CHAPTER 6 — THE SECRET BENEATH THE PHOENIX
CHAPTER 6 — THE SECRET BENEATH THE PHOENIX
The following morning began with a scream.
"Mommy!"
Elena bolted upright.
She raced into Yuna's room.
The little girl sat on the bed clutching her blanket.
"There was a scary man outside."
Joon entered seconds later, already dressed.
"What did he look like?"
"He wasn't outside the window."
Yuna pointed toward the hallway.
"He was in my dream."
Everyone relaxed.
Then Yuna whispered something that froze the room.
"He wanted Mommy's necklace."
Elena instinctively touched her neck.
Empty.
She hadn't worn a necklace in years.
"What necklace?" Joon asked.
"The black bird."
Elena's face lost all color.
She slowly walked to her suitcase.
Opened a hidden zipper.
Reached inside.
Wrapped in soft cloth lay an old pendant.
Black obsidian carved into the shape of a phoenix.
She stared at it in disbelief.
"I've never shown this to her."
Joon looked from the pendant to Grace, who had just entered the room.
Grace quietly produced the old photograph from the previous night.
The same pendant.
Around the neck of the missing little girl.
Neither adult spoke.
Yuna pointed excitedly.
"See?"
"Same bird."
Before anyone could respond, alarms exploded throughout the estate.
Red lights flashed.
Security radios erupted with shouting.
"Perimeter breach!"
"North fence compromised!"
"Multiple vehicles approaching!"
Joon's expression hardened instantly.
"Take Elena and Yuna to the panic room."
Grace grabbed Elena's arm.
"We have to move."
Elena refused.
"Tell me what's happening."
Joon answered while loading a pistol.
"They're not trying to kill you anymore."
"How do you know?"
He looked directly into her eyes.
"Because now they know what you have."
She looked down at the phoenix pendant.
"You think this necklace is why someone's hunting me?"
"I think..."
His voice became dangerously calm.
"...this pendant is the reason your life was destroyed five years ago."
Gunfire erupted outside.
Windows shattered.
The mansion shook as explosions echoed through the trees.
One of the guards burst into the hallway, bleeding heavily.
"There are too many!"
"Who are they?" Joon demanded.
The guard struggled to breathe.
"They're not using syndicate markings."
"No insignias."
"No demands."
"They only keep shouting one thing..."
"What?"
The dying guard looked at the black phoenix pendant in Elena's trembling hand.
Then whispered—
"Find...the...heir..."
Before anyone could process his words—
The mansion's electricity went completely dark.
And somewhere inside the blackened corridors...
A child began to cry.
May you like
Not Yuna.
Someone else's child.
