The dress Silas sent was the color of dried blood. It was heavy silk, floor-length, and fit me like a second skin. As I looked in the mirror, I didn't recognize the girl staring back. The dark circles under my eyes were hidden by expensive makeup, and the black diamond on my finger caught the light every time I moved.
"You look like you're going to a funeral," Silas said from the doorway.
I didn't turn around. "Maybe I am. Is this the part where your friends decide if I'm worth more alive or dead?"
Silas walked up behind me. He didn't touch me, but I could feel the heat radiating off his body. In his tuxedo, he looked even more dangerous—like a blade hidden in velvet. "The Syndicate Council doesn't have friends, Elara. They have interests. Right now, their interest is figuring out why I married a hacker instead of killing her father."
"And what's the answer?" I asked, meeting his eyes in the reflection.
"The answer is that you're mine," he whispered. "And in this world, nobody touches what belongs to Silas Vane."
He reached out and draped a heavy diamond necklace around my neck. His fingers brushed my skin, and despite myself, a shiver ran down my spine. It wasn't just fear anymore. It was something sharper, something I didn't want to name.
"Stay close to me," he warned. "Don't eat anything I don't touch first. and for God's sake, Elara—keep your eyes open."
The Council meeting wasn't held in a boardroom. It was held in a private underground club that smelled of expensive cigars and old secrets. As we walked in, the music stopped. The air turned cold.
Twelve men and women sat around a long, obsidian table. These were the people who ran the city's docks, the banks, and the shadows. In the center sat Viktor, Silas's right-hand man. He was older, with a scarred face and eyes that moved like a snake's.
"Silas," Viktor said, his voice a gravelly chain-smoker's rasp. "We were beginning to think you'd forgotten us. And this must be the bride who cost us forty million dollars."
Silas pulled out a chair for me, his hand resting firmly on my shoulder. "Elara isn't a cost, Viktor. She's an investment. She's already mapped the holes in our North Wing encryption. She found things your 'experts' missed for months."
I felt Viktor's gaze crawl over me. It felt slimy. "A pretty face and a fast brain. Dangerous combination. But the Council is worried, Silas. Arthur's debt is still unpaid. We don't like waiting."
"The debt will be paid," Silas said, his voice turning to ice. "Unless you're questioning my judgment?"
The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. I looked around the table, my eyes scanning the faces. That's when I saw it. One of the men at the end of the table was sweating. He kept glancing at a small device in his lap, his thumbs twitching.
I leaned closer to Silas, pretending to whisper something romantic. "The man in the blue tie," I breathed into his ear. "He's hacking the room's localized network. He's bypassing the security jammer."
Silas didn't move a muscle, but I felt his grip on my shoulder tighten. "Are you sure?"
"I built the jammer's software, Silas. I know when someone is picking the lock."
Suddenly, the lights flickered. A high-pitched whine filled the room, making everyone wince.
"What is this?" Viktor shouted, standing up.
"An assassination," I whispered.
The glass wall at the end of the club shattered. Armed men in tactical gear swarmed the room. The Council members scrambled, but Silas was faster. He flipped the heavy obsidian table on its side, pulling me down behind the thick stone just as the first round of bullets hissed over our heads.
"Stay down!" Silas commanded. He pulled a handgun from his waistband, his face calm and focused. He looked at home in the chaos.
"Silas, the door is locked from the outside!" someone screamed.
"Elara," Silas turned to me, his eyes intense. "Can you open it?"
I looked at the control panel on the wall, ten feet away across a floor covered in broken glass and flying lead. "I need to get to that terminal. If I can get into the cloud, I can override the lockdown."
"I'll cover you," Silas said. He didn't ask if I was scared. He didn't ask if I could do it. He just trusted me.
He stood up and began firing, his shots precise and deadly. I stayed low, crawling through the glass. My knees bled, and my heart felt like it was going to burst, but I reached the panel. I ripped the cover off, pulled a small cable from my bracelet—the one I'd hidden there this morning—and plugged into the system.
My fingers blurred across the screen. Code. Bypass. Override. Locked. Locked. Locked.
"Come on," I hissed.
A bullet hit the wall inches from my head, showering me in plaster. I didn't flinch. I found the master loop, injected a virus I'd written years ago, and slammed my hand against the 'Enter' key.
The heavy steel doors hissed open.
"Go! Move!" Silas roared at the Council members.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the exit. We ran through the kitchen, past the smoking remains of the security team, and out into the rainy alleyway where his SUV was waiting.
He shoved me into the car and slammed the door, breathing hard. His white shirt was stained with soot and a splash of blood that wasn't his. He looked at me—really looked at me—and for the first time, I didn't see the monster. I saw a man who was impressed.
"You saved them," I panted, wiping blood from a cut on my cheek. "You saved the Council."
"I saved you," Silas corrected. He reached out, his thumb brushing the blood away. "The Council can burn. But you... you're the only person in this city who didn't run when the bullets started flying."
He leaned back against the seat, his eyes dark. "Viktor didn't look surprised, Elara. Did you notice?"
I nodded. "He knew the jammer was going down before it happened."
Silas turned his head to look at me, a dangerous, beautiful smile on his lips. "It looks like we have a common enemy. Which means you aren't just my wife anymore. You're my partner."
I looked at the black ring on my finger. The 'Enemies' part of our contract was still there, but as the car sped away into the night, I realized the 'Lovers' part was becoming a much bigger threat to my heart.