Chapter 92 Patience
❄︎ Viktor ❄︎
I stepped into the bathroom and immediately noticed that the shards from last night were gone.
Cleaned up.
My eyes flicked to the sink, the floor, the edges of the mirror frame. Everything was pristine.
Enza, my housekeeper, must’ve been here. I tried to summon a memory of her, any scrap of familiarity, but nothing came. It was all just a blur. My gut tightened as the anger bubbled up like acid.
Then the thought of Rosa hit me.
The fact that she’d put the hotel up for sale while I was… like this. While my mind was fractured and my memory a patchwork of holes.
My hands shook in tune to the slow burn of fury spreading through me.
Was she taking advantage of me? Pretending to love me while quietly playing her own game? If she respected me, or cared even a fraction before my accident, she wouldn’t have touched the hotel knowing it would set me off. She would have at least discussed it with me first.
I shoved the thoughts down and moved to my home office after my shower.
Adrian was already there. He scanned my face while waiting for me to speak.
“Tell me there’s a way to undo this fuckup,” I said, letting my voice carry the murderous mood I was in.
“The auction is irrevocable once set. The sale final to the highest qualified bidder meeting or exceeding the reserve.”
Adrian exhaled, slowly. “There’s a way, yes. But Dominic is the host of the auction site. Even if we try to threaten him, the bid’s been up too long. Any sudden cancellation, people will see. They’ll know something’s off and smell a conflict of interest.”
I clenched my fists, the edges of my chair biting into my palms. The room felt smaller, the pressure building in my skull once again.
Everything I thought I knew about Rosa, about the hotel, about my control, was it all still true?
I slammed my fists on the table, feeling the vibrations shoot up my arms, and cursed under my breath.
The damned hotel was up for sale. Someone could have taken it, and I wouldn’t even have known until it was too late.
“We’ll make sure we buy it,” I said through gritted teeth, the words tasted like iron in my mouth. “No one under any circumstances gets it.”
Adrian scanned some data on his phone. “Rosa’s serious about keeping it from you,” he said. “Have you talked to her about it yet?”
I laughed bitterly, shaking my head. “Talked about it? No. If I had, I wouldn’t be finding out this way. The damned thing’s already up for sale, and I’m the last to know.” My jaw ached from clenching it so hard.
My mind flicked to her, and for a moment, I hated myself for letting the thought of her make me weak. Had she been playing me all along?
Even before the accident, I’d no doubt been following her like a lost puppy, drawn to that sharp, sinful mouth, those expressive eyes, that body that had burned itself into my memory whether I wanted it to or not.
“The deposit is…” Adrian’s voice snapped me back. “A whooping sum. And people are already depositing.”
I froze. My pulse spiking as an idea came to mind. “Can you trace the bidders?” My voice was sharper than I intended.
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. I could hack the encrypted usernames and accounts.”
I leaned forward, my voice dark. “Could… or can?”
“I can,” he said again, steady.
A dangerous grin tugged at the corner of my mouth.
Good.
The desperate ones, people who’d sell their souls for this hotel, were already circling. Members of the syndicate trying to by it to hide their crimes and gain leverage over one another. Vultures dressed as businessmen, anyone with enough money and enough balls to think they could outsmart me.
Rosa might think she knew its value. She might even think she could keep me from it.
But the syndicate understood better than she ever could. And I’d make sure I picked them off one by one.
This was the best lead we’ve gotten so far, and I could work with it.
Adrian’s fingers paused over the keyboard. “The listing is two hundred and seventy-five million dollars.”
I let out a sharp laugh, she had underpriced it. She had no idea what people would be willing to pay to aquire such a building with its surveillance history and location.
“Liquidate one billion,” I said. “On that auction day… the bidding will be bloody.”
I leaned back in my chair, feeling the tension unfurl from my chest like a living thing.
Every deposit, account, and username was another piece of the puzzle. The hotel wasn’t just bricks and walls. It was Power and blood.
And I wasn’t about to let anyone, least of all Rosa, stand in the way of what was mine.
The thought of her crossed my mind again, as usual. I’d fallen right into her trap while she pretended to love me while scheming behind my back.
Coincidentally though, she had delivered my prey into my eagerly waiting arms.
I straightened, letting the anger simmer into something more calculating. “Trace every account and deposit. I want names and locations.”
I stood over Adrian, my eyes fixed on the screen as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
Every tap was a drumbeat of anticipation, and I could feel my pulse matching it.
He grinned like dog on a bone and I allowed myself a small smirk, that didn’t reach my eyes. Letting him enjoy it, i waited to hear him speak.
“I’ve got a list,” Adrian said with a tinge of excitement. “Ten of the highest depositors.”
Good. That was ten starting points. I leaned closer, feeling the heat of excitement bloom in my chest.
“Look into them,” I said calmly. “Tell me which ones are connected to Giancarlo’s syndicate in any way.”
Adrian nodded, already moving again, digging through data with precision.
I turned toward the window, letting the morning light fall across my face. Outside, the compound stretched in silent perfection in the sunrise.
Like a mirage glowing around the edges, I saw her, my beautiful wife. Her face lit up with that mischievous, knowing smile she always wore when she thought she had the upper hand.
I allowed myself the smallest, cruelest pleasure. She wouldn’t know until it was over, until the victory was mine and I could hold it in my hands.
I clenched my jaw, feeling the bloodlust writhe under my skin.
Patience, I told it.
Patience, and then blood.