The Counterfeit Lover (War of Sins Book 3)

Noelle nestles closer in my arms and I rest the tip of my chin on top of her head, holding her back flush to my chest.

The conversation flows and soon, it’s like the incident in the bathroom never happened.

Not for me, though. Not when I can still vividly picture the way she’d been huddled in a corner, about to be hurt by that madwoman.

And it’s all because of me.

‘You know I would never reciprocate another woman’s advances, right?’ I feel the need to clarify. I don’t think I could forgive myself if my pretty girl ever doubted my loyalty. Not when it would never waver.

She stiffens in my arms for a moment. It’s a fleeting reaction, but I recognize it, nonetheless.

Slowly, she tilts her head to the side, her eyes seeking mine.

‘I know. Just like I know you would never raise your hand against a woman,’ she says as she takes my hand in hers, bringing it to her cheek.

I shake my head.

‘But that’s just the thing, pretty girl,’ I take a deep breath. ‘For you, I find that I no longer have any principles.’

Her eyes widen, her lashes fluttering in confusion.

‘Raf…’

‘For you I’m capable of things I never thought possible. But there’s always only one thing holding me back,’ I whisper in a low voice so that only she can hear me.

Maybe this conversation is best had in the privacy of our home. But I don’t want her to doubt that anything would ever stand in my way when it comes to her.

‘What?’ She asks tentatively, her tongue peeking out to lick her lips as her eyes are glued to mine.

‘You,’ I simply state.

‘I don’t understand…’ she trails off, frowning.

‘You see,’ I give her a sad smile. ‘It would have been so easy to be rude, or get physical to get my point across. But then you would have seen that. You would have seen and…’ I swipe my thumb over her lips in gentle, smooth circles. ‘I never want you to put me in the same category as Sergio. I never want you to look at me and see the past. And I never, never, want you to be afraid of me. Whether consciously or unconsciously.’

‘Raf, you…’

‘When it comes to you I’m more than capable to be firm, aggressive—against anyone. But you always see the best in me,’ I chuckle. ‘You think I’m a gentleman when sometimes my thoughts are as ungentlemanly as they can get. And that’s the thing. I don’t want you to see me differently. I don’t want you to see me as anything but your protector,’ I tell her sincerely.

‘I could never see you as anything else,’ she whispers, leaning in. ‘Because I know everything you do is for me. I know that,’ she asserts firmly.

Her breath is on my lips. Time stills as the world becomes just a buzzing noise in my ears—one I can easily shut off.

‘I’ll never take the chance, Noelle,’ I confess. ‘What I can promise you is that I will always protect you, and sometimes that means protecting you from myself too.’

She purses her lips, clearly about to argue with that. But I don’t let her.

Instead, I simply shush her with my lips, giving myself a taste of her sweetness to serve as relief for the tension mounting inside of me.

It surprises me how forward I am with her. In public. When I know she doesn’t like the be the center of attention.

Since that time at her brother’s ball, I’d realized she doesn’t like to draw attention to herself—especially not in this manner. So I’ve attempted to comport myself accordingly.

I may suffocate with want at times, but it’s a small price to pay to ensure she’s happy.

Just this time.

She releases a small sigh before returning the kiss full force, her arms wounding around my neck as she gives herself to the embrace.

It’s only an increasingly louder coughing sound that makes us break apart, both of us flushed and already panting.

And as I raise my eyes to the table, my sight already fogged with desire, I realize how improper I’ve been with her—again.

‘I see you’re trying to catch up, lover boy,’ Vlad chuckles, while Sisi has a knowing smile on her face.

Venezia is the only one looking away, a blush staining her cheeks.

‘My apologizes,’ I offer, arranging Noelle in my lap once more, this time more setting-appropriate.

‘You don’t have to apologize, Raf,’ Sisi waves a hand in the air. ‘You can’t imagine how happy I am seeing you two like this. Vlad is, too,’ she says just as she elbows Vlad in his side, his cue to add something too.

‘Of course I’m happy to see him like that,’ he grumbles to her. A play of her eyebrows and he turns, directing his words to us.

A smile plays at my lips at the silent exchange, especially as Vlad continues talking.

‘As a matter of fact, I can officially allow you in my home now.’

‘You mean we weren’t allowed before?’ Noelle asks, barely holding a laugh.

‘Not…exactly,’ Vlad sheepishly responds, which earns him a look from Sisi. ‘From now on I won’t close the door in your faces. How’s that for an improvement?’

‘I’m impressed, Vlad,’ I chuckle. ‘That is definitely an improvement. Your husband is exceedingly generous today, Sisi.’

‘Right,’ she adds dryly, shaking her head half in amusement, half in resignation. I can’t imagine what it must be like living with Vlad, and I certainly don’t envy her that.

‘Come on, hell girl. Don’t I deserve a prize for that?’ He leans into her, fluttering his lashes suggestively before whispering something in her ear.

By the blush that climbs up Sisi’s cheeks, I can wager a guess it’s not anything PG-13.

 ‘You’ll have to forgive Vlad, again. He’s not used to being social,’ Sisi makes the excuse for him, her face still red from whatever Vlad told her.

‘I reckon we have that in common,’ I add, surprised to find myself agreeing with Vlad for once, which earns me a playful wink from him.

‘We should do this more often. Next time we can invite Catalina too. She could certainly use the distraction,’ Sisi suggests. The conversation turns to Marcello and his case once more as we try to come up with ideas that could help him.

