THE PHOENIX’S REVENGE
Chapter 29
The Mask Slips
The weight of silence between them felt unbearable. Ares Calloway stood by the grand window,
his dark silhouette outlined against the dimming sky. His hand rested on the edge of his cane,
but it did little to steady him. He’d once been so powerful, commanding a room with nothing
more than a glance, and now, here he was, a shell of the man he used to be.
Selene Laurent, her sharp eyes following his every movement, stood across the room, her
expression unreadable. The air between them crackled, charged with something deeper than
animosity something more personal. He could feel it, the shift in her, the hidden emotions that
were finally surfacing.
Ares turned from the window, his posture stiff, the faint tremor of his injured body evident,
though he fought to mask it. “Why are you still here?” he asked, his voice hoarse, but laced with
the same arrogance he’d once carried with ease.
Selene didn’t flinch. “You know why,” she replied coolly, her eyes narrowing slightly, a flicker of
something darker passing through them.
Ares took a step closer, his cane tapping against the floor with a sharp, rhythmic beat. “You think
you can save me?” he sneered, his lips curling in disdain. “I don’t need your help. Never did. Not
then, not now.”
Her gaze locked onto his, and for a moment, it felt like they were both standing on the edge of
something. Something they both knew would change everything.
“I wasn’t trying to save you,” she said, her voice lower now, more controlled than before. “I was
only trying to survive.”
His eyes narrowed, the words striking deeper than he expected. He hadn’t realized, hadn’t
thought about what she’d gone through after he discarded her, leaving her to pick up the
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Chapter 29
shattered pieces of her own life.
His gaze flickered briefly to her hand, which gripped the edge of the desk, fingers flexing with
tension. For a moment, it was as if he could see her past her struggles, her loneliness, and a
sense of guilt pricked at the edge of his conscience. But before he could confront it, he shoved it
away. This was not a moment for weakness.
“What is it you want from me?” His voice dropped an octave, harder now, a demand rather than
a question.
Selene’s jaw clenched her hands still at her sides. She took a step forward, and for the first
time in years, there was no fear in her. No hesitation. She had everything now, everything she
had worked so hard to rebuild.
“I want the truth,” she said.
Ares’s heart skipped a beat, and he fought to keep his expression neutral, though inside,
something sharp twisted. He knew where this was going.
“The truth?” he repeated, his voice tight. He couldn’t let her get too close. Couldn’t let her see
what he had buried deep inside. “What truth, Selene?”
Her lips pressed together, and for a moment, she simply looked at him really looked at him as if
seeing the broken man he had become. Then she asked the question he knew was coming.
“Do you remember what happened before the accident?” Her voice was almost a whisper, but it
cut through the air like a blade.
Ares’s breath caught in his throat, and his heart pounded in his chest. He’d been trying to forget.
Trying to bury that part of himself. That weakness, that raw emotion he had felt for her.
But Selene knew. She always knew.
The memories flooded back in an instant, a torrent of pain and regret. The soft touch of her
hand on his face, the way she used to look at him with that soft vulnerability, the trust she’d
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Chapter 29
placed in him. And he had ruined it. All of it.
He turned sharply, his back to her, trying to maintain control over the chaotic emotions
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