Chapter 203: Sienna is Katalia

CARINA KOTHESS. Sienna searched. Nothing useful. She tried again. Different spellings. Different databases. Nothing. Sienna frowned.

"Who are you, Carina?" She said it quietly, almost to herself. Her fingers continued moving. At the same time, Carina was making her way through the building’s exit.

She knew where the cameras were. She had known from the moment she entered. One camera above the corridor. Another near the elevator.

Two outside the main entrance. She kept her head down. When she reached the first camera, she turned slightly. The hood and protective mask hid most of her face.

At the second camera, she did the same.

By the time she reached the exit, she had managed to keep herself almost completely out of view.

Almost. Back inside the laboratory, Sienna was already pulling up the security feeds. Frame by frame. Corridor by corridor. She watched Carina leave.

"Come on..." The first recording showed nothing. Half a face. The second was worse. A reflection in the glass.

The third caught Carina from behind. Sienna rewound it. Again. Nothing. "You’re good." She leaned closer to the screen. Carina had clearly known what she was doing.

But Sienna wasn’t looking for a perfect image anymore. She was looking for one mistake. She opened another camera. Then another. She went farther down the corridor. The loading area. The side entrance. The parking lot. Nothing.

Then..Sienna stopped. She rewound the footage. There. At the far end of the building. Carina had turned her head. It lasted less than a second. Her hand was raised toward her face, covering part of it.

The image was blurry. Half her face was hidden. But it was enough. Sienna’s lips curved slightly.

"Got you." She froze the frame. Then she began cleaning up the image. Sharpening what she could. Adjusting the contrast. Cross-referencing the available records.

It didn’t take long. Sienna was good at this. Very good. Within minutes, a profile began appearing on her screen. Name. Photograph. Background. Education. Travel history.

Every piece of information the system could pull. Sienna sat back slowly. Her earlier exhaustion had disappeared. She stared at the photograph. For the first time, she could see Carina’s face clearly and knew she worked with Don Konstantin Ivanou.

—

The road was beginning to lighten.

It wasn’t morning yet, but the darkness had started to thin at the edges, the black sky slowly giving way to a dull gray.

Viktor was still standing beside the damaged car.

The front end was crushed badly enough that there was no point trying to move it. One of the headlights had gone out completely. The other flickered every few seconds, throwing a weak beam across the empty road.

Marcus stood a few feet away, restless. "What are we going to do now?" Viktor said nothing. Marcus rubbed a hand over his face.

"We need Aliya’s blood." That got Viktor’s attention. Marcus continued, thinking aloud. "We could try to get her ourselves, but..." He hesitated.

"Sweet-talking her isn’t going to work this time." Viktor’s jaw tightened. He knew that. And he wasn’t even considering it.

Aliya had already seen through too much. There would be no charming smile, no carefully chosen words, no pretending he was there for anything other than what he needed. If they went after her, she would know exactly why. Marcus sighed.

"Then there’s Don Konstatin." Viktor’s eyes narrowed.

"We could go to him directly," Marcus continued. "Demand the vaccine. Maybe he’d..." Viktor wasn’t listening anymore. His phone vibrated.

The sound was small. But in the quiet of the road, it seemed strangely loud. He pulled it from his pocket. One new message. The number wasn’t saved. But Viktor recognized it immediately.

The same number. The same person who had sent him information about the blood samples. His thumb hovered over the screen for a moment before he opened the message.

Come alone. I have something you need to see. Below it was an address. Viktor read it twice. Marcus noticed the change in his face. "Boss?" Viktor slipped the phone back into his pocket.

The first faint line of sunlight appeared beyond the buildings. They had been out here all night. He reached beneath his jacket and pulled out his handgun.

He checked the magazine, making sure he had enough ammunition, then secured it beneath his jacket again.

Marcus stared at him. "Where are you going?"

"Go back to the hospital." Viktor started walking. Marcus followed him a few steps. "What? Why?"

"Check on Sienna."

"Boss, what is going on?"

