Chapter 248: There is more

"Accounts and deals. Every paper with a signature. He put them all under me, years ago, when I was too weak to fight him." She gave a small, ugly laugh. "If I fight him in the open, I will be the one who pays. The law will not find Konstantin. It will find me. I will go down for every crime he ever did."

She held Sienna’s arms now, as if she were the one falling.

"And that is not all, there is a trust fund, and he needs me to have access to it. That is why I need time. I was so close. So close, baby, and then all of this happened." Her voice cracked. "I need you to be calm. I need you to be patient. And please, please, play along."

For a long moment, Sienna said nothing. She looked at her mother’s face, at the wet lashes and the shaking mouth. Part of her wanted to hold her. Part of her wanted to scream. Both parts hurt.

She looks like me, Sienna thought. She looks exactly like me, and I don’t know her at all. "I’m sorry, Mother," she said at last. Helena’s face lit with hope.

"But I can’t."

The hope died. "I can’t stand the sight of him." Sienna’s voice trembled for the first time, and she hated it. "When he touched my face with his eyes, I felt sick. I can’t smile at him. I can’t call him daddy. I can’t pretend."

She pulled her hands out of Helena’s grip. It was not a hard pull. It was slow and sad, which made it worse.

Helena’s arms hung in the air for a second, then fell. And then she was crying, really crying, with her hand pressed over her mouth so no one outside the door would hear.

Viktor took one step forward.

He stood right behind Sienna now, close enough that she could feel the warmth of him against her back. He did not touch her. He only waited, ready to catch her the moment she needed it.

Sienna lifted her hand. She had more to say. She did not even know what it was yet, only that it was rising in her throat like smoke.

"I..." The door opened. There was no knock.

The lock had been turned. Helena had turned it herself. Yet the door swung open easily, because a man in this house did not need a key.

Don Konstantin stepped into the room. His eyes went to Helena, who was crying with her face in her hands. Then they went to Sienna, whose cheeks were burning and whose hand was still half raised. He saw everything in that one look. His smile did not fall.

It only became a little softer, and that was the most frightening part. "Oh," he said gently. "Am I interrupting?" Nobody answered.

Helena wiped her face with the back of her hand, fast, and turned it into a sad little laugh. "We were only talking," she said. "It is a lot. For all of us."

"Of course. Of course it is."

He did not look convinced, and he did not look angry. He looked like a man who had already decided how this story ended, and was only waiting for the rest of them to catch up.

And he was not alone.

Three men stepped in behind him, one after another. They were dressed in long white coats. One carried a black leather case. One held a thin tablet against his chest. The third had a stethoscope around his neck, and his eyes were sharp and quick as they moved around the room, looking at Sienna and at nothing else.

They stopped a respectful step behind the Don. They did not bow. They did not speak.

They looked like doctors. Sienna’s heart gave a hard, sudden knock against her ribs.

She heard his voice from the runway again, warm and gentle. Don’t worry. Daddy will fix that too. Viktor’s hand found hers in the space between them and closed around it.

"Katalia," the Don said, and he smiled like a father bringing a gift. "I thought you might be tired after your flight. So I brought some people to make sure you are well."

"It’s standard procedure," the Don said. He said it lightly, the way a man might mention the weather. Helena’s face went white. Behind Sienna, Viktor’s whole body turned to stone. Both of them knew exactly what this was, and neither could say it out loud.

Sienna knew too.

She stood still, and something inside her chest went quiet and cold. It hurt more than she expected. All the warm words on the runway, the tears, the my baby, the daddy will fix it, had been a coat over something else.

He never cared about me. He only cares about what is in my blood. The man with the black case stepped forward and opened it on the table. Inside were rows of tubes and needles, laid out neatly in gray foam.

"What am I?" Sienna said. Nobody answered.

"I said, what am I?" Her voice rose. "Why did you bring me here? For a family dinner?" She laughed, and it was not a good laugh. "I’m not even related to you. But that’s fine. That’s fine too."

She crossed the room in three quick steps. "You want my blood?"

"Don’t," Helena said.

"Sienna, wait," Viktor said. They both reached for her. She was faster.

She took the case right out of the doctor’s hands. He was so surprised that he let go. Sienna had spent years in medical school, and her fingers knew exactly what to do. She pushed aside the gauze and found a syringe, tore off the wrapper with her teeth, and pushed up her sleeve.

Viktor’s hand closed around her wrist. "Don’t."

"Let go."

"Sienna.."

"Let go."

He looked at her face. He let go.

The needle went into her vein in one clean move. She did not flinch. Dark red filled the tube, slow and steady, while every eye in the room watched. Helena’s hand was over her mouth.

Sienna pulled the needle out and pressed her thumb to the spot. Then she held the syringe out to the nearest doctor.

"Here. Take it." He hesitated. She pushed it into his palm.

"I want to know what this is about too. I have taken care of myself and my heart just fine, all these years, without any of you." Her eyes went to the Don. "So spare me the fake concern."