Her phone vibrated again.
Riyana stiffened. For a second, she didn’t want to look at it. Her fingers felt cold as she slowly picked it up. A different number flashed on the screen, but deep down, she already knew who it was.
A message appeared.
“Ri, it’s your dad. I miss my daughter. I’m sending you the location. Let’s meet. I hope you’ll come to see your daddy.”
Her breath caught.
Riyana stared at the screen, her heart pounding so hard it hurt. The words were simple, almost gentle, yet every line carried a sharp warning she couldn’t ignore. The way he called her “my daughter.” The way he assumed she would come. Not asked. Assumed.
Her hands trembled as she locked the phone.
“So this is how it starts again,” she whispered to herself.
She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. Why now? After so many years of silence. After she had finally built a life that felt calm, stable, almost safe. He had been nothing but a shadow in her past, something she forced herself not to think about.
Her mother had remarried. She was happy. She had moved on. So why couldn’t he do the same?
Riyana pressed her fingers to her temples. She knew it the moment she read the message. She didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t go, he would find another way.
That thought made her stomach twist.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. She sat in front of her laptop, staring at numbers and reports without seeing any of them. Words on the screen lost their meaning. Her mind kept drifting back to that message, to that familiar fear creeping up her spine.
“Focus,” she told herself quietly. “Just focus.”
But she couldn’t.
After lunch, she picked up her phone and called Lennox.
“Hey,” he answered, sounding surprised. “Everything okay?”
Riyana swallowed. “I won’t be able to make it today.”
There was a brief pause. “Is something wrong?”
“I just… have some personal work,” she said carefully. “I’ll explain later.”
“Alright,” Lennox replied, his voice gentle. “Take care.”
She ended the call and stared at her phone for a long moment.
By the time she left the office, the sun was already sinking low in the sky. The city lights were starting to come alive as she followed the location he had sent. Her grip tightened around her bag as the car slowed down in front of a restaurant.
She let out a small, bitter laugh. Of course. Public place. Safe. Civilized. Just like him to choose somewhere people would never guess the truth.
Riyana stepped out and paused for a moment, breathing in deeply.
“You can do this,” she told herself. “You’re not that scared girl anymore.”
“You asked me to,” she replied flatly.
He chuckled softly, as if she had said something amusing. “You’re still the same. Straight to the point.”
She didn’t smile back. “What do you want?”
That seemed to catch him off guard, if only slightly. His brows knit together, and he let out a sigh. “Is that how you talk to your father now?”
Riyana clenched her jaw. “We haven’t talked in years. Don’t pretend we have that kind of relationship.”
He leaned back in his chair, studying her face carefully, as if trying to read every change time had carved into her. “You’ve grown up well,” he said slowly. “Beautiful. Confident.”
Her fingers curled under the table. “Say what you need to say.”
Silence stretched between them. The waiter came, asked for orders. Riyana ordered water. He ordered tea, just like he used to.
That small detail made her heart sink.
When the waiter left, he leaned forward, lowering his voice. “I missed you.”
Riyana laughed quietly, without humor. “You disappeared for twenty years and now you suddenly come saying you miss me. just tell me what you want from me?" the moment she saw him she knows he wasn't there because he missed her but he wants something else.
His expression hardened for a brief moment, then softened again. “Things are complicated"
"so?" she said.

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