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It didn’t even take that long. Barely an hour later her email chimed with the message she’d been waiting for.

Her hand hovered over the tab. Why was she doing this?

She already knew the answer… but it had been bugging her for all the years since he’d told her.

There was not now and nor had there ever been any sign of a wife, so Dani had made up all kinds of scenarios in her mind.

Sucking in a breath and stabbing the key, she opened the file and felt her heart drop when she found a note from Kris with a copy of a marriage certificate. Her heart cried all over again as she read the report.

‘There is only one marriage on record for anyone with the name Zack Kincaid.’

With trembling fingers, Dani scrolled down the page.

While there was no evidence of Zack - her Zack - having any involvement with a woman of the same name, the certificate was proof that one Zack Kincaid had been married to an Emylyah Baskov by a justice of the peace just over eighteen years ago…

Tears pricked at her eyes and Dani blinked hard to contain them. Why was she so surprised? He’d admitted it, hadn’t he?

Except…

Her mind raced as she checked and rechecked the wedding date on the document.

She didn’t know Zack’s date of birth. They hadn’t had that kind of relationship.

But she did know his age. And eighteen years ago - over eighteen years ago - he would only have been…

fifteen! Which must mean … this had to be another man’s marriage certificate.

The relief threatening to overwhelm her should have been a red flag, but before Dani could come to terms with it, another, stronger emotion bubbled up inside her.

Anger.

If that was the only marriage listed in the name of Zack Kincaid, and the certificate wasn’t his, that meant … He’d lied to her!

And that left yet another question. Why?

Dani had already known there was no obvious spouse in Zack’s orbit.

Okay, so she admitted it. After they split up, she may have gotten a little stalkerish and scoured every magazine and newspaper article she could find.

He’d been linked to other women, absolutely; the man was no saint.

But certainly never a wife, and neither was there even the smallest mention of anyone named Emylyah Bascov as far as Dani could recall. It wasn’t exactly a common name.

Then again, there was nothing tying him to her, either. But then, kink partners or mistresses weren’t the kind of women you paraded on your arm to grandiose functions. She knew that better than anyone.

But Dani had suspected, hadn’t she? She’d suspected he’d told her the lie that he was married because he’d wanted a sure-fire excuse to keep their relationship…

what? It still didn’t make sense. Or did it?

Maybe he’d assumed she’d be fine to continue as his mistress.

Never expecting anything more from him, just like her mother had never expected more from her own sperm donor.

Or maybe he really was just like her uncle with different women slotted into different categories, and kinky career women obviously weren’t the right kind of wife material.

Likely too independent and headstrong. She’d seen it before.

Kink was fine for a mistress or side piece. But not the stuff wives were made of.

Both Zio Lorenzo and her mother had always had a lot to say on that subject. Not that her mother could talk with the way she lived her life.

Bastards! All of them.

Dani fisted her fingers in her long, dark hair and tugged.

She needed to get a grip. Knowing Zack wasn’t married changed nothing.

He was here for business, nothing more. And she’d worked too hard to let Zack Kincaid waltz back in and disrupt the life she'd rebuilt.

He was just as dangerous as her father and uncle.

More so, because he had the ability to sway her more than anybody else.

She had to stay strong and hold on to her ideals. Stay true to herself.

Men were cheating bastards. Even Luca, the only man she truly trusted, had a son with a married woman. He’d just gone about it in a different way, and seduced Zoe’s husband, Ryan, as well.

The vicious thought brought Dani up short, shocking her.

Jesus, she needed to stop this! Neither Luca, nor Ryan and Zoe, deserved that kind of disservice from her.

They were in a consensual poly relationship and had been for years.

It was one of several among the islands’ employees, and there was no cheating or deceit involved.

Such a thought was so far beneath her, she was ashamed.

In fact, she’d been overjoyed when Luca had stood up to Lorenzo’s old-fashioned ideals and made it quite clear that her uncle needed to accept Matteo as his heir, because there would be no others.

Disgusted with herself, she deleted the email and closed out her computer, but as Dani left her office, the memory of Zack’s intense gaze lingered. All these years later, and she was still a fool for the man. He still made her act out of character. It was unnerving.

Dani straightened her shoulders, determination setting in. She'd survived Zack Kincaid once. She could do it again. This time, she was stronger, older, wiser. She wouldn't let her guard down, no matter how much her lady garden was begging to be watered.

That hussy could make do with BOB. Her battery-operated boyfriend had never let her down.