Chapter 5

(Five years later)

Lyra’s POV 

I leaned against the dark tinted window of my limousine as it drove past the City. My reflection stared back at me, my face covered with a Phoenix shaped mask that only allowed my eyes and mouth to be seen, it was my Trademark. 

The world now knew me as The Phoenix, the name wasn't just branding. It was my story. I had risen from destruction, rebuilt by hands that should never have held me together, and now the very fire that consumed me was now my fuel and weapon.

Fans thought the mask was just my persona. They never knew it was my armour and behind it still lied that Lyra whom they had all turned their back on. Whom they had all betrayed.

A smile tugged at my lips, amused at how fast things just turned around. My fans had reached far and wide that even Dorian's empire, the same empire he built from my stolen songs, had to acknowledge me; they were asking for a collab.

I chuckled at the irony of it. 

My eye caught a small drawing at the foot of my dress. A child's scribble of a bird with flaming wings. My son had given it to me earlier this morning. He said it was me and encouraged me to sing on stage like the bird.

I smiled at the thought of it. Motherhood had been the unexpected gift of these five years. Liam had offered a contract: a surgery to repair my vocal cords in exchange for marriage, and a child. It wasn’t love at first. It was survival. It was a contract. But in those five years, our lives intertwined in ways I had never expected. I had grown to care for him, to respect him, to see him as the anchor I had desperately needed. And our son….. a pure replica of his dad, he was the purest piece of my soul.

The limousine slowed, pulling up to the grand concert hall. The roar of fans outside was deafening even through the glass. Flashes of cameras lit up the night like lightning, a storm waiting for me to step into it. I inhaled deeply, centering myself.

Time to burn.

The concert was everything it needed to be. Every note soared from my throat with power, richer and sharper than ever before. The surgery had not only restored my voice, it had refined it. The crowd screamed, cried, reached for me as though I were all they needed to survive. And for two hours, I gave them all of me. Every betrayal, every scar, masked beneath the lyrics.

By the time I dropped the last line.and the curtains fell, my body trembled from the rush. Applause thundered in my veins. But before I could even savor it, a stagehand rushed toward me, panic written across his face.

“Miss Phoenix, it’s urgent. It’s about Dr. Liam.”

My blood turned cold.

I had a feeling of nostalgia as I rushed into the hospital. The beeping sounds from the machines, the sterile smell, all of them sent chilling reminders of what happened five years ago. I pushed through the corridor until I finally reached his ward. 

Liam lay on the bed, his skin and eyes pale. He looked like he was hanging in the line between life and death.

“No…” my heart froze at the sight. I moved to his side, grabbing his hand. “No, you promised me Liam… you promised you'll always be here.”

A faint smile curved over his lips. “Lyra, I've been here longer than I thought I would”.

Confusion and fear sent waves across my spine, “what are you talking about?”

His hand squeezed mine weakly. “I was already dying when I made that deal with you. The doctors gave me five years. I couldn’t let my lineage end without a fight. I had always loved you since we were in the band together. And I wanted you to have your voice back, to rise again. So I gambled… and I won five years with you, and raised my son with you too.”

Tears burned down my cheeks, falling onto our joined hands. “You should have told me!”

“I couldn’t,” he whispered. “You would have refused. And I needed you. Not just for me… but for him too. For our little boy.” His eyes softened, even as his breaths grew shallow. “But before I go… there’s someone I need you to meet.”

My throat tightened. “Don’t say it like that. You’re not going anywhere.”

But he only smiled again, the kind of smile that carried finality.

***

After his funeral, I met him. 

Cassian, he was the last member of our band. He was always at constant loggerheads with Dorian. He was actually the co founder of the agency Liam had founded, the same agency I was signed under.

I was very surprised. All this time I worked under him but never had the faintest idea. 

“You've been here all this time?”

“Yes”, he smiled. “ I was patiently waiting for the right time to show up again, and strike”. He added that last part making my chest tighten.

“What do you mean?”

Cassian's jaw clenched. “I was supposed to be at that concert, Dorian made sure I never arrived. He spiked my drink, left me unconscious so he could stand in my place. That’s how he won. That’s how he stole everything.”

The weight of his words crashed over me like a tidal wave. Rage. Betrayal. Vindication. Dorian hadn’t just betrayed me; he did same to him. His greed was already out of control long before I knew about it.

Cassian’s gaze met mine, steady and fierce. “It’s time to end this. Together.”

And again, I felt something shift inside me. A fire, sharp and unstoppable. This wasn’t just my fight anymore. It was ours.

And then, the message came.

Dorian’s management reached out with a formal proposal. They wanted The Phoenix to collaborate with him and Seraphina for an international tour.

I looked at Cassian and we smiled at once 

I agreed.

Not because I wanted their stage. Not because I needed their fame. But because revenge sometimes demands we dance to the beats of fools.

The day of the meeting, I walked into the private lounge where Dorian waited, looking like an excited puppy, Seraphina gleaming at his side. Their laughter stilled when I entered, the mask hiding my face as always.

He stood, extending a hand. “The Phoenix. Finally, we meet.”

I tilted my head, fingers brushing the mask. Slowly, deliberately, I removed it.

Gasps filled the room. Dorian’s face went pale, Seraphina’s eyes widened in horror.

I smiled, my voice steady and razor-sharp.

“Hello, Dorian, Hello Seraphina. We meet again."