Into the lions den
311 Words
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Into the Lion’s Den
My father’s estate looks nothing like I imagined.
No guards at the gate. No visible security. Just silence.
That is what makes it dangerous.
The car door opens before I can think too much.
“Step out,” one of his men says.
I do.
The moment my feet touch the ground, I feel it. Like I’m stepping back into a memory I never escaped.
The main house infront of me. Dark. Elegant. Wrong.
A man waits at the entrance.
Not Viktor.
Marcus.
I catch my breath.
“You’re alive,” I whisper.
He nods once. “Barely.”
“You were taken”
“It was planned,” he cuts in quietly. “Adrian knows.”
My stomach tightens. “Knows what?”
Marcus glances toward the house.
“That you coming here was never about saving me.”
Before I can respond, the doors open.
Viktor steps out.
“Welcome home, Elena.”
Inside, everything is too clean.
Like nothing evil has ever happened here.
“You brought me here to talk,” I say.
Viktor smiles slightly. “I brought you here to understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No,” he says softly. “You understand his version of events.”
My pulse slows.
“What did Adrian tell you?” Viktor asks.
“That you tortured his father.”
“Yes,” Viktor admits easily.
My breath catches at the honesty.
“But you don’t know why.”
Silence.
He gestures to the screen behind him.
A file opens.
Names. Transactions. Transfers.
Adrian’s father’s signature appears.
My stomach drops.
“He was stealing from me,” Viktor says calmly. “Not once. Repeatedly.”
“That’s not”
“Justice?” Viktor finishes. “No. It isn’t.”
He steps closer.
“But it is the truth.”
- Writer
