Chapter 237: But my husband says I do

"Why shouldn’t I be?" she said, turning to face him directly. "You spent all week talking about seniority, about rules, about how I don’t deserve this seat. Maybe I don’t." She let that admission sit there a moment, honest and unflinching.

"But my husband says I do. So I do." Her eyes hardened slightly. "And once I opened the books, I found that you are the very last people at this table who get to lecture me about rules."

"Even if there are problems with those accounts," Viktor’s uncle said, though his voice had lost most of its earlier weight, "that still doesn’t prove you have the right to,"

"Mr. Kessler senior," Sienna cut in, calm and precise, "three million dollars. And you still couldn’t manage to cover those minor issues at your own branch." She let the silence stretch a beat before finishing.

"You’re the last person at this table who gets to speak. As for whether I deserve this seat,"

She looked around the table, slow and deliberate, meeting every eye that had been so ready to challenge her an hour ago. No one said a word now.

"You all had plenty to say a minute ago," Sienna said. "So. Does anyone still object?"

Silence answered her, complete and total. Across the room, Aria’s grin had returned, wide and bright, and beside Sienna, Viktor’s mouth curved into a slow, satisfied smirk.

"Good," Sienna said.

She reached for the pen once more, drew the document toward her, and signed her name across the line.

The lawyer stepped forward and lifted the document carefully from the table, holding it at the edges the way a person handles something fragile and important all at once.

"Effective immediately," he read aloud, his voice clear and formal, "Mrs. Sienna Kessler and Mr. Viktor Kessler will jointly manage the Kessler Family Trust. They will hold equal final signing authority over family assets, major investments, trust expenditures, and all matters requiring final approval." He folded the papers neatly, tucked them beneath his arm, and left the room without another word, the door closing softly behind him.

Mr. Kessler senior’s jaw tightened. "Signing your name doesn’t mean everyone here accepts you," he said.

"When did I ever say I needed your approval?" Sienna said, unbothered, her eyes moving lazily around the table.

"Like me. Hate me. Respect me, or don’t. That’s your problem." Her voice sharpened slightly, cutting through the murmur that had begun rising among the men.

"But starting tonight, no one gets to spend Kessler money however they please. Anything we’ve already uncovered gets paid back. Any holes in the books get covered. And from now on, every investment, every expense, every transfer requiring trust approval goes through the proper process." She let her gaze settle, unhurried, on each face around the table in turn.

Beside her, Viktor watched her the whole time, something quiet and stunned settling behind his eyes. Was there anything this woman could not do? He found himself wondering, not for the first time, whether she was simply a genius born that way, or whether some part of her father’s blood, whatever that blood truly was, ran hard and cold through her veins too, something in her he still could not fully account for.

He remembered once, months ago, catching her flinch at the sight of guns, at a body left crumpled on the floor, her face gone pale and small, even fainted.

That memory had stayed lodged in him ever since, and from that moment on he had told himself he needed to protect her from all of it, shield her from every ugly corner of this world.

But watching her now, standing perfectly steady in front of a room full of men who would have gladly torn her apart an hour ago, something entirely different stirred in him instead, something he had not expected and could not quite name, though it burned low and unmistakable in his chest.

"Including you?" Lionel asked, his voice cutting sharp through the room.

The question yanked Viktor straight out of whatever quiet, dangerous thought had been building in him, back into the room, back to the table full of men who still wanted, more than anything, to see his wife fail.

"Of course," Sienna said, without a flicker of hesitation. "I took this seat to enforce the rules. Not to exempt myself from them."

Viktor’s mouth curved into a small, proud smile at that, watching her.

"You’d better remember what you said tonight," Ken muttered, low, though there was no real fight left behind it anymore.

"Don’t worry," Sienna said, rising from her chair, smoothing the front of her gown with one hand. "My memory has always been better than yours."

Viktor rose with her, falling into step at her side, and together they walked out of the room, leaving the men still sitting in stunned silence around the table behind them.

Aria caught up with them the moment they cleared the doorway, practically bouncing on her feet. "I thought I was going to be bored tonight," she said, "but that was awesome, girl. The look on their faces was priceless." She pressed a hand to her chest, laughing.

"So priceless, I want to drink to it." She glanced sideways, a teasing glint in her eye. "I’ll leave you two alone now. I can see my uncle is a little turned on by your performance in there." She kept talking as she walked, not slowing down for a single breath, her voice trailing off down the hall.

"Will you shut up," Viktor said, sharp, "and if you’re leaving, then leave."

"I’m leaving, I’m leaving," Aria called back, already halfway to the door.

"Please don’t drink too much," Sienna called after her.

"Don’t worry," Aria’s voice floated back from somewhere down the corridor, fading with each step, "Manuel will look after me."

Sienna shook her head, a small smile tugging at her mouth despite herself, and turned her attention back to Viktor as the two of them walked together out into the cool night air, toward the parking lot.

"How did I do in there?" she asked, glancing sideways at him.

"You were awesome," Viktor said, and he meant it, the words coming out lower and more genuine than his usual teasing tone.

"I couldn’t believe that was you standing there." He was quiet for a moment, then asked, "But why did you make me put the guns away?"

"Because Mr. Kessler senior was right about one thing," Sienna said.

"Which part?"

"Using guns to make them say yes would have been letting them off too easy." She slowed her steps slightly, considering her own words as she said them.

"If they’d only shut up tonight because they were afraid of you, everyone in that room would walk away believing you simply handed me this seat." She shook her head. "I don’t like that."

"So you wanted to prove yourself," Viktor said.

"Prove myself? I already did that," Sienna said, a small edge creeping into her voice. "I don’t like it when people undermine my capabilities."

Viktor looked at her for a long moment as they reached the car, something warm and settled crossing his face. "Looks like I married the right woman," he said.

"You’re just figuring that out now?" Sienna asked, one eyebrow lifting in mock surprise.

"No," Viktor said, his voice softening. "I knew it the very moment you looked at me, scared, and still worried about my wounds. Even with a gun pointed straight at you."

Sienna held his gaze for a second, something quiet passing between them. "Then you’ve got good taste," she said, and turned, walking on ahead of him toward the car, a small smile still lingering on her lips.