The syndicate gala was held at a sprawling estate, a grand affair where the air was thick with the scent of expensive cigars.

I walked in with my arm linked through Caspian's.

The moment we stepped into the VIP lounge, the whispers rolled in like a tide.

Capos and their underlings stood in small clusters, their gazes sweeping over me with thinly veiled contempt.

"Look at her, the fragile outsider." A voice drifted from a corner.

"She probably threatened to jump off a roof to force him to bring her tonight."

Caspian ignored the muttered insults, leading me toward the inner circle seating.

He walked straight to the center of a deep blue velvet sofa and sat down.

Elena was already there, settling in on his right side, a crystal champagne flute held casually in her hand.

There was no seat left for me.

I stood in front of the low coffee table, watching Elena's loyal sycophants sneer at each other.

A high-ranking soldier leaned back and, with clear intent, blew a thick cloud of smoke in my direction.

"You look tired, Sienna. Maybe the mafia life is too tough for a civilian."

In the past, I would have silently begged Caspian to protect me.

Tonight, I looked the soldier dead in the eye.

"And you look like a man overcompensating for his lack of power by insulting women," I replied calmly.

"Does your Boss know you sit around gossiping all day like a bored housewife?"

The soldier's face darkened with rage, turning a purplish red.

The lounge fell dead silent.

Caspian gripped the armrest of the sofa, his knuckles turning white.

"Drop it, Sienna," he warned in a low voice.

I let out a short, dry laugh.

I turned my back on the most dangerous men in New York.

"I'll leave you to your real family, Don Caspian."

I walked out of the lounge, ignoring the renewed whispers of men predicting I'd come crawling back in tears.

I needed fresh air.

I wandered through the estate's manicured gardens until I found the magnificent swimming pool, its water glowing with a deep, artificial blue beneath the night sky.

The sharp click of heels against stone sounded behind me.

Elena stepped out of the shadows, her fake sweetness instantly gone.

"You're pathetic, Sienna," she sneered in a low voice.

"You think a few sharp words will change anything? You have no power here."

I turned to face her, a wave of exhaustion washing over me.

"Then why don't you make him break his oath? Make him divorce me and take him. I don't want him."

Elena aggressively invaded my personal space, her eyes flashing. "This family belongs to my bloodline. You are a stain on his reign."

"Let's see how much he really cares about you."

"I don't want to see—" Before I could react, her hands slammed hard against my chest.

She shoved me backward.

My heels slipped on the wet stone edge.

I crashed heavily into the water, the freezing cold rushing instantly into my nose and mouth.

The water burned my bandaged wrists, a searing pain tearing through the deep, unhealed wounds. The newly stitched veins groaned in agony from the irritation, and the gauze was instantly soaked with fresh blood.

I couldn't swim!

Panic gripped my chest as I thrashed beneath the surface.

My heavy, waterlogged gown dragged me down into the deep end like a stone.

Through the distorted, churning surface of the water, I saw figures rushing toward the edge.

Then I saw Caspian dive in.

But as I sank toward the bottom of the pool, I watched his dark silhouette slice through the water.

He swam right past me.

He reached for Elena—who had jumped in to play the victim and cover her tracks—and pulled her toward the surface.

A sharp pang of pain pierced my heart.

The very last shred of love I had for him drowned in that suffocating water.

Another pair of arms grabbed me from behind, hauling me upward with all their might.

I broke the surface, gasping for air, coughing violently as I spat pool water onto the rough flagstones.

My savior was a man I didn't recognize. He knelt beside me, his hands on my trembling shoulders to steady me.

A moment later, Caspian walked over, water dripping steadily from his ruined, expensive suit.

"Are you hurt?" he asked with a frown, his tone flat.

A cold, crystal-clear fury flooded my exhausted muscles.

I stumbled to my feet, soaking wet and shivering.

I didn't lunge at him or cry about my grievances.

Instead, using every last ounce of my remaining strength, I raised my arm and swung.

My palm struck the Don's face hard, the sharp crack echoing over the water.

The deadliest men in the syndicate gasped in shock, the sound of weapons being drawn from holsters slicing through the air around the pool.

Caspian didn't move. He took the blow head-on, his head turning slightly from the impact, before raising a hand to halt his guards.

"I want a divorce," I said, my voice trembling with rage.

"Consider that slap my parting gift."

The atmosphere at the gala turned freezing cold.

Dozens of armed men stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as their autocratic ruler was viciously slapped by his civilian wife.

Caspian slowly turned his head to face me, every movement deliberate and terrifying.

He closed in on me with pure, predatory intent.

I flinched, a look of revulsion curling the corner of my mouth.

My reaction made his expression turn ferocious.

"That was your severance pay," I repeated, my voice shaking but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Caspian remained silent.

He reached out a massive hand, his grip clamping down on my forearm like an iron band, carefully avoiding the bleeding bandages.

He yanked me toward him, preparing to drag me out of the estate.

Just then, the man who had saved me marched right up to him and grabbed my other hand.

"Let her go, Caspian. She just demanded you break your oath in front of your entire syndicate."

Caspian stopped.

The lethal aura radiating from him was so thick it was suffocating.

"This is none of your business, Luca." He stared at Luca's hand on my skin, the muscles in his jaw ticking slightly.

Luca held his ground, leveraging his position as a partner.

"While you were busy saving someone else, I just pulled your wife off the bottom of the pool. You owe me."

Caspian's jaw worked.

He looked at Luca with dead, hollow eyes.

