A dead silence fell over the garden.

Even the cellist in the string quartet dropped his bow with a clatter.

"Zora! Are you crazy?" Isabella shrieked, pointing at me. "How could you do that to Robin!"

I tilted my head back, a cold smile on my face. "I just did. So what?"

I knew this was the first power play Isabella pulled on Elena in the last life—yanking her new husband away the day after their engagement. I wasn't about to let her get away with it this time.

Surprisingly, Robin didn't look angry at all.

He got to his feet gracefully and dusted off his suit.

"Just a little game between husband and wife," he announced to the stunned guests, before his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.

He turned to the still-gaping Isabella, his tone flat. "We'll go with you tomorrow."

"Wh-what?" Isabella's eyes widened. "But, Robin…"

"She is my fiancée. The future lady of this family," Robin cut her off. "It's only right that she be there to pay respects to your father."

Isabella covered her mouth and ran off, sobbing.

Robin leaned in, his lips practically brushing my ear. "Satisfied? Let's get through this. I'll explain later. Be a good girl, my little wildcat."

"Don't call me wildcat." I stomped on his foot. Hard.

The party ended. It was our wedding night.

The opulent master bedroom was covered in rose petals, a lame attempt at romance.

I sat on the edge of the bed, methodically cleaning the custom Browning I'd just pulled from the thigh holster under my dress.

The door opened.

Robin walked in, loosening his tie. He saw the gun in my hand and raised an eyebrow. "Interesting choice of lingerie."

"I don't like to waste time," I said, raising the gun until the black muzzle was pointed squarely between his eyes. "Robin Kane, I hate men who play games. If you think you can have your wife at home and your mistress on the side, or if you're trying to find some kind of salvation in Miss Isabella, we can call this off right now. Men are a dime a dozen. I, Zora Romano, am not."

He didn't flinch. He walked right into the barrel until the cold steel pressed against his forehead.

"Call it off? Not a chance."

"So you want to have your cake and eat it too?" I sneered. "Impressive, Don. Trying to have it all?"

Robin sighed. For the first time, the cold man actually looked a little weary. He reached up, gently gripped the barrel of the gun, and lowered it. He sat down next to me.

"Isabella's father was an elder who saved my life. I promised him I'd look after her. It's a duty, not love." He looked me straight in the eye, his expression dead serious. "I married you. You are my only wife. In the Kane family, there's no divorce. The only way out is in a box. And I will not let anyone disrespect my wife."

He paused, his voice dropping lower. "I will keep my distance from her. That's my promise to you."

I stared into his eyes and saw nothing but honesty.

"If you break your word," I said, holstering my gun, "I'll be the one to put a bullet in you."

"Of course," Robin said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile.

The next second, he pushed me back onto the soft mattress.

The coldness was gone, replaced by a raw, masculine energy.

"Now that the terms are clear," his fingers traced my collarbone, "it's time to consummate the deal."

I looked up at his handsome face, so close to mine, and my heart skipped a beat.

To hell with playing coy.

I reached up, hooked my hands around his neck, and pulled him down for a kiss.

This one was wilder than the one in the garden.

The temperature in the room shot up. Robin's hand slid up my dress, his breathing ragged.

He whispered in my ear, his voice hoarse. "You're mine now, my wife."

Just as I was about to nod…

BANG, BANG, BANG!

A frantic pounding on the door.

"Boss! It's an emergency!" a guard yelled from outside. "Miss Isabella left a suicide note! She's gone!"

Robin went rigid. The heat between us vanished instantly.

He shot up and started buttoning his shirt. "I'm on my way."

So much for his promise.

I grabbed a pillow and hurled it at his back.

"Are all the guards in this family useless? Does the Don have to go find her himself? Robin Kane, have you forgotten what night this is?!"

Robin caught the pillow, pausing for a second.

Then he walked to the wardrobe, grabbed my trench coat, and strode back, draping it over my bare shoulders.

"Get dressed," he said. "You're coming with me."

I blinked. "What?"

"I'm not breaking my promise," Robin said, grabbing my hand. His palm was burning hot. "If I don't go, I'll have the family elders on my back. But I swear to you, once we confirm she's alive, I'll let you deal with the rest."

He added, "And you're right. This mess is on me. When we get back, I'm all yours."

That sounded more like it.

I put on my clothes, my face a cold mask. If this was the game he wanted to play, I'd see it through.

