The Foiled Plan (War of Sins Book 2)

His features lighten and a new determination appears on his face.

Leaving one gun with me, he takes one in each hand as he signals me to stay put behind a tree.

It’s a flurry of bullets, the noise getting increasingly louder. All the while, I’m praying that nothing will happen to Raf and that I won’t become a widow again.

Clutching the gun, I mentally go over the steps Raf had shown me, making sure the safety is off before I rest my finger lightly on the trigger. Somehow the position isn’t wholly unfamiliar. My mind may find it foreign, but my body doesn’t as I grasp on to the gun with unusual ease.

Grunts permeate the air, the sound of fighting almost deafening in the dead of the night. My heart thunders in my chest as I think about Raf all alone out there and the fact that I’m so freaking useless I can’t help him.

I wish I were like Yuyu.

After seeing the video, a lot of things are starting to make sense, particularly why her and my brother are such a good fit—they’re both bloodthirsty.

But in this situation, I find that being bloodthirsty isn’t that bad. No, when it’s your life on the line, there’s only one thing you can do—fight.

Shaking in my hiding space, I barely react when I feel something against my temple, the cold of the steel immediately letting me know what it is.

‘Don’t move,’ a voice says, urging me to get up and kicking the gun from my hand.

As I stand up, a man sneaks behind me, one hand against my waist, the other holding the gun to my temple as he leads me towards a small clearing.

Sweat gathers all around my forehead, the thought of dying making me hyperventilate.

As soon as we reach the open space, I note Raf and another five men engaged in a standstill.

He has one of the men against him, holding him as a shield as he points his gun towards the other four.

On the ground, there are at least three or four corpses, blood staining the grass and making it look an odd color in the moonlight.

Raf’s eyes connect with mine as his nostrils flare in anger at the sight of a gun jabbed against my head.

‘You want the girl to live, you let him go,’ the man behind me spits the words, jabbing the butt of the gun into my temple and making me wince.

A putrid smell wafts from him, and I almost gag, my face contorting in discomfort.

Raf notes this too, narrowing his eyes at me as he peruses my form for any damage.

‘You’ll kill us both anyway,’ he says, raising a brow.

‘True,’ the man behind me guffaws. ‘But at least you won’t see her die first,’ he continues laughing.

Across the small distance, our eyes meet and I can see his mind hard at work calculating all the possibilities.

With four other men pointing guns at him, and me already captured, the odds are really slim.

‘One question first. Since I will die anyway,’ Raf starts, taking a step forward with his own hostage.

The other men jerk back, following his movements closely.

‘Who sent you? Michele Guerra?’

The man scoffs.

‘I don’t know no Michele Guerra,’ he states. ‘You’re our ticket to a million bucks.’

‘Right,’ Raf almost rolls his eyes at the obvious. ‘But who is paying the money?’

‘No business of yours,’ he barks, lowering his head to my cheek, his breath on my skin.

‘Compadre, cortala. Ya es tarde y nos costaron dos coches. Mata a la puta y yo tiro al gringo,’ another calls out. ‘Sabes que si no nos apuramos, Gato y sus chicos nos van a delantar.’

‘Ya, se. Pero ella no tiene que morir. Podemos divertirnos poquito,’ he says right as he takes a strand of my hair between his meaty fingers, bringing it to his nose, ‘no es cada dia que encontramos una alta dama como esta,’ he laughs, and so do the others, nodding their heads.

Dread fills me to the brim, and I barely register that I understand everything they’re saying—me, the girl who could barely string together two words of Spanish.

I don’t get to dwell on it, though, as one shot resounds in the air.

My eyes grow wide, my body still in shock as the man next to me falls to the ground.

A succession of shots and one by one the others drop dead, their only shots of resistance hitting the man Raf’s using as his shield.

In almost no time, the threat is gone.

And as he drops the body to the floor, he runs straight to me, taking me in his arms.

