CHAPTER 6 – The Final Name on the List
No one spoke.
The courtroom screen glowed with a single file.
PROJECT PHOENIX.
Sophia slowly looked at Rose.
"Your name..."
"...is at the top."
Rose didn't flinch.
She simply closed her eyes.
"I knew this day would come."
Ethan burst into laughter.
"You still don't understand, do you?"
"You think I'm the mastermind?"
He shook his head.
"I was only an employee."
The room fell silent.
Emily's fingers flew across the keyboard.
"I'm decrypting the rest of the files..."
A loading bar crawled across the screen.
12%...
27%...
49%...
Suddenly...
Every monitor in the courtroom went black.
Then a distorted voice filled the room.
"Unauthorized access detected."
"Project Phoenix has been activated."
The lights flickered.
Every electronic lock inside the courthouse slammed shut.
Metal security doors crashed down over every exit.
People screamed.
"We're locked in!"
The judge shouted for security.
No one answered.
Every security camera had gone offline.
Emily looked horrified.
"They're inside the system."
Then the courtroom doors slowly opened by themselves.
A line of men and women dressed in expensive black suits calmly walked inside.
None carried weapons.
None raised their voices.
Yet every federal agent instinctively stepped back.
The leader was an elegant silver-haired man.
Around seventy years old.
Perfect posture.
Cold blue eyes.
He smiled politely.
"Good afternoon."
"My name is Victor Ashford."
Rose's face turned ghost white.
"No..."
"It can't be you."
Victor smiled wider.
"You spent thirty years hiding from me, Rose."
"But eventually..."
"Everyone comes home."
Sophia looked between them.
"You know him?"
Rose whispered,
"He founded Project Phoenix."
The courtroom gasped.
Victor nodded.
"Our organization doesn't steal companies."
"We create them."
"We don't destroy billionaires."
"We choose them."
He looked directly at Sophia.
"Your father joined us willingly."
Sophia slammed her hand onto the table.
"That's a lie!"
Victor pressed a button on a small tablet.
A video recording appeared.
It was Sophia's father.
Alive.
Speaking directly into the camera.
"If anything happens to me..."
"...Sophia must never learn the truth."
Tears filled Sophia's eyes.
"No..."
Her father's voice continued.
"Because one day..."
"...she will become the next Chair of Project Phoenix."
Sophia couldn't breathe.
Everything she believed about her family shattered in an instant.
Rose stepped protectively in front of her.
"Don't listen to him."
Victor sighed.
"You still haven't told her..."
"...why her mother really died."
Rose lowered her head.
Sophia felt her heart pounding.
"What do you mean?"
Victor looked straight into her eyes.
"Your mother didn't die during childbirth."
He paused.
"She was assassinated..."
"...because she refused to let you inherit Project Phoenix."
The courtroom fell into stunned silence.
Then Victor smiled one last time.
"And now..."
"It's your turn to decide."
"Rule the most powerful secret organization in America..."
"...or become its next victim."
Sophia stared at him, unable to speak.
Then Emily suddenly screamed—
"GET DOWN!"
A deafening gunshot shattered the courtroom window.
The bullet wasn't aimed at Victor.
It wasn't aimed at Ethan.
May you like
It was aimed directly at...
Rose Lawson.
