THE PHOENIX’S REVENGE
Chapter 39
She carried it to the kitchen, pulled out a butter knife, and slit the envelope edge clean. A single sheet slipped into her hand.
Typed. No header.
She read it aloud, just to make it real.
“Leave him again. This time, for good. Some ghosts are safer left buried. You survived once. Don’t gamble twice.‘
Her voice shook as she reached the end.
A closing line: “A friend from your past.”
Her legs carried her to the stool by the counter. She sat. Folded the letter. Unfolded it. Read it again.
A friend from your past.
A chill crept over her spine. The words weren’t just threatening. They were personal. They knew. About the past. About the reason she left. About the things she still couldn’t say out loud.
She stood abruptly and checked the windows. Nothing moved. Not outside. Not within.
Then she walked to the office, the one Magnus rarely used, where the security system fed to a small console screen.
She rewound the morning feed.
8:47 a.m. Nothing.
8:48 a flicker. A shape.
Someone. Too fast to see.
A coat. A hood. No face.
The figure placed the envelope with careful precision and then stepped out of frame.
Gone.
She stared at the screen.
It felt like her lungs wouldn’t expand. The pressure behind her eyes threatened to break.
She printed the clip. Saved it to a USB. Tucked it in her pocket.
Then she grabbed her bag and the letter.
She had one place to go.
1/3
12:08 Sun, Oct 12
Chapter 39
And only one person to confront.
Vivienne didn’t knock. She pushed open the office door like she belonged there, like the storm behind her wasn’t following every step the
Took
Magnus looked up. He was mid–call, Bluetooth in one ear, hand poised over a glass of scotch he hadn’t touched. His face was unreadable. Cold, composed, until his eyes narrowed when they landed on the paper in her hand.
She walked straight to the desk and tossed it down.
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak.
She stood with arms crossed, chest heaving. “Read it.”
He picked it up. Scanned it once. Twice. Then let out a breath. It’s not a surprise. Of recognition.
“You knew?” she demanded.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
He set the letter down. “This wasn’t me.”
“Oh, so it just magically appeared at your door?”
“Our door,” he corrected.
She stepped forward. “Don’t play semantics. Someone left that to warn me. Threaten me. And you don’t look shocked.”
“I’ve had threats left on my doorstep for years. This one’s just… more poetic.”
“This isn’t poetic. It’s a message. Someone wants me gone.”
He met her stare. “They always have.”
That stopped her.
She opened her bag and slammed down another paper. The old transfer slip.
Magnus didn’t even flinch.
She leaned in. “Who sent this?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“I never saw it until now.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
2/3
12:08 Sun, Oct 12
Chapter 39
“I didn’t take their money.”
He stood slowly. Walked around the desk.
“You disappeared, Vivienne. You didn’t just leave. You vanished. No forwarding address. No calls. No traces. Then, this shows up weeks later. Clean. Silent.”
“I never knew.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She stepped back, furious. “So what, you think I got paid to leave you? To walk away from everything?”
He threw the slip at her feet.
“Who bought your silence?”
She stared at the paper.
Her lips parted.
And then her knees buckled not from weakness, but from the weight of everything she never told him.
The room spun. And for the first time since she’d returned, Vivienne looked afraid.
“I need to sit,” she whispered.
Magnus reached out to steady her.
But she flinched.
And he froze.
She looked up at him.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
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