Obsession

Pigeon Blood Tattoo

The mark he carved into her skin.

The air in the room felt frozen, so heavy that drawing a breath required a physical effort.

Having lived through Sebastian’s unpredictable tempers, Sienna knew his nature better than anyone. Even if he didn’t use brute force to break her, he had a thousand more insidious ways to ensure she "willingly" surrendered. Her defiance wasn't a lack of common sense; she simply took no pleasure in bowing down.

Sienna’s long lashes fluttered. Before the darkness in his eyes could deepen further, she averted her gaze, her expression smoothing into a mask of relative obedience.

But that submission lasted exactly two seconds.

Without warning, Sienna leaned in and bit down—hard—on the muscle of his hand.

Sebastian let out a muffled grunt, his grip instinctively loosening.

He had been holding her jaw with enough force to leave a bruise on her pale skin, a vivid mark of his possession. Sienna had simply returned the favor. Her teeth left a deep, clear impression on his hand, the skin breaking to reveal a thin line of crimson.

Sienna licked her lips, letting out a soft, misplaced laugh. "You were right, Sebastian. I never learn."

His face went so dark it was a wonder the room didn't dim, but Sienna wasn't finished goading him.

"That’s why I gave you such sincere advice, didn't I?" She caught his silk tie, winding it lazily around her fingers before leaning her soft body against his, her breath ghosting over his skin like a summer breeze. "Are there not enough women out there? Are they not good enough for you? Why are you so determined to humiliate yourself with me?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Sebastian’s hand clamped around her throat, pinning her back into the plush depths of the sofa.

His shadow fell over her, total and suffocating.

Sebastian let out a cold, sharp laugh. His gaze raked over her from head to toe, predatory and detached. "You really are begging for a lesson, aren't you, Sienna?"

Only then did she realize she’d pushed him a fraction too far. She glared at him. "You’re sick, Sebastian."

She tried to move, but he caught both of her wrists in a single hand, pinning them above her head and sinking his weight into her until she was buried in the cushions. Before she could scream, she heard the sharp snap of silk. The pearl buttons of her dress scattered across the floor as he tore the bodice open.

There, over her heart, the tattoo emerged.

An S-shaped viper with a flowering branch in its mouth. As her body temperature rose, the ink became more vivid—the "pigeon blood" red camellias blooming like wildfire against her ivory skin.

A pigeon blood tattoo. The mark he had personally overseen, etched into her as a permanent brand of his ownership.

"What are you hiding for?" Sebastian asked, his voice thick and low as he held her down. "I’m not going to skin you alive. Not yet."

Her struggles were, of course, futile.

Desire is a spark that catches in an instant, and he wasn't about to give her the chance to say no. But just as the situation spiraled toward the point of no return, a sharp knock sounded at the door. Knock. Knock.

"Sir, the conference call with the Board of Directors is scheduled for seven," his assistant called from the hallway, his voice cautious. "They’re waiting for you..."

"Let them wait," Sebastian growled.

Sienna held her breath, wanting to scream at the man to go away but not daring to move an inch.

"The CEO of the tech firm says he has something you’ll want to see," the assistant continued, clearly terrified but persistent. "He insists it’s urgent."

Sebastian froze. He knit his brows in annoyance.

Sienna seized the opening, shoving him away with enough force that she nearly tumbled off the sofa. She clutched the torn fabric of her collar, retreating several steps while her eyes darted frantically toward the exit. She was moving like a hunted animal.

"Go do your job," Sienna coughed out, her face burning from her cheeks to the tips of her ears.

In the two years she’d spent by his side, she’d learned much of her trade from him. Between her own observations and the recent headlines, she knew this call was about the chaos currently unfolding in the southern business districts.

Under Sebastian’s leadership, Thorne Capital had become a juggernaut. After swallowing up logistics, pharmaceuticals, and luxury travel, he was moving on to tech. The semiconductor world was currently shaking after one of his recent IPOs skyrocketed in value. To fuel that growth, he needed the patents held by two rival firms: MicroVance and Hengrong Electronics.

The acquisition of MicroVance was already in the works, but Hengrong was putting up a fight—at least until a massive scandal involving their executives broke last night.

It was a public relations nightmare, and every shark in the city was circling the blood in the water. Sebastian didn't have time to waste on a domestic dispute.

Sienna wanted nothing more than to run.

But as she turned to leave, Sebastian’s hand shot out, locking around her wrist and yanking her back into his space.

Sienna looked up at him, her back rigid and her heart hammering. "What now?"

"You had quite a lot to say a moment ago," Sebastian said, his dark eyes boring into hers. His thumb traced her cheek, sliding down to her earlobe with the slow precision of an executioner. "Sit. We’ll finish this while I talk."

His eyes were pitch black, swirling with an unspoken, addictive hunger.

Sienna looked at him and, for the first time that night, felt a flicker of genuine fear.

"No," she whispered, her face turning pale.

Outside the open window, the harbor lights flickered red and green. The waves crashed against the hull, and the distant neon glow of Hong Kong promised a night of decadence and greed. You could practically smell the money in the air.

Sienna felt like she was losing her mind.

The conference call was pushed back an hour solely because of her. Eventually, Sienna fell into a fitful sleep, wrapped in Sebastian’s heavy wool coat.

She caught snatches of conversation—words like "regulatory approval," "audit," and "financial restructuring"—but she was too exhausted to process them. The heat of her body kept the tattoo on her chest glowing a brilliant red. She felt Sebastian’s thumb brush a bead of sweat from her temple, his fingers tracing the edge of the ink while he spoke into his headset.

Sienna turned her head away, her eyes half-lidded and glazed with a dark, heavy beauty.

