Red Princess

55. Breaking In

Not pity.

Not mockery.

Why would she look at me like that? Why is this look so familiar? Why am I feeling this way... again?

She pulled me in for a gentle hug; her arms wound behind my neck as if hiding my face in her chest, silently asking me to let out my emotions.

My hands instinctively held on to her back. She's so warm.

My yearning heart suddenly started hoping again. Even all the countless failed attempts at finding the truth didn't give me the closure I was seeking. Why didn't her grandfather say something when he met Alice?

I held on to a few locks of her crimson hair.

Could it be?

***

"Red Phoenix what?"

Bewildered, I barked on my phone as I paced about in the living room. I couldn't meet eyes with her yet. However she kept acting like nothing happened which saved me a little from the embarrassment.

"He's missing God dammit! Hear it the first time I say!"

"Shut up, punk. That was a rhetorical question. What happened exactly?"

He narrated to me how he found the nurse sleeping on the bed under the influence of some sedative while the man in question went AWOL.

"And what about the tracker we inserted in his body?"

"Carved out and thrown in the garbage can," he sounded grim and concerned. Even if he was unhappy with all the things he hid from the kid, he still worried about his old man.

"Signs of struggle?"

"None."

I sighed. I wanted to help him but I couldn't dispatch any of my team members on his trail. Red Phoenix was supposed to be dead.

"Alex, I-"

"I am not worried about him." He interrupted. "I am just curious if he knows something and is hiding it from me again."

Knows something? What could he know? He was confined to his room for the last five years.

"Anyway," he continued, "Just let him be. If he doesn't want my help, he won't get any. We'll probably hear from him in a few days."

What the hell? Is that how a son is supposed to react?

Well, you are one to say, Kaidon.

"What are you-"

"Sey told me about the day they attacked our place. Do you know how they found him?"

It was the biggest regret of my life. I left her unprotected, and then I did the same again. Why couldn't I ever learn from my mistakes?

"He defeated all of them singlehandedly. There was only one enemy standing, who was half dead himself and scared shitless. My old man may have been a lame dad, but he was an exceptional assassin. So, no, we don't need to worry about him."

Well, he does have a point.

"Could it be related to the "special" mission that Sey received?"

Gilaan surfaced. Sey got a new mission. Red Phoenix went missing. Was it all linked? Maybe they did know more than they were letting on.

"I don't know, to be honest, Kaidon. I don't know if I know anything at this point." He growled lividly as he continued, "It's driving me crazy."