The Wrath of Jordan Jefferson

Chapter 6: The Mark of Onyx

The room was quiet—too quiet.

A heavy silence hung in the air as Jordan knelt beside Ezra’s bed, holding the old man’s fragile hand. The sunlight creeping in through the window cast a pale glow across Ezra’s tired face. His breaths were faint, uneven.

His time was drawing close.

Jordan’s heart beat wildly in his chest. He could feel it, this was the final moment.

Ezra opened his eyes slowly. With trembling fingers, he motioned for Jordan to come closer.

Jordan leaned in, trying to catch whatever words Ezra had left.

“That mark on your neck…” Ezra whispered, his voice barely more than a breath, “…is called the mark of Onyx.”

Jordan froze.

Ezra coughed violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Jordan’s eyes widened in panic, but Ezra gripped his wrist tightly.

After the day he found Jordan, Ezra had tried to find out about the mark on his neck, seeing how strange it looked. But surprisingly, there was no information on that online.

He didn’t give up. He continued searching for answers, secretly. That was when he found out about the mark, and even his parents. But seeing that his parents died in the car accident, Ezra didn’t bother to send Jordan back to his family. He preferred to keep him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, struggling with every word. “I kept you hidden… within my shelter… for too long.”

Jordan’s eyes began to fill with tears.

“I don’t understand, sir… What does the mark mean?”

Ezra took one last shaky breath. His lips trembled again.

“That mark… it will guide you to your destiny… to who you truly are…”

Jordan’s hands tightened around Ezra’s frail fingers. “Please… I don’t understand. What do you mean, ‘who I am?’ Please tell me…”

But Ezra said nothing else.

His hand dropped.

His chest stilled.

Ezra Bennett was gone.

Jordan remained frozen in place, his tears slipping down silently as the weight of it all settled. The only man who had shown him love… the only person who believed in him… was now lying lifeless.

And he left behind more questions than answers.

**************************

News of Ezra’s death spread like wildfire.

Some wept. Some gasped. But not everyone grieved for the same reason.

Zoe dabbed her face with a handkerchief and sat beside her mother, pretending to sob quietly. Her eyes, however, scanned the faces in the room, checking who looked broken, and who might still stand in her way.

David walked in casually, his face far from sorrowful. He spotted Jordan standing by the hallway in silence and approached him with a mocking smirk.

“So this was your plan all along, huh?” David said, folding his arms. “Marry Zoe to climb your way into the family. Must have been fun playing rich man’s son, even though you’re nothing but a stray dog in fine clothes.”

Jordan didn’t respond. He just stared blankly ahead, refusing to give David the satisfaction of a reaction.

Zoe gave Jordan one long look, then turned away without a word. Her thoughts were already racing—about shares, the board, and what the lawyer might read in the will.

Meanwhile, Esther was in her bedroom, already making calls. She couldn’t allow Jordan to ruin everything. Whatever Ezra had planned before his death had to be undone. And if Jordan was truly gifted anything, it had to be erased by any means necessary.

Jordan remained in his room that night, numb. He didn’t eat. He didn’t sleep. All he could think about was Ezra’s final words.

The mark of Onyx.

Who are you truly?

************************************

The funeral was everything one would expect for a man like Ezra Bennett—grand, formal, cold.

Black cars filled the estate, and cameras flashed outside the gates as top figures from business and politics came to pay their respects. The casket was gold-rimmed. The speeches were polished. But none of it felt real.

Jordan stood alone at the far edge of the crowd, dressed in plain black. No one spoke to him. No one even noticed him.

They had all moved on quickly. The whispers had already begun: Who would take over the empire? Had he left a will? Was Jordan truly mentioned in it?

Jordan didn’t care.

All he knew was that the one man who ever treated him like a son was buried in the ground.

And now, he had no anchor.

The next morning, Jordan folded his last shirt into a small bag. He had no plans to stay another day. He was leaving. Wherever life would take him, he was ready to find it.

But just as he zipped up the bag, the door burst open.

Five tall, muscular men marched in, grabbing him roughly by the arms.

“Hey! What’s going on? Let me go!” he shouted.

They dragged him outside, ignoring his cries.

Waiting in the garden were Esther and Zoe.

Esther stood like a queen preparing an execution. Her arms were folded, her eyes dark with wicked intent.

“You won’t be leaving this house alive,” she said flatly.

Jordan struggled against the men’s grip. “What are you talking about? I’ve packed my things. I’m leaving. I don’t want anything from you people.”

Esther laughed, a slow, bitter laugh. “That’s what you want me to believe? That you just happened to stay quiet while you brainwashed my husband? That you didn’t cast a spell on him so he’d hand over what rightfully belongs to us?”

Jordan blinked, stunned. “You think I manipulated him?”

Zoe stepped forward, her face cold.

“I regret everything,” she spat. “The day I agreed to marry you was the worst mistake of my life.”

Jordan stared at her, wounded but not surprised.

Esther raised her hand. “End it.”

The men bounced on him at once.

Leaving on his body one after the other, punches, kicks, slaps.

One after the other.

Jordan cried out in pain, blood spilling from his mouth and nose.

Then one of them pulled a knife and drove it straight into his stomach.

Jordan screamed.

His body dropped heavily to the ground, blood pooling beneath him. Every breath felt like fire in his lungs.

But even in the midst of pain, he lifted his head weakly… and smiled.

It wasn’t the smile of madness. It was the kind that told them: ‘you may have broken my body, but not my will.’

Esther and Zoe looked at him in shock.

Why was he smiling?

Jordan coughed, choked, then gave in to the darkness.

“Mum… are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” Zoe asked, her voice uncertain now.

Esther didn’t look at her. She just stared coldly at the body on the floor.

“Dispose his body,” she ordered the men.