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You have to accept that different readers will have differing levels of patience for this sort of character. But the universal thing that pushes every reader out of a story is *characters performing actions for no good reason.* Conversely, as long as there's a sympathetic justification for some action, most readers will nod along and say, "Well, I can't blame them for choosing that." We will swallow a fair amount of moral ambiguity or tragedy when we're forced to admit that we might do the same thing in their shoes.

That needs to be one of your goals for portraying this character. Focus on their motivation for each action, and let it be something important to them. As long as we buy their reasoning, we'll accept their actions.

As far as pulling the reader through difficult-to-accept sequences, you can rely quite a bit on morbid curiosity. A tantalizingly dark scene will make them think "I can't believe that just happened!" followed by "What's going to happen next?" This is why cringe-worthy comedy works; we hate to watch it, but we can't stop because we want to see what the victim of the joke will put themselves through.

When was the moment you realized Thanos was going to sacrifice his daughter Gamora to gain the Soul Stone? For me it was probably a minute or two before it happened. And the next two minutes had my eyes glued to the screen because I was hoping for rescue but expecting defeat. I was wondering, "Would he really...?" And that was a powerful question.

In both of the previous paragraphs, the driver of tension was questioning the character's commitment to their goals. It's a matter of stakes and consequences, just like any character motivation. Make sure you are expressing those through your writing and you'll be fine.