Chapter 161: A new global laboratory

"Well, there is a way to find out." Marcus’s voice cut through the silence. Viktor looked up.

"The auction."

"What auction?"

"There’s one happening on the dark web." Marcus pulled out his phone and brought up the information Rocky had managed to gather.

"It’s invitation-only. Mobsters, private investors, criminal organizations. People with enough money to buy things ordinary governments don’t even know exist." Viktor’s eyes narrowed.

"What are they selling?"

"A project. Among other things." Marcus placed the phone on the desk. "A new global laboratory." Viktor’s expression hardened.

"For vaccines." Marcus nodded. "The vaccine was created almost twenty years ago, but the research was lost. Everyone involved in developing it is dead now." Viktor stared at the screen.

"The lab was destroyed."

"Burned to the ground."

"I remember." His voice was quiet. "The entire facility was destroyed because they were afraid the virus would escape." Marcus nodded.

"Exactly." Viktor leaned back. He already knew what this was about. He simply needed confirmation. "How do we get in?"

Marcus smiled. "Already working on it."

"Enter the auction."

"Yes, Boss." Marcus turned toward the computer. They didn’t use Viktor’s name. They couldn’t.

Instead, they pulled the identity of a dead mafia boss from an old network and built an entirely new profile around him. A name. A history. A financial trail. Everything needed to make the dead man look very much alive.

The auction’s security system tested them. Then tested them again. Marcus waited. A few seconds later, the screen changed.

VERIFIED.

Viktor’s eyes narrowed. "Get me in." Marcus clicked. The auction opened. The numbers on the screen immediately caught Viktor’s attention.

$1,000,000,000. "One billion already?" Marcus muttered. Viktor didn’t answer. The bidding was moving quickly. A private consortium from Europe raised the offer. Another entity from Asia followed. A shipping empire entered.

Then a pharmaceutical company with no public connection to the criminal world. Viktor placed his first bid. The number jumped. Someone immediately countered. He raised again. Another bidder followed. Marcus watched the screen.

"This is going to get expensive."

"I didn’t ask how expensive." Viktor’s gaze remained fixed on the auction. "I asked who wants it." Marcus began tracing the bidders.

Across the mansion, only three rooms away, Sienna sat curled up in front of her own screens. Her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard. She had no idea Viktor was participating in the same auction.

Her eyes narrowed when the bid suddenly jumped. Someone had entered with serious money.

"Interesting." She increased her bid. Across the mansion, Viktor saw the number change. He paused. Marcus looked over.

"Someone just raised us." Viktor stared at the bidder’s anonymous identifier. Something about it felt familiar. He couldn’t explain why.

He raised again.

Three rooms away, Sienna smiled at her screen. "Nice try." She raised the bid. Viktor’s eyes narrowed. Again. Sienna raised. Again.

Viktor raised. Marcus slowly looked at his boss.

"Boss..."

"What?"

"You’re bidding against someone very determined." Viktor leaned back. A faint smile appeared.

"So am I." Neither man knew who was sitting on the other side of the auction. Neither knew they were competing against the person sleeping under the same roof.

And neither did Viktor have any idea that the mysterious bidder he was trying to identify was his own wife. His little librarian. Sitting barefoot in a closet three rooms away.

Her computer screens glowing in the darkness as she quietly emptied millions of dollars into a battle neither of them intended to lose.

"What do we do, Boss?" Marcus stared at the screen. The bidding had climbed again. "It’s almost ninety million." He turned toward Viktor.

"If we keep going, this could become the most expensive piece of information we’ve ever bought." Viktor didn’t even look at him.

"Keep bidding." Marcus let out a breath. "You really don’t plan on working with your future father-in-law, do you?"

"Shut up." Viktor’s eyes remained on the screen. "And keep bidding." Marcus raised the offer. Viktor finally leaned back in his chair. "My father was working on this same project twenty years ago." Marcus stopped. Viktor’s voice became quieter.

"Maybe this is what will finally tell me what happened." He looked at the auction. "Why was the laboratory burned with people still inside?" Marcus said nothing.

"Why was my father attacked?" Viktor’s jaw tightened. "And why did the Don’s daughter disappear?" The questions had lived in his head for years. Pieces of a story no one had ever been able to complete. Now, suddenly, pieces were appearing.

The auction. The laboratory. The vaccine. The missing girl. His father’s unfinished work. They were too connected to be a coincidence.

"He’s either starting this because he wants to find his daughter," Viktor continued, "or he already found her, and he’s doing this for her." Marcus watched him carefully.

"Either way, I need to know." Viktor’s gaze hardened. "And I need to keep Sienna away from it." For a moment, his mind drifted away from the screen.

Sienna. He pictured her asleep in their bedroom. Curled beneath the blankets. Probably with one hand tucked beneath her cheek the way she sometimes slept. The thought softened something in his chest.

He pushed his chair back. "Make sure you don’t lose." Marcus blinked. "Where are you going?"

"I’ll check on Sienna." He was already walking toward the door. "I’ll be back." Marcus nodded. "Yes, Boss." Viktor left the study quietly.

The hallway was almost completely dark. He knew Sienna was a light sleeper. She could wake at the slightest sound. A door closing.

Footsteps. Even the change in the mattress when he entered the room. She always seemed to know when he was near. Sometimes she could recognize him before he even spoke. His stride.

She had once joked that she could identify him anywhere by the sound of his footsteps. Viktor didn’t intend to give her the chance tonight. He slowed his pace. One step. Then another.

His shoes barely touched the floor. He moved past the hallway without disturbing anything. When he reached their bedroom door, he paused.

His hand settled on the handle. He turned it slowly. The latch clicked. Viktor froze. Nothing. No movement from inside. He opened the door a fraction.