"Numbers are useless until they're liquid. I don't care about the projected margins. I want an internal audit of Hengrong’s cash flow over the last two months," Sebastian said, his voice steady and cold as he toyed with a lock of her hair. "If the CEO tries to cut a deal with our competitors, make sure the press gets the rest of the evidence."

Sienna, caught in a haze, unconsciously leaned her face into his palm, clinging to him like a lifeline.

Sebastian’s eyes darkened. "Have legal and PR coordinate the next move," he said, pulling her closer and forcing her to look at him. "I want a signed agreement in forty-eight hours."

He hung up.

The room was dark now, save for a sliver of moonlight. The sudden chill of the night air woke Sienna up. She leaned against his shoulder, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears—thick with a forced, aching sweetness.

"Sebastian."

He didn't say a word. He simply caught her by the waist and crushed his lips against hers, silencing the world.

The call that had been delayed by an hour ended after ten minutes. Sienna wondered if the executives on the other end were confused or furious, but she quickly lost the ability to think. She felt like she was being consumed by a fire that burned away her very identity.

The shifting shadows of the room were far more chaotic than the city lights outside.

She didn't remember when it ended. Just as she drifted toward unconsciousness, she felt him lean down, whispering against her ear with a dark, mocking chuckle. "And here I thought you were struggling to behave."

He held her in front of the full-length mirror for the final round, forcing her to watch her own undoing. His "concern" for her comfort was the ultimate hypocrisy.

Sienna didn't even have the strength left to curse him.

The sun rose over the harbor, painting the clouds in streaks of brilliant gold.

It had been a long, feverish night, and Sienna had barely slept. When Sebastian decided to be cruel, he was thorough. She had finally fallen into a shallow, uneasy sleep just before dawn.

When she woke, it took her five minutes just to find the strength to sit up.

The room smelled of expensive incense, masking the scent of the night's excesses. The bed beside her was empty. Sienna rubbed the back of her neck, a wave of soreness washing over her.

"Animal," she whispered.

She checked her phone. There were a dozen missed calls and voice memos from her best friend, Chloe.

"Sienna! The jewelry auction is almost over! Where are you?!" "I blew off a date for this. Don't tell me you're ghosting me." "The bidding has started. I'm not paying these prices for you, babe!" ... "Who is this guy in the front row? He just doubled the opening bid. No chill whatsoever." "It's over. The Grandmaster Zhong paintings are gone. Some i***t just paid ten times the market value. I'm dead." "I tried, Sienna! Both paintings are gone. The buyer in the private suite must be a billionaire with a brain tumor!"

Sienna listened to the messages with a strange, numb calm. "It’s fine," she murmured to herself. "At least it proves I have good taste."

A lost painting was nothing compared to the disaster that was her life. Her "doting boyfriend," who managed to find time to torment her even during a billion-dollar merger, was a much larger obstacle.

She wrapped herself in a silk sheet and tried to step out of bed, but her knees buckled.

She stood there for a long time, staring at the floor, before she swept a porcelain vase off the nightstand in a fit of silent rage. "Worse than an animal."

Her phone rang. It was Chloe again, her voice an octave higher than usual.

"You ghosted me yesterday!"

"I ran into some trouble," Sienna said, holding the phone away from her ear as she slowly sat back down.

"Don't give me that. I waited four hours!" Chloe ranted. "I ditched my boyfriend for you! You’re a heartbreaker, Sienna. You have wounded a pure and innocent soul."

"I ran into Sebastian," Sienna said flatly.

The line went dead silent for two seconds. "Oh," Chloe said, her tone shifting to one of solemn gravity. "Well, in that case, forget I said anything. It was nice knowing you. Rest in peace."

"You have no spine, Chloe. If this were a war, you’d be the first one to defect," Sienna said, a dry laugh escaping her. "If he killed me and hid the body, would you thank him for the privilege?"

"Let's be realistic, babe. I'm not going to get myself killed for a corpse," Chloe replied earnestly.

"..."

"Anyway," Chloe continued, "the paintings are gone, but I did manage to snag a Qing Dynasty hairpiece. Exquisite filigree. Want to come take a look?"

"I can't make it right now. I... missed the ferry," Sienna said, pulling her hair back as she stepped into a steaming bath. "This afternoon. I'll find you this afternoon."

Chloe let out a suggestive hum. "Missed the ferry? How do you 'miss' a ferry on a private cruise? Details, please. I have plenty of minutes on my plan."

"Shut up," Sienna snapped.

The cruise ship was docking at the pier. Sienna had just finished her bath and was huddled on the sofa in a robe, drying her hair while the news played in the background.

"...Fifteen minutes ago, Hengrong Electronics issued a statement claiming they will not tolerate misconduct. The head office has suspended several top executives and launched an internal investigation..."

Right on cue. The PR machines were at work.

The "Golden 24 Hours" of crisis management—it was all a race against time to control the narrative. The companies putting pressure on Hengrong didn't necessarily want to destroy it; they just wanted to tank the stock price enough to steal the tech.

Sienna closed her eyes, trying to recall the data she’d seen on Sebastian’s laptop last night. The passwords... the financial codes... 73S69...

It was a blur.

She opened her laptop and clicked on a draft she had written weeks ago. She swirled a glass of red wine, scanning the financial reports and balance sheets she had painstakingly gathered.

If the merger went through, the elite families of the South would go back to their comfortable, untouched lives. The "Untouchable" families.

"Lucky them," she whispered.

Sienna smiled, the look in her eyes growing cold and sharp. She hit Send, then pushed the wine glass away with a slender finger.

"It would be such a shame," she sighed softly, "if it all came crashing down."