‘We need to move. Fast. I don’t know how many others are after us. We can’t afford to go back to the highway now.’

‘Ok,’ I nod, a relief unlike any other coursing through my veins.

At this point, I would follow him to the end of the earth.

Before we leave, though, he picks up all the weapons from the dead, using one man’s shirt to form a makeshift pouch to carry them.

‘Let’s go,’ he says, taking my hand in his and steering me even deeper in the woods.

We walk and walk, and while my mind is still firmly stuck on the deadly encounter with those men, I know we have no time to waste with my useless inquiries.

Still, I can’t help but be in awe of him.

One moment I’d thought that was it, that they would kill him and rape me, and the next I was staring at a clearing full of corpses. The speed with which he’d shot them had been… Well, quite frankly frightening. But more than anything, it has given me the deep sense of security that I’ve always searched for.

A glance at his profile—half swathed in darkness, half bathed in moonlight—and I feel my heart skip a beat, my throat becoming dry.

‘Are you tired?’ He asks as we stop for a short while, but I just shake my head, unable to form the words.

It’s only when my eyes finally take him in—all of him—that I realize something is wrong.

‘Raf…’ his name is barely a whisper on my lips as my eyes settle on his torso.

Instinctively, my hands go up, my fingers brushing against his shirt, the white stained with red in a spot that’s becoming increasingly more pronounced.

‘Is that… Did you get shot?’ I swallow hard at the thought, because in the situation we’re in—with no help in sight—this could be fatal.

‘No,’ his hand covers mine. ‘I’m sure it’s just a scratch. I’ll see about it when we get to safety. Don’t worry about me.’

‘But…’

Just as I’m about to protest, a loud roaring sound explodes in the sky followed by a sudden downpour.

‘Shit,’ he mutters.

The rain is like a curtain as it drenches us to the skin in a matter of seconds.

‘Run,’ he says, a huge grin on his face—one that I unwittingly share as I take his hand.

A giggle escapes me as we keep on running, aimless and with the rain on our side.

The wind brushes against my wet skin, goosebumps appearing all over as a shiver overtakes my body. But even as I feel the cold hit my body, I can’t stop the joy that spreads deep within me. I ground myself in the present, enjoying my hand in his, the rain against our bodies as we run towards the unknown.

I don’t know how much time passes. So lost I am in the moment and in him that I barely realize he’s trying to point something in the distance.

‘It’s a hunting area. It makes sense that there would be a hunting lodge,’ Raf explains as he catches his breath.

We walk towards the area he’d pointed at, finding a small hunting lodge.

A one room building with a door and two windows on each side, it looks well kept. Going straight for the door, though, I realize it’s locked.

‘How are we…’ Just as I’m about to ask how we’re going to access it, he lets go of my hand, wrapping his fist in a material and banging it against the window to break it.

The more I think he can’t amaze me more, the more he does. Especially as not two seconds later he has the door open, inviting me inside.

‘This looks so cozy,’ I breathe out as I scan the small room.

A fireplace in the middle, it has a small station that houses tools, a closet and a one person bed.

‘It better be. Since it’s where we’ll sleep tonight,’ Raf mentions.

‘What?’ I whip my head around just as he closes the door.

‘We can’t wander in the rain forever,’ he shrugs, moving to the shattered window and using a cloth to cover it up.

‘I guess you’re right,’ I mumble as I try to make myself more comfortable.

‘They left this fully stocked.’

He points to the batch of wood next to the fireplace, immediately starting to tend to that.

‘Yeah. There are even clean sheets and blankets,’ I note as I look through the closet.

I also find canned food and drinking water.

‘Do you think they will come after us here?’ I turn to see the spark of fire come to life, and Raf feeding it more wood and feeding the fire.

‘If they do, we’ll be ready for them,’ he nods to the weapons. ‘But I doubt they will find us. We’re very deep in the woods. I think they will cut their losses this time.’

