VENOMOUS VOWS

The first time Isabella Hart saw Alexander Blackwood, he was standing beside her father's coffin. The second time, he was asking her to marry him. And the third time would be the night she learned that the devil didn't always come dressed in red. Sometimes, he wore a perfectly tailored black suit, smelled of expensive cologne, and smiled like he already owned your soul. Rain hammered against the windows of the Hart family mansion as Isabella stood in the center of her father's study, staring at the man who had just destroyed her entire world with six quiet words. "Marry me, Isabella, and I'll save your family." She laughed. Not because anything was funny, but because the alternative was falling apart in front of the most dangerous man in the city. Alexander Blackwood didn't look offended. He didn't even blink. He simply adjusted the cuff of his black shirt and waited for her laughter to die. "Have you lost your mind?" she demanded. "Not recently." "My father has been dead for three days, and you've come into his house to make a business proposal out of my grief?" "Your father owed me forty million dollars." The words landed like a slap. Isabella went still. Forty million? Her father had been wealthy. Powerful. Respected. Their family name had opened doors that remained closed to ordinary people. But lately, there had been whispers about failing investments, unpaid debts, and meetings that ended with her father looking ten years older. She had dismissed them as rumors. Now she wished she hadn't. "That's impossible," she whispered. Alexander reached into his jacket and placed a thick envelope on the desk. "Your father signed the agreements himself. He used your family's estate as collateral." Her fingers trembled as she opened the envelope. There were bank statements, legal documents, and her father's unmistakable signature. Then she saw the final page. Her own name. Isabella Hart. Beneath it was a document stating that if the debt remained unpaid, the estate and its remaining assets would be transferred to Blackwood Holdings. She couldn't breathe. "This isn't mine," she said. "I never signed this." "No. You didn't." "Then why is my name here?" For the first time, Alexander's expression changed. Something cold moved behind his eyes. "That's a question you should have asked your father while he was alive." She slapped him. The sound cracked through the study. Alexander's head turned slightly with the impact. For one terrible second, the room fell silent except for the rain. Then he slowly faced her again. He touched his cheek, looked at the faint redness on his skin, and smiled. It was not a kind smile. "Your father had the same temper." "Don't you dare speak about him." "Then stop pretending he was an innocent man." Her eyes burned with tears she refused to shed. "What exactly do you want from me?" "You." The answer came too quickly. Isabella stared at him. Alexander stepped around the desk, his polished shoes soundless against the carpet. "I want you to marry me. In exchange, every debt attached to your family will disappear. Your mother keeps her house. Your younger brother keeps his future. No lawsuits. No public humiliation. No creditors at your door." "And what do you get?" His gaze settled on her face. "A wife." "Find one who actually wants you." "I could have a hundred women begging for my ring by tomorrow morning." "Then go choose one." "I don't want them." The certainty in his voice unsettled her more than the threat. "Why me?" For a moment, he said nothing. Then he reached into his pocket and removed a small silver pendant. Isabella stopped breathing. She knew that pendant. It had belonged to her mother before she died. Isabella had last seen it in a locked drawer in her father's bedroom, years ago. "Where did you get that?" Alexander held it between two fingers. "Your father gave it to me." "You're lying." "Am I?" She snatched for it, but he closed his hand. "Marry me, Isabella." "No." "Think carefully." "I have." "Your brother's university fees are overdue. Your mother's medical bills are unpaid. And by Monday morning, the bank will begin proceedings against this estate." She hated him for knowing. She hated herself for listening. Most of all, she hated that he was right. "If I agree," she said, forcing the words through her throat, "you leave my family alone. Completely. You never use them against me." "Agreed." "You don't touch me without my permission." Something unreadable flickered across his face. "Agreed." "And you tell me the truth about my father." This time, the silence lasted longer. "That," Alexander said, "depends on what you're prepared to learn." Her stomach twisted. "Then we have no deal." He placed the pendant on the desk between them. "Your father didn't die because he was unlucky, Isabella." The room seemed to tilt. "What did you say?" Alexander buttoned his jacket. "He died because someone discovered what he had done. And if you want to know who was responsible, you should stop asking why I'm marrying you." He moved toward the door. "Start asking why your father chose me to protect you." "Alexander!" He paused. She hated the desperation in her own voice. "When is the wedding?" He looked back at her. "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow? That's insane!" "You have until midnight to change your mind." "And if I don't show up?" His smile returned. "Then at least one of us will lose everything." The door closed behind him. Isabella stood alone in the study, surrounded by the ghosts of her father's secrets. For several minutes, she couldn't move. Then she picked up the silver pendant and turned it over. There was something engraved on the back that she had never noticed before. Three words. TRUST NO BLACKWOOD. Her blood turned cold. Because beneath the warning was a date. The date her mother had died. And in her father's handwriting, so faint she almost missed it, were four final words. He killed her first. Isabella stumbled backward. The pendant slipped from her fingers and struck the floor. Outside, a black car waited beneath the rain. Alexander sat inside, watching the mansion through the tinted window. His phone vibrated. One message appeared on the screen. SHE FOUND THE PENDANT. He stared at it for a long moment before typing his reply. Then the wedding happens tonight. He pressed send. And for the first time that evening, the devil looked afraid.