Robin held my hand tightly as we rushed out of the mansion with a team of guards.

The butler handed him a note. "Don, Miss Isabella left this."

Robin scanned it and passed it to me. In neat, delicate handwriting, it said: Robin, I can't be a burden to you anymore. I'm going to be with my father. Don't look for me.

"Split up," Robin ordered immediately. "Check the river and the rooftops first."

The guards scattered.

I didn't say anything, but I had to hide a smirk. Knowing Isabella, there was zero chance she'd actually kill herself. This was just another pathetic play for sympathy and a way to ruin our night.

We searched the riverbank and several abandoned high-rises. Nothing.

"Don, what about the old warehouses by the docks?" one of his men suggested.

An idea sparked in my mind. For Isabella's plan to work, she'd need a place that was both "hidden" and easy to be found in. A warehouse was perfect.

"I'll check it out," I volunteered.

Robin frowned. "It's too dangerous."

"Trust me. I'm a professional."

Ten minutes later, I found Isabella in a dusty, remote warehouse. She was perfectly fine, perched on a stack of cardboard boxes. When she saw it was me, the damsel-in-distress look vanished from her face.

"You?" she stood up, her eyes filled with hate. "Where's Robin?"

I walked toward her, a cold smile on my face. "Great performance. The suicide note was a nice touch."

Isabella's face paled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Cut the crap," I said, stopping in front of her. "You think if I hadn't shown up, you'd be the one who's the lady of the Kane family, right? Too bad for you, he didn't choose you."

The mask was completely off now. "That's right!" she snarled. "If it wasn't for you, you bitch, Robin would have married me! I've been by his side for years! Why should some outsider like you get everything?"

"Because Robin is my husband, and you're just a pathetic charity case," I mocked. "Get a grip, Isabella. Even without me, he would never love you."

I turned to leave, done wasting my breath on her.

Suddenly, she lunged forward and grabbed my arm. She leaned in and whispered venomously, "Let's see if Robin still wants you when he finds out what a vicious monster you are."

Before I could react, Isabella slapped herself across the face—hard. Then she pulled a small dagger from her purse and dragged it across her own arm, drawing blood.

It all happened in a flash. I never thought she'd be that ruthless with herself.

Before I could even process it, she screamed toward the warehouse entrance behind me.

"Help! Robin, help me! Zora's trying to kill me!"

When I saw Robin and a group of his men running in, my blood boiled.

"I didn't lay a finger on her," I said, my voice ice-cold as I fought to control my temper. "She did this to herself."

In that moment, I made up my mind. If Robin believed her bullshit for one second, I was walking out on this marriage and never looking back.

But to my surprise, Robin’s eyes swept the scene, and then he took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. "Are you cold?"

I stared at him, stunned.

He believed me?

Isabella couldn't believe it either. She got even more frantic. "Robin, look at my face! Look at my arm! She did this!"

"I just begged her to share a little bit of your love with me, and she attacked me! She said only a dead woman can't steal a man..."

Robin's expression remained cold, unmoved.

Isabella gritted her teeth and went for the kill. "She also said she only married you to get inside the Kane family! She's going to sell our secrets to our rivals to build her own company! Are you going to protect a traitor?"

At that, the family elders standing behind Robin stiffened.

"That's a serious accusation," one of them said gravely. "If that's true, she's a spy."

"Isabella wouldn't lie," another one added. "She grew up in this family. She has no reason to frame her."

A smug little smile played on Isabella's lips.

Their accusations only fueled my rage. I was about to step forward and show Isabella what real violence looked like when Robin's hand shot out and stopped me.

My heart sank. So he was starting to doubt me?

"Let go," I said coldly. "If you don't trust me, I'm leaving right now."

Robin didn't let go. His grip tightened. He looked at the agitated elders, his authority as the Don rolling off him in waves.

"Zora is not that kind of person. I trust her."

His voice cut through the tension. "Does anyone dare to question my judgment?"

The room fell silent.

Isabella stared, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Robin, you can't let her fool you! Look at my injuries…"

"I see them," Robin said, walking toward her. He looked at her like she was a clown in a circus.

"Isabella, if you're going to put on a show, at least commit to the role."

He pointed to her swollen cheek.

"Did you know," he said, his voice dangerously low, "that a self-inflicted slap leaves a completely different mark than one from someone else's hand?"