‘You’re right,’ I nod. ‘But…’ I frown. ‘If your brother didn’t send them, then who?’

‘Someone very close to my brother, and who stands to win from having his favor,’ he answers grimly. ‘His name is Ortega,’ he says as he gives me a short account on his partnership with Michele.

‘I see,’ I nod, getting closer to the fire.

My hands are on my arms as I try to banish the cold away, but even the blazing flames don’t seem to work very well.

‘Take off your dress.’ Raf’s booming voice almost makes me jump.

‘What… No.’ My eyes widen at him.

‘Come on. You’ll freeze to death otherwise.’

‘I’m not taking my dress off,’ I say resolutely, crossing my arms over my chest.

‘Noelle,’ he sighs, ‘I’ve already seen you naked.’

‘Yeah but…’ Not like this.

He’s seen me naked when we were still at odds with each other. When I wanted to prove a point with my nakedness and make him swallow his words.

‘Suit yourself,’ he shrugs, moving away and starting to undress.

I blink repeatedly as he takes off his shirt, his bare chest coming into view. Next, his hands are on his belt, unbuckling it.

Without even thinking, I whirl around, my eyes snapping shut.

‘Noelle?’

‘Just…put on a sheet or something after you’re done,’ I mumble awkwardly.

‘Why? It’s not as if you haven’t seen a naked man before,’ he jokes in a playful tone, and I swallow uncomfortably.

‘Not…really,’ I reply in a barely audible whisper.

I must admit that I’ve had a few peeks at Raf, but I’ve never seen more than a flash. Other than that… My mind briefly wanders to Sergio and our wedding night. I’d gotten a glimpse of his naked body then, but it had been through swollen eyes as I laid on the floor, bleeding and unable to move. I’d been forced to watched him fuck another woman because I’d dared to refuse his husbandly rights. And then he…

‘Noelle,’ Raf’s voice is in my ear, his hands finding my shoulders as he turns me around to face him.

I muster the courage to peek at his lower half, glad to see he’s still wearing his pants.

‘What do you mean not really?’ He asks, his hand coming up to cup my cheek in a gentle caress.

‘I know I had a child but…’ I shake my head. ‘I don’t remember,’ I whisper, not daring to meet his eyes.

‘What do you not remember?’ He continues to probe, but I can only shake my head at him, embarrassment overtaking me.

‘I don’t want to talk about that,’ I say flippantly, making to move.

Because I don’t want to air my lack of experience in front of him. Not when it’s already something that’s constantly on my mind.

‘You never want to talk about that…’ He holds on to me, his hands hot from the fire, their warmth seeping into my skin.

‘What about you then?’ I shoot back, annoyance spearing through me. There’s a reason why I haven’t wanted to talk about the past. About the fact that I found out I had a baby who died, or that I may never have children again. There’s a reason why it’s barely a comfortable topic to broach with my therapist. Yet he can’t say the same about his situation.

‘You’re just as evasive. Every time I question you about your past, you change the topic.’

‘What are you talking about?’ He frowns at me, seeming genuinely confused.

‘What’s your relationship with Sisi?’ I push my chin up as I raise my brow in question.

‘What?’ He repeats in disbelief.

‘You were engaged to her.’

‘Yes. I was engaged to her. That’s all,’ he shrugs, looking at me as if I’ve lost my mind.

‘Well? Elaborate,’ I tap my foot impatiently.

‘Noelle,’ he groans, his big hands engulfing my shoulders as he keeps me in place.

‘What? Don’t tell me I’m being unreasonable again.’

‘You are. I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on her. We were engaged briefly. Her husband kidnapped her from the altar and we didn’t get married. It’s as simple as that.’

‘So you would have married her if not for that. Did you love her?’ My lips tremble as I ask the question.

‘Did I…. Noelle, I don’t see how that’s any of your business,’ he states resolutely, his expression aggravated.