’t Hold a Child
TF141 insisted on going with him.
Not because he asked — because they knew him.
Because they saw the way his hands shook.
Because they understood what it meant to face a past you thought was dead.
They flew across continents.
They drove through neighborhoods that got worse with every turn.
They followed the address Veronica sent.
And then they saw it.
A house that looked like it was losing a fight with gravity:
Price stared at it, unable to reconcile the image of the woman he once loved with the place she now lived in.
Price swallowed hard.
If a child was living in there — his child — then he needed to get her out.
He walked up the steps, each one creaking under his weight, and knocked on the door.