Novels by LostPhoenix

“Riva.”Her father's voice came through the wall again.“It's time you came home.”Riva couldn't move.She had spent eleven years imagining this moment.In some versions, her father appeared at the front door.In others, she found him sick and broken in some distant hospital.Sometimes she imagined him walking toward her with tears in his eyes.Sometimes she imagined herself screaming at him.Asking why he had abandoned them.Why he had let her mother die believing she was alone.Why he had allowed Riva to grow up believing she had lost both parents in the same year.She had never imagined this.A voice behind a wall.A hidden room filled with photographs of her.Ares stood beside her, weapon raised.“Who are you?”The voice laughed softly.“You know exactly who I am.”Riva's lips trembled.“Dad?”Silence.Then—“Yes.”Her knees almost gave way.Ares caught her elbow.She barely noticed.“Open the door.”Her father's voice became quieter.“No.”Riva stared at the wall.“Why?”“Because

Riva stared at the photograph.For several seconds, she forgot how to breathe.The woman in the picture couldn't have been more than twenty-five.She was beautiful.Not in the delicate, harmless way that made people look twice and forget them afterward.She had the kind of beauty that demanded attention.Dark hair.Sharp eyes.A faint smile that looked almost arrogant.And beside her—Ares.Younger.Colder.But unmistakably him.His hand rested at the woman's waist.The same black suit.The same watch.The same expression that made every room seem to belong to him.Except his eyes.Riva knew those eyes now.This photograph had been taken before she had ever known him.And there was something in his expression she had never seen directed at anyone else.Possession.Not affection.Not tenderness.Possession.Her fingers tightened around the phone.The message remained on the screen.SHE DIDN'T SURVIVE THE DEBT.Riva's throat closed.Another message appeared.ASK HIM ABOUT MAYA.She star

The old man hit the floor.Riva screamed.Ares caught him before his skull struck the marble, lowering him carefully onto his back.“Riva, move.”She didn't.She couldn't.Her father's name was still ringing inside her head.Your father sends his regards.He's been waiting for you.Your father.Eleven years of grief had just been ripped open in three sentences.“Riva!”Ares's voice snapped her back.She dropped to her knees beside them.“Is he alive?”Ares pressed two fingers against the man's neck.“Yes.”“Then call someone.”“I already did.”She looked at him.“You called someone?”“My security team.”“Not a doctor?”“Both.”Ares pulled out his phone.His fingers were steady.His face wasn't.Riva noticed the tiny muscle jumping in his jaw.He was scared.Again.And she was beginning to understand that whenever Ares Malhotra was afraid, somebody had already lost.She looked at the unconscious man.“Who is he?”“I don't know.”“He knows my father.”“Yes.”“He knows about our marriage

Ares moved before the sound downstairs came again.He caught Riva by the wrist and pulled her away from the bedroom door.“Stay here.”“No.”His eyes flashed.“Riva.”“You just told me my father didn’t die eleven years ago.”“I told you what I know.”“You told me the last person he spoke to was your father.”“Yes.”“And now someone is inside this house.”“Yes.”“Then I'm coming with you.”“No.”She yanked her wrist free.“You don't get to keep deciding what I can and cannot know.”Ares stared at her for a long second.Then another crash echoed from below.His jaw clenched.“Fine.”He reached for her hand.She looked down at it.“What?”“Hold on to me.”“I thought I wasn't supposed to move.”“You aren't.”“That makes no sense.”“Neither does tonight.”He pulled her behind him.They stepped into the corridor.The mansion was unnaturally dark.The emergency lights hadn't come on.Only thin strips of moonlight slipped through the tall windows, cutting across the polished floor.Riva staye

The room had been empty for three minutes.Riva still hadn't moved.The man's words kept replaying in her head.You should ask your husband why your name was already in the ledger.Not why your name was there.Already.That one word had followed her all the way upstairs.She closed the bedroom door behind her and leaned against it.Ares hadn't followed.That should have relieved her.It didn't.She looked down at her hands.They were still trembling.Not because of the auction.Not because of the stranger.Because of the way Ares had looked at her when he'd heard the man's words.For the first time since she'd met him, Ares had looked—Afraid.Not angry.Not possessive.Not cold.Afraid.And that frightened her more than anything else.Riva crossed the room and went straight to the dressing table.She pulled open the drawer.Nothing.She checked the second.Nothing.Then the third.Her fingers stopped.A thin black envelope lay beneath a stack of old documents.There was no name on it

The drive back to the mansion was silent.Riva sat with her arms folded, staring through the tinted window while the city disappeared behind them. Her wrist still remembered the stranger’s grip. Her ears still remembered the gunshot.But what bothered her most was Ares.He had not shouted.He had not rushed toward her.He had simply looked at the man who had touched her, lifted a gun, and ended the argument.She glanced at him.Ares was looking out the opposite window.“You could have just scared them,” she said.“I did.”“You shot him.”“He didn't believe the warning.”“You always carry a gun?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Because people tend to behave better when they know I have one.”“That isn't an answer.”“It is the only one you're getting tonight.”She looked away.A minute passed.“Was that why you left tonight?”Ares turned his head.“Why?”“The meeting.”His expression changed almost imperceptibly.“You shouldn't have followed me.”“You shouldn't disappear in the middle of the night with