Chapter 160: Auction

Sienna’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. Who is this woman? Viktor had said she was engaged to him. A marriage arrangement. A daughter of some powerful man, and somehow the name Don Konstantin Ivanov sounded like a name she had heard before.

There were too many gaps in the story. And Sienna hated gaps. She began searching. One file became three. Three became twelve.

Names. Companies. Family connections. Old photographs. Financial records. Private correspondence. Sienna moved through them quickly, opening one window after another until her screen was crowded with information.

"Come on..." Her fingers flew across the keyboard. She wasn’t looking for gossip. She wanted the original documents. The people behind the names. Most importantly, she wanted to know exactly what Viktor’s father had once agreed to.

Minutes could have passed. Sienna barely noticed. Then she stopped. Her eyes narrowed. An encrypted auction had just opened.

Not the kind of auction ordinary people ever heard about. The invitation alone was hidden behind layers of security, and the participants were identified by aliases rather than names.

Sienna leaned closer. Interesting. She accessed the available information. There it was. A list of bidders. A description of the project being auctioned.

And buried beneath it all was something much more valuable than whatever they were selling. Access. Information. Connections.

The winner would be working with someone much higher up the chain. Someone who could potentially lead her closer to what she was looking for.

Sienna’s lips curved. "Well..." She cracked her knuckles. "Let’s see what you’ve got."

She entered the auction with the name Invisible Shadow. No trace that could easily be followed back to her. Just a shadow.

An invisible bidder slipping quietly into a room where everyone thought they knew who belonged there. The first bid appeared. Sienna waited. Another bidder raised it. She raised hers.

The room went silent. On the other side of the hidden network, several people stopped what they were doing. A new identity had appeared. One of the administrators pulled up the bidder’s information.

Nothing. No location. No real name. No usable history. Only a signature. A name. The room changed. Someone whispered it. Another person immediately leaned closer to the screen. They knew that name.

Everyone who had spent enough time in the darker corners of the internet knew it. The hacker. The ghost. The one who had slipped through systems that had taken governments millions to secure. But nobody knew why he was there.

"Who is he bidding against?" one of them asked. "Everyone." The answer came quietly. Another bid appeared. Sienna smiled. She raised it again.

The people watching from the other side stared at the screen. For the first time that night, they weren’t wondering who would win the auction. They were wondering what the hell this particular hacker wanted.

And why she had suddenly decided to come looking for them.

—-

Across the mansion, the atmosphere in Viktor’s study was completely different. The room was dim except for the desk lamp throwing a pool of light across several folders and reports.

Viktor sat behind his desk, one hand resting against his temple while Marcus stood opposite him.

"Please tell me you heard from Rocky." Viktor’s voice was low. "Does he have anything?" Marcus nodded. "Yes, Boss." He hesitated. Viktor looked up.

"Well?" Marcus exhaled. "He found something." Viktor leaned back.

"And?"

"It’s bigger than we imagined." That got Viktor’s full attention. Marcus stepped closer to the desk and placed the report in front of him. "Rocky confirmed that he doesn’t just control the Middle East."

Viktor’s eyes moved over the first page. "He’s spent the last twenty years building control over the southern shipping routes too." Viktor’s expression tightened.

"Practically everything moving through those waters falls under his influence." Marcus shook his head slowly. "He has people everywhere. Ports. Shipping companies. Customs officials. Politicians."

He paused. "It’s like he’s built his own kingdom." Viktor said nothing. "Rocky says the worst part is that he personally chose most of the heads of state in the region. He helped put them where they are."

Marcus lowered his voice. "They owe their positions to him." The room fell silent. Marcus looked at Viktor. "Boss, there’s no way we can fight against that kind of power." Viktor’s eyes remained on the report.

"We’re just one of twelve."

"Twelve?"

"Power blocs."

Marcus nodded.

"And he’s the strongest eleven." Viktor slowly closed the folder. "I can already tell you’re about to make a big fuss about this." Marcus frowned. "I’m only telling you what Rocky found."

"I know." Viktor leaned back in his chair.

"I already knew the man had immense power." He tapped his fingers against the desk. "I just didn’t realize how much." Marcus studied him. There was no panic in Viktor’s face.

That almost worried him more. "And his daughter?" Viktor’s question came suddenly. Marcus’s expression changed. "Rocky couldn’t find anything."

"Nothing?"

"He couldn’t get into the system."

"Why?"

"He was afraid he’d be traced." Marcus pulled out another file. "So we have no confirmation whether she’s alive, dead, or simply hasn’t been found." Viktor’s jaw tightened.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." Marcus hesitated. "She could be with her father right now." Viktor looked up. Marcus gave a small shrug. "Maybe she’s just waiting for the perfect moment to come looking for her fiancé." He meant it as a joke.

It wasn’t funny. Not judging by the way Viktor’s expression changed. Marcus immediately regretted opening his mouth. Viktor stared at him. "My apologies, Boss."

Viktor said nothing. He looked toward the dark window. His fiancé. A woman he had never met. A woman who was supposedly somewhere in the world, hidden well enough that even Rocky couldn’t find her.

And now, with every new piece of information, Viktor couldn’t shake the feeling that someone else was already looking for her. Someone who might reach her before he did. His fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the desk.

"Find her." Marcus nodded. "We will."

"No." Viktor’s eyes returned to him. "Don’t tell me we’ll find her." His voice was quiet. "Find her." Marcus straightened. "Yes, Boss." Viktor turned back to the reports. But his eyes weren’t reading anymore.

For the first time that night, something else occupied his mind. Where was the woman everyone seemed determined to find? And why did he suddenly have the feeling that she was much closer than any of them realized?