"I’ll be back soon." Viktor didn’t slow down. Marcus stood there, watching him disappear toward the road.

"Viktor!" He called after him. Viktor didn’t turn. The damaged car remained behind them, sitting crookedly at the side of the road, its hood bent and its windshield cracked.

Marcus looked at it. Then at Viktor’s retreating figure. Something was clearly happening. Something Viktor hadn’t told him.

But there was no point shouting after him again. A car appeared in the distance. Viktor stepped toward the road and raised his hand.

The driver slowed. A few moments later, Viktor opened the passenger door and climbed inside. He gave the driver the address from the message.

Then he looked out through the window as the car pulled away. The city was waking up around him. Shops were still closed. Streetlights were beginning to fade beneath the growing morning light.

People would soon be filling the roads. But Viktor barely noticed any of it. His mind was already somewhere else. Whoever had sent that message knew about the blood samples.

And now they wanted to meet him. Alone. Viktor rested his hand against the inside of his jacket, feeling the shape of the gun beneath it.

The car dropped Viktor a few streets away from the address. He got out and looked around. The place was quiet.

An old industrial building stood at the end of the road, its windows dark and its doors shut. There was barely any traffic this early in the morning.

Viktor’s hand remained beneath his jacket. He walked inside. "Who are you?" His voice echoed through the empty space.

"What do you want?" No answer. Viktor’s eyes moved across the room.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He hated walking into situations blind. But he had come anyway.

The first information this person had given him had almost worked in his favor. They had known about the blood samples before he did.

That was enough to make Viktor listen. Footsteps sounded from somewhere ahead.

A woman stepped out of the shadows. Viktor’s hand tightened around the gun beneath his jacket.

Then she stopped. He recognized her. His eyes narrowed. "You."

Carina looked at him calmly. "Yes. Me." Viktor studied her.

"What do you want?"

"I want to make a deal with you." For the first time, Viktor almost laughed.

"A deal?"

"Yes."

"I’m not doing business with you." He took a step closer. "Unless this is about the vaccine, we’re wasting our time." Carina’s expression barely changed.

"If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about the vaccine." Viktor’s eyes hardened. "Then get to the point." Carina reached into her coat.

Viktor immediately pulled his gun. "Slowly." She stopped. "I’m not here to hurt you."

"Then show me what you came here to show me." Carina carefully pulled out a photograph. She held it toward him.

Viktor kept the gun in one hand and took the photograph with the other. He looked down. His expression changed. It was an old photograph.

A woman stood in it. Viktor stared at her face. Then at Carina. Then back at the photograph. "Why are you showing me a picture of my wife?"

His voice had lost some of its sharpness. He turned the photograph over. Nothing. He looked at it again.

There was something about the woman in the picture. Something familiar. Carina watched him carefully. "That’s the Don’s wife."

Viktor’s eyes lifted. "What?"

"Your wife’s mother." He stared at her. Carina took a breath. "Sienna is Katalia." The words landed heavily. "The Don’s missing daughter."

Viktor didn’t move. For several seconds, he simply stood there with the photograph in his hand, then he looked at the woman’s face again.

He saw it now. The resemblance. The eyes. The shape of Sienna’s face. The same quiet softness around her mouth. It was there.

He had known Sienna for long enough to recognize the details without even trying. His little librarian. His wife. His Sienna the Don’s daughter.

Viktor’s mind struggled to catch up with what Carina had just told him. Then another thought came. The laboratory.

Sienna’s blood. The strange results. The cure. His chest loosened slightly.

If Sienna really carried the same protection they had discovered in her blood, then perhaps she was going to be okay. For the first time in hours, Viktor felt a small piece of relief.

Then the shock returned. His wife wasn’t simply connected to Don Konstantin. She was his missing daughter. Viktor slowly lowered the gun.

"Why are you telling me this?" Carina’s expression became serious.

"What do you want from me?" She looked at the photograph in his hand.

"Before anything else, you need to understand something."

Viktor waited. "It would be better if the Don never found out." His brows drew together.

"Why?"