"The West Side Port operations are yours. Take it over, and stay out of my sight."

The remaining mobsters murmured in shock.

The Boss had just given up a massive, highly profitable territory just to buy Luca off and keep him away from me.

Caspian didn't wait for a reply.

He dragged me out of the estate, his unrelenting grip bruising my skin.

He shoved me into the backseat of his armored SUV. The ride was bumpy, the city lights blurring through the tinted glass in suffocating silence.

We didn't go to the penthouse.

Instead, he dragged me into a heavily guarded suite in a downtown hotel.

He pulled me straight into the massive marble bathroom.

"Get in," he ordered, pointing at the empty bathtub.

"Screw you!" I snarled.

"No."

He reached over and turned on the warm water.

Before I could escape, he grabbed me by the waist, hoisted me up effortlessly, and forced me into the filling tub, fully clothed.

He stepped in with me, his expensive shoes submerging in the rising water. The warm water soaked my ruined dress and splashed over my arms, sending an immediate, searing sting through the deep cuts on my wrists.

I gasped, the pain almost blinding.

He pressed my back against his chest, his thick arms wrapping tightly around me, locking me firmly in place.

His possessiveness flared like wild fire, heavy and dark, pressing down on me like a boulder.

He buried his face in my soaking wet hair.

"Sienna, thank God you're alive."

His voice was a deep, suppressed whisper in my ear.

Unable to break free from his embrace, I could only stare blankly at the marble wall ahead.

"Drop the act, Caspian."

I knew the truth.

He had saved his precious Mafia Princess first.

I figured this sudden show of intimacy was nothing more than a twisted sense of territoriality, triggered by another man touching his "property."

The warm water soaked through my ruined dress, the wet fabric clinging tightly to my skin.

My resolve to break our marriage vows was as solid as bedrock.

Even though I had lost five years of memory, seeing Caspian recklessly risk himself to save Elena still sent an instinctive pang of pain through my heart.

I supposed it was the twenty-seven-year-old me struggling to extinguish the very last ember of love.

Caspian rested his chin on my shoulder, his intangible affection making me feel sick.

"I misjudged the situation; I didn't know you had fallen in too. Otherwise, I would have saved you first," he confessed, his voice raspy. "I swear on my honor, it will never happen again."

I watched the water level rise just below my knees, feeling nothing.

"It doesn't matter. I want a divorce. Bring the divorce papers tomorrow. From now on, whoever you want to save first, go right ahead."

Caspian's arm around my waist tightened, his fingers digging deeply into my flesh.

"The Don does not grant divorces," he denied flatly. "And I do not consent."

His voice dropped into a lethal whisper that sent chills down my spine.

I squirmed against him, splashing water over the edge of the porcelain tub.

"Why are you chaining me to you?" I demanded, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. "You value her life over mine. This marriage is a joke."

My elbow slammed hard into his ribs with a dull thud. Taking advantage of his muffled grunt, I scrambled over the edge of the tub, warm water cascading from the hem of my dress.

I retreated to the center of the bedroom, keeping the massive king-sized bed between us as a barrier.

Caspian stepped out of the bathroom, a puddle of water gathering at his feet.

His dark obsession eroded his features, twisting his handsome face into something terrifying.

He walked slowly toward me, shucking off his ruined suit jacket and tossing it to the floor.

"Back off!" I warned, grabbing a heavy brass lamp from the nightstand and wielding it like a club.

He ignored the weapon.

He kept advancing, his steps steady and resolute.

I raised my leg and kicked him hard in the thigh.

A flash of primal rage crossed Caspian's eyes, but he swallowed his anger, letting out a sharp hiss.

He lunged forward, snatching the lamp from my hands and throwing it across the room, where it shattered against the wall.

He grabbed my face, trying to force me into submission with a kiss, his lips pressing punishingly against mine.

"I will make it up to you, Sienna," he growled against my mouth. "You are mine."

I planted both hands firmly on his chest, using all my strength to break free from his hold.

Caspian's patience completely fractured, his last thread of restraint snapping.

He shoved me down onto the mattress, covering my body with his massive frame, intent on claiming his wife and re-establishing his dominance.

A sharp, relentless spike of pain erupted from the center of my skull.

My vision flashed blindingly white.

I screamed, my entire body trembling violently beneath him, as if some lingering trauma from my past life had violently collided with the present.

Caspian instantly shifted from predator to protector, the feral glint in his eyes vanishing.

He rolled off me, frantically checking my face, his hands hovering over me as if terrified of causing further harm.

"Sienna? Look at me."

As I clutched my head, his gaze darted down to my hands.

He froze, his throat tight, unable to breathe.

The warm water in the bathtub had dissolved the adhesive on the waterproof bandages. The struggle had dislodged them, and the thick gauze had peeled away from my skin.

They were completely soaked in bright crimson blood, creating a stark, horrifying contrast against the white bedsheets.

Caspian grabbed my forearms and, with trembling fingers, tore the gauze away.

He stared at the deep, jagged cuts across my veins.

His pupils dilated with horror; the reality of what he was seeing finally convinced him.

He realized the clinic's report was wrong.

He realized I had truly intended to end my life, and that I had meant every single cut.

The Don let out a roar of absolute terror and rage that shook the walls of the suite—a sound of utter devastation.

"Who gave you permission to die?!"

I looked up at his horrified face, my own expression cold, devoid of an ounce of pity, feeling only absurdity.

"You were willing to let me drown, so why do you care about my wrists?"