Chapter 196: I am never leaving my wife

Viktor squared his shoulders. "I think I wasn’t clear enough last time," he said, his voice steady despite everything screaming inside him to be otherwise.

"I am never leaving my wife." He let his gaze flick briefly to Aliya. "And as for your daughter, I don’t even want her as a sex slave. She’s not even qualified for that."

The room went dead silent.

Aliya’s face twisted, fury flooding her cheeks red. Across the room, Carina pressed her lips together, something almost like amusement flickering behind her carefully neutral expression.

She liked that he had the nerve to say it. Not many men did, not to this man’s face, not in this room.

The don, to his credit, barely reacted at all. Men like Viktor didn’t respond well to threats, empty ones, at least. The don understood that better than most. In his world, you didn’t warn people what you were about to do. You simply did it, and let the aftermath speak for you.

Slowly, he rose from his chair, still smiling faintly, unbothered. "So why have you come here?" he asked. "To insult me and my daughter?"

"No," Viktor said. "Far from it. You’re a businessman. I want to buy the vaccine. AW01." He held the don’s gaze, unflinching. "Name your price."

The don let out a low laugh, shaking his head slightly, as though Viktor had just told him a rather good joke.

Carina’s composure cracked, just slightly, her eyes widening as she stared at Viktor. That information was buried deep, locked behind layers of security and silence.

No one outside the don’s inner circle was supposed to know he had the vaccine, let alone that he’d engineered the outbreak himself. The whole plan depended on secrecy; the longer the panic spread unchecked, the more desperate the world became, the higher the price they could demand once they finally revealed the cure.

"What are you talking about?" the don said, his voice smooth, giving nothing away.

"Let’s not circle around it," Viktor said. "I’ve known for a long time. Long before you even started putting this plan together. I know you’re responsible for the spread of the virus. And I know you have the vaccine." He held the don’s gaze steady. "So I’m asking you. Name your price."

For a moment, the don simply studied him, something calculating behind his eyes. Then, slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"Well," he said. "I admire your boldness. You don’t disappoint. I’ve heard quite the rumors about you." He tilted his head slightly.

"But let’s assume, hypothetically, that I do have this vaccine. What makes you think I’d sell it to you?" His smile sharpened. "Or that you could even afford it?"

"It’s money you want," Viktor said, "and I have money. The government has already placed a good amount of money on this. So name your price."

"Sit," Don Konstantin said, his voice calm, almost pleasant, as he settled back into his chair.

Aliya, still simmering from Viktor’s earlier remark, opened her mouth to protest.

"Leave us, princess," the don said, not even glancing her way. "We need to talk. Man to man."

Aliya’s frown deepened, but she said nothing more. She turned and walked out, heels striking sharp against the marble floor. The three guards filed out behind her, and Carina followed last, casting one final, unreadable glance back at Viktor before the door clicked shut.

"What do you want to talk about?" Viktor asked the moment they were alone.

The don gestured toward a small table near the window, where an ornate chess set sat waiting, the pieces already arranged, black and white, polished stone catching the afternoon light.

"Play a game of chess with me," he said.

Viktor’s jaw tightened slightly. He hadn’t come here for games. He’d come for the vaccine, for a price, for a way out of this that didn’t end in more graves. But chess, he knew, was rarely just chess.

A man revealed things across a board he’d never say out loud his patience, or lack of it. Whether he thought three moves ahead or only one. Whether he panicked when cornered or grew calm.

Maybe, Viktor thought, watching the don settle into his seat with unhurried confidence, this was exactly how he intended to size him up. And maybe, if Viktor played carefully enough, he could learn just as much in return.

He crossed the room, pulled out the chair across from the don, and began setting the pieces into place.

The game began.

—

Back at the lab, progress was slow but steady. Sienna and the team of researchers had come close, closer than they’d ever been, to something stable.

But every version still fell short something missing, some final piece that kept turning the vaccine potent enough to work, only to twist into something that hurt the very people it was meant to save. The few volunteers who’d tried it so far were suffering complications worse than the virus itself. It was progress, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

Sienna took a short break, like she did every few hours, to check on Aria.

What she found when she reached the observation window made her blood run cold.

Aria was seizing, her body shaking violently against the hospital bed, machines around her screaming warnings in short, frantic beeps.

Her heart was failing. The nurses stood frozen just outside the isolation door, too afraid to enter without full protective gear, waiting on a doctor who wasn’t going to arrive in time.

Sienna didn’t stop to think. She didn’t have time to suit up properly, no time to layer on the protective gear that protocol demanded.

She yanked the door open despite the nurses’ panicked shouts behind her and rushed inside, climbing onto the bed.

She began CPR immediately, both hands pressed hard against Aria’s chest, counting under her breath, pumping in a steady, desperate rhythm.

"Come on, Aria," she cried, tears streaking down her face. "Don’t give up on me, girl. You don’t get to give up on me."