All Chapters of OWNED: The Debt Paid in Flesh: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The sunlight crept through the curtain like a thief, soft and slow. Riva blinked against it, muscles aching, skin bare beneath unfamiliar sheets. The bed beside her was empty. No trace of him. No words. No explanation. Just the echo of what he did to her. What she let him do.Her body ached in places she didn’t know could ache. Her thighs felt tender, her lips bruised. A scent lingered on her skin—his. Expensive. Sharp. Dangerous.She sat up slowly, the sheet dragging across her skin. And then she saw it—on the nightstand.A blank cheque. Signed. No amount.Just a signature in sharp, expensive ink.Ares Moretti.She stared at the name for a long second, her mouth dry. He hadn't said it. Not once. But he knew hers. Knew everything. And now he’d left her with a signature and silence.She stuffed the cheque into her bag, dressed wordlessly, and walked out like she hadn’t just been wrecked by a man whose last name alone could trigger headlines.At the hospital, the nurse at the front desk

The mansion looked darker at night.Not just in light—but in intention. Like every shadow was waiting for her to misstep, for her to fall.Riva stepped out of the car with quiet dread, her heels clicking against the stone steps as the door opened before she could even knock.Ares stood at the top of the stairs. No jacket. Shirt unbuttoned at the collar. Cufflinks undone. Veins along his forearms like art.“You’re late,” he said softly.“It’s been exactly two hours.”“I said not a second more.” He stepped aside. “You owe me now.”Her jaw tightened, but she walked past him.The dining hall wasn’t a hall. It was a stage—long glass table, candles flickering low, wine already poured. Two plates. Two chairs.She sat without being asked. Picked up the napkin and set it in her lap like she belonged there.Ares raised a brow but took the seat opposite her.Silence hummed between them.The steak was untouched. The salad ignored. Only the wine drained.“I have conditions,” she said after several