Chapter 3 - The Blackbird Pendant
Ruby looked up at the towering, intimidating man in the brown suit. She didn't look afraid. She just looked incredibly tired.
"Ruby Carter," she answered softly.
As she shifted the beige stuffed rabbit in her arms to answer him, the collar of her faded red dress slipped down slightly.
Gleaming under the bright Chicago sunlight, a heavy silver necklace slipped into clear view. Hanging from the chain was a tiny, custom-forged blackbird pendant.
Damien went completely, horrifyingly pale. The cinematic realism of his sheer, apocalyptic terror was suffocating. He physically staggered backward on his knees.
That pendant wasn't a cheap piece of jewelry. It was the absolute, undeniable crest of the Moretti syndicate. Five years ago, Damien had personally placed that exact necklace around the neck of his wife, Clara, while she was heavily pregnant.
But Clara was dead. She had died in childbirth in a private cartel hospital.
And according to the doctors, Sophie was the only baby to survive the delivery.
In the background, pushing frantically through the oblivious crowd of wealthy pedestrians, a tired, anxious woman in a beige coat was desperately reaching forward.
"Ruby!" the woman called out, her voice cracking with sheer panic. "Stay where I can see you!"
Ruby turned her head toward the voice.
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Damien rose halfway from the concrete. He was absolutely stunned, his mind shattering into a million pieces. His massive, tattooed hand tightened fiercely, protectively around Sophie’s shoulder. His gray eyes locked onto the approaching woman’s face, entirely prepared to unleash hell.
👉 Damien stared at the panicked woman, realizing the doctor who pronounced his wife dead had just walked right up to him.
