"Don Salvero..." Jacob began, trying to sound firm. "I assure you there are no attachments. I’m just her—was her bodyguard. There’s nothing between us."

His words were like knives slicing through my skin. Did I truly mean nothing to him? Not even a little?

"Of course there wouldn’t..." Zade agreed, easily taking a slow drag from his cigar. "You wouldn’t be stupid enough to have attachments."

"Yes, Don! I don’t even think about her or even consider her important. She’s nothing to me."

A soft scoff escaped me. I turned away, feeling a twist in my abdomen. How wonderful... This was already a shitty situation of life and death, and here I was destroying myself over his words.

Of course, he could be saying that to avoid dying, but... I didn’t wanna believe how genuine his tone was.

"Are you suggesting my wife isn’t worthy of occupying your thoughts?"

I shot my eyes to Zade, and then looked at Jacob, who had hit a pause.

"T-That’s not—"

"She means nothing to you, you said..." Zade cut him off. "In other words, she’s nothing?"

Jacob’s mouth hung, unable to form words. "I-I-I..."

"Look at her."

Jacob didn’t... dread bleeding his eyes.

Zade pressed the bottom of his cigar into the ashtray. "Look. At. Her."

He did. The melting feeling I always felt whenever his brown eyes met mine was replaced by nails driving into my heart.

"She’s breathtaking. A princess. A fucking art. She walks around dressed like temptation..." He sighed. "Which feels like a personal attack."

I shot him a stunned look, and he winked, setting his gaze back on Jacob like he was dirt beneath his shoe.

"And yet you, with that tiny little brain of yours, insist she’s nothing?"

Jacob opened his mouth to speak.

"Shoot him right in the eyes... he evidently doesn’t need it in the afterlife."

The sharp cock of a gun filled the air.

"NO!" I clenched Zade tightly before I could think.

He doesn’t spare me a glance or even acknowledge me. Panic filled me, and I didn’t know what to do. I looked to Jacob, who had closed his eyes and already accepted his fate.

I darted my eyes back to Zade, his focus unwavering, and I could already tell he pictured him bleeding out on the table.

"PLEASE!" I yelled, and that was enough for Zade to fix his eyes on me.

I shuddered as tears slipped beneath my lashes. "P-Please..."

As much as I’m hurt by Jacob, I can’t bear to lose him. I can’t lose anyone else.

"Please don’t kill him. Don’t take him away from me, too," I said in a mere whisper, sobbing.

Silence stretched heavily, and I squeezed my eyes shut, anticipating the sound of the gun as well as my breaking heart, but neither came true.

"Under one condition."

Zade’s gravelly voice made me open my eyes, and for the love of God, this monster was smirking.

"Say my name."

I blinked, taken aback. At first, I thought he was joking, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

"Y-You would let him go?"

"I’m a man of my word."

Just like our wedding night when he told me he’d let Jacob go, he did.

"Z-Zade."

The brightest smile I have ever seen crossed his lips enough to make me catch a glimpse of those gemstones eyes.

"See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

Why did I get the feeling he was waiting for this opportunity?

I veered my gaze just in time to find the man behind Jacob retreating his gun before he picked him off the chair by the arm.

"We had a wonderful lunch, didn’t we?" Zade said.

I felt his grip beneath my chin, tilting, and before I knew it, his lips were on mine. The shock of it made me gasp, and he seized that opportunity to deepen the kiss.

My eyes clamped shut, my hold on his suit tautening, and each time I tried to pull away, he would trap my mouth more, sucking against it like he was trying to rip my soul out of me.

My heart pounded against my chest when I felt his hand inching closer to my thigh, nails sinking into my flesh as he effortlessly switched me to saddle him.

Zade traced his mouth on my bottom lip, seizing it with his teeth before he covered them entirely, repeating the action until it felt like the flesh was gonna fall off.

Hot and cold battled across my skin like war, several sensations ripping through me like a storm.

The more I tried to draw away, the harder the kiss became until I knew I didn’t have the upper hand.

But that didn’t stop me.

I bit his lip. Hard. Using that momentary distraction to peel myself off him, the table jerked by the force as I pushed against the edge. I heaved, trying to control my hoarse breathing.

Zade was smirking as he licked the blood off his lips.

"That will be all. Take him away."

I glanced at Jacob as he was dragged away. I should find relief that the worst of this is over, but I don’t. My inside flared as rage engulfed me wholly.

The chair legs squeaking against the floor pulled my attention as Zade pushed to his feet.

"That wasn’t very nice, darling. We were having a pleasant time."

Pleasant?

I raised my hand, slapping him across the face with all the strength I could conjure.

Ow!

I don’t show my pain, only rage, my breathing turning harsher by the second. He was gonna kill him. He was gonna kill Jacob! That was all this was from the very start. He brought him here to slaughter him.

Again... this serpent was gonna destroy me just like he did my sister, and for what?

Who the fuck cares if I moaned Jacob’s name?

Zade rubbed his jaw, exhaling sharply. "Leave."

I heard footsteps from his men departing until we were alone.

"You’re a fucking asshole. A fucking psychopath!" I exploded, screaming at the top of my lungs.