Viktor’s expression softened slightly, and for a moment, she thought she saw genuine regret in his eyes. Then his walls reasserted themselves, and the brief glimpse of vulnerability vanished.
“Having you now isn’t enough,” he said quietly. “It’s not enough to erase four years of believing you’d played me for a fool. It’s not enough to make up for the time we lost, the future we should have had together. Adrian took those things from us, and he’s going to pay for every single day we spent apart.”
The words struck Anka deeply, confirming her worst fears about Viktor’s priorities. She wasn’t his wife or his partner or the love of his life—she was a prize he’d reclaimed, valuable mainly for what her acquisition represented in terms of victory over his enemies.
“So what happens now?” she asked, surprised by how steady her voice sounded when everything inside her was falling apart. “You use Adrian as your personal puppet while I pretend our marriage is based on something other than elaborate revenge?”
“What happens now is that Adrian learns what it costs to interfere with a Nikolai’s happiness,” Viktor replied. “And you decide whether you’re going to fight me on this or accept that some debts require payment.”
The ultimatum hung between them like a blade, sharp and unforgiving. Anka realized she was facing a choice that would define not just their marriage, but her understanding of who Viktor truly was beneath the charm and calculated tenderness.
She could accept his need for revenge, could stand by while he systematically destroyed her brother’s autonomy in the service of settling old scores. Or she could fight him, knowing that resistance would likely cost her the fragile happiness she’d been foolish enough to believe was real.
Either way, the man she’d fallen in love with—both four years ago and again in recent weeks—was proving to be someone else entirely. Someone who valued vengeance more than peace, control more than trust, the satisfaction of victory more than the possibility of genuine connection.
Standing in his study, surrounded by the trappings of power that had always defined Viktor’s world, Anka finally understood what she’d really married into. Not a second chance at love, but a beautifully constructed prison designed to give her everything she’d ever wanted while ensuring she could never truly have it.
The realization should have broken her. Instead, it crystallized something harder and more dangerous in her chest—a determination to stop being a passive participant in other people’s games.
If Viktor wanted war disguised as marriage, she would give him exactly that.
Chapter 20 - Viktor
The satisfaction of watching Adrian squirm had become Viktor’s favorite form of entertainment.
Three weeks had passed since their initial confrontation, and Viktor had settled into a rhythm that felt like justice finally being served. Nothing too obvious—he wasn’t interested in drawing attention from other family members or creating unnecessary complications. Just steady pressure applied with surgical precision, designed to make Adrian understand exactly what it cost to interfere with a Nikolai’s life.
A shipping delay here, a permit complication there, the sudden appearance of regulatory scrutiny at precisely the wrong moment. Each setback could be explained away as routine business friction, but the pattern was clear enough for someone with Adrian’s intelligence to recognize. Viktor was dismantling his operations one carefully calculated move at a time.
The beauty of it was the specificity. Viktor had made a deliberate choice to focus his attention exclusively on Adrian, leaving the other Volkov siblings untouched. He wasn’t a monster—Anka’s sisters had done nothing to deserve his wrath, and even Matvei had simply been following family protocol when he’d supported the alliance. This was about one man’s choices and the consequences that followed.
Adrian seemed to understand the boundaries, which made his latest attempt at negotiation all the more pathetic.
“This needs to stop,” Adrian said, his voice carrying the kind of controlled desperation that suggested Viktor’s campaign was having the desired effect. They were standing in the parking garage beneath Viktor’s office building, surrounded by concrete and shadows that would muffle any conversation.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” Viktor replied mildly, adjusting his cufflinks with deliberate calm. “Are you having business difficulties? How unfortunate.”
“Cut the performance. We both know what you’re doing.” Adrian stepped closer, his usual composure cracking enough to show the fury beneath. “The Kozlov contracts, the shipping disruptions, the sudden interest from financial regulators—it’s all connected, and it’s all you.”
Viktor allowed himself a small smile, the kind that had made enemies reconsider their life choices in the past. “Business can be unpredictable. Perhaps you should diversify your interests, reduce your dependence on any single revenue stream.”
“Why are you still doing this?” The question burst out of Adrian with more emotion than Viktor had expected. “We have an alliance now. Our families are connected through marriage. What more do you want?”
The genuine confusion in Adrian’s voice was almost insulting—as if four years of believing himself betrayed by the woman he’d loved could be erased by political expedience and strategic partnerships.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Viktor said, his tone shifting to something colder and more final. “You’ve never lost someone who mattered.”
“Lost someone?” Adrian’s laugh was bitter and completely humorless. “I lost my sister, too, you know. The day she married you became the day she stopped trusting me, stopped looking at me like I was someone worth loving instead of someone to be feared.”
The observation hit Viktor like an unexpected blow, but he pushed the discomfort aside. Adrian’s relationship with Anka was irrelevant compared to what he’d stolen from Viktor’s life.
“The difference,” Viktor continued, “is that you chose to lose her. You made a deliberate decision to destroy her happiness to serve your own purposes. I’m simply ensuring you understand what that choice costs.”
Adrian stared at him for a long moment, something that might have been pity flickering across his features. “You’re going to destroy everything good in your life for the sake of punishing me. You realize that, don’t you?”
“What I realize is that some debts require payment regardless of convenience.” Viktor turned toward the elevator, dismissing Adrian with the kind of casual disregard reserved for irrelevant obstacles. “I’d focus on salvaging whatever you can from your remaining ventures. Things are likely to get worse before they get better.”
The encounter should have left Viktor feeling satisfied, vindicated by Adrian’s obvious frustration and growing desperation. Instead, he found himself thinking about Adrian’s words as he returned to his office, particularly the suggestion that his pursuit of justice might cost him something valuable.
