Chapter 5 - The Sister's Keeper
The heavy silence that followed Elena's confession felt heavier than the fallen chandelier. Viktor stopped dead in his tracks, his dark eyes narrowing as he processed the weight of her words. The anger that had fueled him moments before dissolved, replaced by a cold, calculating realization of the trap they had both walked into. He took a slow step toward her, his posture no longer threatening, but guarded, as if assessing a wounded animal ready to bolt.
"Your sister?" Viktor repeated, the words tasting foreign on his tongue. "You told me you didn't have any family left. You said you were completely alone when I hired you six months ago."
Elena hugged his suit jacket tighter around her trembling frame, hot tears spilling over her bruised cheeks once again.
"I had to lie," she sobbed, her voice breaking on every syllable. "If Marcus found out I had family, they would have used her as leverage from day one. And I was right. Look at what he did to me... and look at what he's doing to her right now."
Viktor’s jaw tightened, a dark shadow passing over his face as he connected the missing pieces of the puzzle. Marcus hadn't just been embezzling from the company; he had been building a private network of extortion, using the staff and vulnerable outsiders to cover his tracks. Viktor glanced down at his brother, who was now unconscious or pretending to be beneath the debris, before shifting his gaze back to the young woman standing before him in a ruined grey maid dress.
"Where is she, Elena?" Viktor asked, his tone dropping into a firm, commanding authority that left no room for argument.
Elena swallowed hard, her heart pounding against her ribs. She reached into the deep pocket of the maid dress and pulled out a crumpled, damp photograph, holding it out toward him with a shaking hand. Viktor stepped closer, taking the slip of glossy paper. It showed a young girl, no older than twelve, sitting on a rusted metal chair inside what looked like a damp concrete basement, a digital timer glowing red in the background, showing less than twelve hours remaining.
"She's in the old shipping warehouse down by the South Docks," Elena whispered, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "Marcus locked her away the night before I started working here. He said... he said if I didn't steal the access codes and clean up his paper trail, the countdown would hit zero."
Viktor stared at the photograph, his thumb gently brushing against the edge of the image. The cold, unfeeling boss of Blackwood Manor vanished entirely, replaced by a man who understood the brutal cost of protecting the people he loved. He folded the photograph carefully and slipped it into the inner pocket of his ruined suit jacket, right over his heart.
"We're going to get her back," Viktor said, his voice steady, low, and laced with a lethal promise.
He turned away from Marcus, walking directly toward Elena and stopping just inches away. He reached up, his large, calloused hand gently cupping her bruised cheek, wiping away a stray tear with a tenderness that defied his intimidating appearance. Elena looked up into his dark eyes, finding a strange, terrifying comfort in the storm brewing within them.
"Get your coat, Elena," Viktor commanded quietly. "We're leaving right now."
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Elena nodded, turning toward the kitchen to grab her things, but as she reached the threshold of the dark hallway, a red laser dot flickered across her chest, stopping her dead in her tracks.
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