The story spread like wildfire, reaching every corner from Moscow to Madrid, including the powerful players. By this point, everyone had somehow learned that Lila, Viktor's fragile little doll, had brutally mutilated Mikhail Ivanov. As was expected, not in a plain manner, but with all the careful precision of a seasoned killer. This level of primal Benge fueler is unprecedented. Such chaos is extraordinarily sinister.
Even whispers carry faster around Viktor's, nowhere inside Viktor's own home.
Tatiana and Sofia
These are the two wives that Viktor had kept over the years. Grudgingly, they spent years with each other clawing beneath Viktor's roof. Not because of love—there was never love—, rather for the image men like Viktor were forced to maintain and for power, dominion, a system of alliances, and control. Tatiana, with an icy demeanor, disciplined and graceful, steals the spotlight, while Sofia is a toxic, volatile fireball.
Now they have a new target, a common enemy!
Lila is no longer some girl who previously attempted to ruin her life. No, no, now she's a far scarier nightmare. A soft, dulcet-sounding obsession that wore bared skin and rough edges. The key danger among the myriad and wrapped dangers is that she could be exploited.
_______________________________
With all said and done, the wives congregated in the crimson room.
The wives convened in the red room, the one Viktor never entered.
With every breath, the air grew thicker with cigarette smoke, while the table between them glowed with spilt vodka. Neither of the women spoke until, moments later, Sofia leaned forward with glass in hand, red nails matching the color of her lips.
Sofia giggled, "He could have tamed a wild feral mutt, but now look at him."
She's wild," Sofia sneered. "A feral little mutt he dragged in, thinking he could tame her. Now look at him."
"He's not thinking. At least, not with his head," Tatiana mustered alongside another slow exhale followed by the defiant curl of poison gas.
"We both know what happens to men, blind with pleasure," Sofia grinned.
Sofia grinned. "And we both know what happens to men who think with their cock instead of their crown."
"They lose their throne," retorted Tatiana, with dangerously flicking eyes.
The silence that followed was cold but with a tangibly tangible twist and calculating.
Viktor had made the mistake of showing his hand—his ruthless control cracked the moment Lila walked back into his life with blood under her nails and vengeance in her smile. He had let her into his bed, his mind, his heart—and now, he was vulnerable.
And these women? They were born to devour the vulnerable.
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Before offering assurance dawn when Viktor slept beside Lila, Tatiana wasted no time on her first step.
She quietly slipped into Viktor's office, her fingers dancing lightly on the files he thought were secure. She memorised every single one, containing every person assigned to protect Lila - their schedules and their blind spots. Contracts, alliances, threats, and even the security details.
"If they couldn't break Viktor directly, they would break the girl who held his leash."
Sofia, however, wasn't far behind. Unlike her, she didn't wield cold calculations. Her weapon was chaos. She was the exact kind of woman who would whisper to men already jealous of Lila's sudden rise.
"She spread rumors like poison."
That he was planning to name Lila as his only queen.
That he was disbanding old alliances just to make way for her.
And worst of all, that Viktor had gone soft…
Viktor, no longer just feared, now doubted. And in moments like these, she knew, doubt is a disease that spreads faster than bullets…
—
In the bedroom, Lila stirred in her sleep; utterly, blissfully unaware.
"They got to him."
She mumbled, relaxing into the feeling of the body gently shaking beside her.
Worn far too thin across the last few council meetings, Viktor's hand rested heavily on her waist. Breathing evenly, even as his grip felt… off. Like he was trying to hold on to her in his dreams, afraid she'd slip away...
And maybe she would.
Because in the shadows, two wives have sharpened their knives to not just kill Lila, but, well… No, death was too easy.
They would destroy her piece by piece.
They would turn her into the liability Viktor couldn't protect anymore.
And when the time was right, they would force him to choose—his throne or his queen.
No one survived a choice like that.
Not even Viktor.