Chapter 104: Let bygones be bygones

Aliya’s fury spiked instantly. "Wedding plans?" she demanded. "You must have seen that video. He proposed to Sienna, not me."

"You misunderstand," Marcus said, his voice steady, carefully rehearsed.

"That was for show. His way of keeping her calm, keeping her from causing a scene at your wedding. You’re the one he actually plans to marry. Sienna is nothing more than a distraction. A plaything, meant to be put in her proper place once everything is settled." He paused, letting that settle in fully.

"In fact, he asked me to bring you to the mansion, to try on your wedding dress."

Aliya’s entire demeanor shifted instantly, her fury melting away into bright, eager excitement. "Really?" she said, practically bouncing where she stood.

"Of course," Marcus said, keeping his expression carefully neutral. "Viktor takes your father very seriously."

"Great," Aliya said, already moving toward the door. "Let’s see what you’ve brought."

She spent the next several minutes going over every last detail Marcus presented her, examining fabric swatches and dress sketches with meticulous, exhausting thoroughness, firing off questions and demands one after another.

Marcus answered each one patiently, though the effort of maintaining his calm, agreeable expression clearly cost him something with every passing minute.

This was, after all, simply another part of the larger plan Viktor had set into motion, buying time, keeping the Capris distracted and complacent while the real strategy unfolded elsewhere, out of sight.

"Now," Aliya said finally, practically glowing with satisfaction, "let’s go try on my wedding dress. I cannot wait to see the look on that bitch’s face when she finally realizes Viktor is marrying me, and that she’ll only ever be his toy." Her smile sharpened, something colder and crueler settling behind it.

"Actually, I think I’ll make her the entire clan’s toy instead. Let everyone see exactly what she really is."

Don Capri watched his daughter with obvious pride, his earlier fury softening into something warmer, more satisfied.

"Congratulations, my precious daughter," he said, rising from behind his desk to embrace her briefly.

"I’ll prepare a wonderful surprise for your wedding."

Even as he said it, his mind had already moved on, calculating quietly behind his composed expression.

He would need someone new to handle his trading, someone with sharper instincts than whoever had let a hundred million dollars slip through their fingers overnight. Someone experienced enough to claw back what had been lost, and quickly, before his debtors ran out of patience entirely.

He had no idea, watching his daughter sweep out of the room in a happy, oblivious daze, just how carefully, and how completely, both of them were still being played.

Sienna spent the rest of the morning up in her room, still turning over the strange, easy warmth of breakfast with Viktor, when she heard the distant sound of a car pulling into the driveway below.

She didn’t bother getting up to check. There were guards enough, and staff enough, that the house rarely required her attention for something as ordinary as an arriving car.

It was the knock at her bedroom door a while later that finally pulled her attention away from her laptop.

She opened it to find Aliya and Elena standing in the hallway, both of them wearing polished, pleasant smiles that immediately set every instinct in Sienna on high alert.

"Well, congratulations on your wedding," Elena said smoothly, holding out a small, elegantly wrapped box. "I brought you a gift. Since you’re family now, I thought it was time I was nice to you."

Aliya’s smile widened beside her, the kind of smile Sienna had learned, through painful experience, usually meant something entirely different was happening underneath the surface.

Sienna took the box slowly, saying nothing at first, studying both of their faces carefully. Neither of them had mentioned exposing the fake DNA results, not one word about Viktor’s supposed adoption, not the smallest hint of the threat Aliya had delivered so confidently just days before in that powder room.

That silence told Sienna everything she needed to know. Viktor was already several moves ahead in whatever game he was playing here, and these two clearly had no idea yet just how badly they’d already lost ground.

She watched their bright, satisfied smiles a moment longer, expecting, by all logic, that women who had just watched their carefully laid blackmail scheme apparently fail should look anything but pleased. And yet here they stood, practically glowing with confidence.

"What are you two doing here?" Sienna asked finally, setting the unopened gift down on a nearby table. "The last I checked, this is the Kessler mansion, not..."

"Be nice, Aliya," Elena cut in smoothly before she could finish whatever she’d been about to say, though the correction was clearly more about tone than substance.

"What she means," Elena continued, turning back to Sienna with practiced warmth, "is that we’re family now. Of course we’d come to wish you well on your wedding."

She’s much better at hiding her real intentions than you are, Sienna thought privately, watching Elena’s carefully composed expression, though she kept the observation to herself.

"Okay," Sienna said instead, offering nothing more than a small, neutral nod. "Thank you."

"You’re welcome," Elena said, her smile never wavering. "We’re family now. Let bygones be bygones."

"We’d be happy to help you choose a wedding dress," Aliya added, practically vibrating with poorly concealed eagerness.

"A wedding dress," Sienna repeated slowly. "I don’t think I’ll actually be wearing one."

For one brief, satisfying second, Aliya’s carefully maintained composure cracked, a small, involuntary laugh nearly slipping out before she caught herself.

Sienna could practically see the thought forming behind her eyes, delighted and smug all at once, so it was all true after all. The wedding was set for four days from now, and here was Sienna, apparently having not even bothered trying on a dress yet, which, to Aliya’s clearly biased reasoning, could only mean one thing. That she wasn’t truly the intended bride at all.

Sienna watched the excitement bloom across Aliya’s face and said nothing to correct it, letting her believe whatever comforting lie she needed to believe.

"Well," Aliya said, practically glowing now, "we should get going. Lots to prepare."

"Take care, dear," Elena added, and the two of them swept out of the room together, already whispering excitedly to each other the moment they thought they were out of earshot.