Chapter 159: Promise

The smell hit her first. Damp stone. Metal. Something sharp underneath it that she couldn’t quite identify. Sienna stopped. Her body went rigid. Viktor glanced back.

"You can still turn around." She swallowed. "No." But her voice wasn’t as steady as it had been upstairs. He opened the door wider. Inside, Marcel was hanging upside down, his wrists secured above him.

The moment he saw Viktor, panic flashed across his face.

"Viktor!" His voice cracked. "Please! I’ve learned my lesson!" He struggled against the restraints. "Please bring me down!" Sienna didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. Her eyes moved around the room instead.

The wall had all kinds of weapons, and the other side of it had a few dark stains and marks that had been scrubbed away so many times they had become part of the stone.

Chains hung from the ceiling. Hooks. A wooden chair pushed against one wall. And then she noticed the writing.

Names. Dates. Some scratched deeply into the stone. Others written hurriedly across the wall. Sienna’s breathing changed. She could almost hear them. The screams. The pleading. The desperate voices begging someone to stop.

Her hand flew to her chest. Viktor noticed immediately.

"Sienna?" She didn’t answer. She stared at the wall. Her mind filled in the rest. She had spent so much time imagining what Viktor’s world looked like. Now she was standing inside it.

And suddenly, she understood why he’d kept her away. Her knees weakened. Viktor caught her elbow. "Are you okay?" She nodded quickly.

"Yes."

"You’re pale."

"I’m fine." She wasn’t. And Viktor knew it. He looked toward Marcel. Then back at her.

"I haven’t even started yet, brother." Marcel froze. "You think being hung up there is bad?" Viktor’s voice remained frighteningly calm. "Imagine when the real punishment begins." Marcel’s face drained of color.

"What are you going to do to me?" His eyes darted toward the walls. He had seen them too.

The names. The dates. The warnings. He knew he’d made a mistake. A very serious one. Sienna finally looked at him. One glance. That was enough. She immediately looked away.

"Let’s go," she whispered. Viktor studied her.

"Little bird,"

"Please." He didn’t argue. He slipped his arm around her and guided her back toward the door. As they stepped into the corridor, Sienna glanced over her shoulder. Marcel was still struggling.

"Viktor."

"Yes?"

"Whatever you plan to do..." She hesitated.

"Don’t kill him." Viktor looked down at her.

"I won’t." He meant it. He had never intended to kill Marcel. Death was too quick. Marcel had earned something slower. Something that would make every hour feel like a consequence. But Viktor didn’t tell Sienna that.

He simply squeezed her hand. "Come on." They walked back toward the mansion. Neither spoke. By the time they reached their bedroom, Sienna felt exhausted. Viktor closed the door behind them. He turned toward her.

"Well?" Sienna immediately shook her head. "No."

"No?" She pulled off her jacket and dropped it over the chair.

"No offense, but I think I’m good." Viktor raised an eyebrow. "You don’t want to see the manufacturing site?"

"Absolutely not." He almost smiled. Sienna walked toward the bed. "I’ll stay out of how you punish people." She turned back to him. "As long as you don’t kill them."

Viktor said nothing. "And don’t abuse them." Her voice softened. "She may be evil, Viktor. Marcel may be terrible. They may deserve punishment for what they’ve done." She looked down.

"But taking advantage of someone when they’re helpless isn’t right." Viktor watched her carefully. There was no judgment in his expression. Only something quieter.

He could see the images running through her mind. The things she’d seen in movies. The horror she’d imagined when she’d heard that phone call. She had created her own version of his world. And somehow, it was still cleaner than the truth.

Because in Viktor’s world, people didn’t always need to be forced. Sometimes hunger did the work. Take away comfort. Take away food. Take away sleep. Take away the illusion that someone was coming to save you. Eventually, survival took over.

And when survival took over, people became willing to do things they had sworn they never would. That was human nature. Viktor knew it intimately. He would never tell Sienna. She didn’t need those details. He smiled gently.

"Of course." Sienna studied him suspiciously. "You promise?"

"I promise." Satisfied, she climbed onto the bed. The strength seemed to leave her the moment her head touched the pillow. Viktor sat beside her. "You’ve had enough excitement for one night."

"I agree." He pulled the blanket over her. Sienna’s eyes were already closing. Viktor watched her for a moment. The woman beside him had just stepped into his world and had immediately wanted to walk back out.

He couldn’t blame her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Sleep, little bird." Sienna made a small sound beneath the blanket. "Don’t call me that." A faint smile touched his lips.

"Sleep." This time, she didn’t argue. "I’m afraid if I stay here tonight, you won’t get any rest." Viktor leaned over Sienna, his fingers brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face.

"I’ll probably keep you awake, and you need to sleep." Sienna looked at him through half-lowered lashes. "I have some work to finish in the study anyway." He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"So try to get some rest, okay?"

"Okay." Sienna nodded obediently. Too obediently. Viktor didn’t notice. Or perhaps he did and simply chose not to question it. He gave her one last look before walking toward the door. "Goodnight, little bird."

"Goodnight." The door clicked shut. Sienna waited. One second. Two. Three. She listened. His footsteps moved farther down the hallway. Only when she was certain he was gone did her eyes open fully.

The exhaustion disappeared from her face. She sat up. She slipped out of bed. There was something she needed to know. And she wasn’t going to sleep until she knew it.

Sienna crossed the room and went straight to her computer setup. The monitors came alive one after another, filling the dark room with a cold glow. She pulled her chair closer.