Noelle is mostly quiet, listening attentively but not contributing, and I have to wonder if she’s still shaken from before.

By God, she’d looked so small and helpless, and her terrified expression just won’t leave my mind.

Most of the time, I try to ground myself in the present and enjoy our time together, yet sometimes it’s impossible to ignore the past—our shared past. To think that someone could have hurt her… Even worse, to think that someone had done it while I’d been languishing in my cell, helpless to do anything to prevent it… That simply kills me.

I’ve tried not to overwhelm her with my feelings, or the fact that the past is still fresh in my mind, with the good or the bad. She seems content as we are, and I certainly don’t want to mar our happiness with my worries and doubts.

Yet seeing her about to be hurt today opened up that door again, threatening to send me in a spiral of what-ifs.

My arms instinctively tighten around her.

She’s so small, so fucking frail… I squeeze my eyes shut as the images of her hospital records flash before me again—those pictures of her blue and purple, her entire body covered in bruises and bleeding wounds. How could anyone have done that to her? How could anyone have laid a hand against her?

It scares me to consider what I would have done to Sergio had he still been alive. For her, I would turn into a monster ready to burn down the entire world if necessary.

Only for her.

Those thoughts alone would terrify me if I hadn’t already accepted that our relationship is anything but ordinary. That what I feel for her doesn’t need an explanation, or a justification.

It just is—a type of primal feeling that does not require thinking or direction for it has some of its own. Just like how I’ve fallen for her time and time again, it seems that I’m forever meant to be hers.

I may not deserve her. Not with the blood on my hands and the demons that still plague my mind. But I’m keeping her, regardless.

I’ll just have to be careful not to taint her purity with the weight of my sins.

‘We have a spare bedroom. Venezia can come stay with us when you’re away,’ Noelle assures Sisi, since she and Vlad have periods when they go abroad on missions.

‘Thank you, that’s very sweet of you. Would you mind that, Zia?’ Sisi turns to Venezia, asking for her opinion.

She strains a smile, shaking her head.

‘I’d like that,’ she eventually replies, her eyes meeting Noelle’s.

‘Perfect. It’s settled then!’

We finish eating and soon we’re ready to leave. Heading through the back, we go to the underground VIP parking where we’d left our cars.

I hold tightly on to Noelle’s hand as she laughs at something Sisi says, her entire face lighting up with joy. My chest warms with pleasure at her levity and the fact that she’s become more comfortable with Sisi and Venezia. I truly want her to form connections and have the things she was never allowed to have under her brother’s tyrannical rule. And though I might be a little jealous at the time she’s not spending with me, as long as she’s happy then I’m happy.

She deserves this after everything she’s been through. Hell, she deserves so, so much more. Certainly more than me. But because she is mine and I’m hers, I’ll do my best to ensure she never lacks for anything.

Still smiling, she tips up her head, her gaze finding mine as she gives me that look of hers—one that promises both sweetness and spice. My lips curl up as I bring her hand to my lips, bending slightly to kiss the inside of her wrist.

‘Home,’ she whispers in a low voice, and I know exactly what she has in mind.

Hell if I’m not already looking forward to it.

As I find myself getting increasingly lost in her gaze and everything she makes me feel, I tune out everything around us, the small noises in the background fading away until the only thing I can hear is her breath. Her increasingly heated, probably thinking of all the ways I’ll fuck her, breath. And my own picks up in response.

It’s a split of a second later that my senses reel, instinct taking over as I pull her in my arms, my back making contact with the hard pavement just as a car drives at full speed towards us.

The fog on my mind immediately dispels and I’m thrust forward into survival mode. Without thinking, I reach for the gun I have stashed in the back of my belt, getting in position.

Vlad, Sisi and Venezia are just a few feet away, already primed for danger too. Vlad instructs Sisi and Venezia to get cover while I nod for Noelle to follow them and do the same.

His gaze meets mine and I nod, knowing it couldn’t be a random act that a car would try to run us over here—certainly not without motive.

Vlad has a gun in each hand as he assesses the area, waiting for the worst to come.

We communicate silently with our eyes and hand movements, both of us assuming our stances behind a different car as we wait.

Sure enough, it doesn’t take long for a storm of bullets to make their way towards us, hitting the cars and triggering the alarms.

‘Automatic,’ I mouth to Vlad who nods grimly. Due to the velocity of the bullets, they have the technological advantage over us, and with how confined the area is, that advantage might become more marked as our movements become more limited.

‘Let’s distract them,’ he suggests, motioning to the other side of the parking lot. By moving away, we’d be taking their attention off the women.

Nodding, I wait until there’s a slight break in the shooting before I roll over, more or less dashing for the car on the other side. Vlad does the same, and we manage to get to our designated spots with little issue.

‘We only need to hold them off for a while,’ he says as his back meets mine, our eyes still on the potential targets. ‘The alarm will inform Enzo’s personnel and he will send back-up.’

‘Going by their weapons, they counted on that. So they either want to take us all out at once, or they want to send a warning.’

‘If this is a warning, then we should know who issued it soon enough.’

Just as he says that, one of the cars next to us takes a hit, the noise from the explosion making my eardrums throb. We don’t wait, though, moving immediately and seeking cover behind another car.

‘I rather think they’re going for the kill—a fast kill,’ I grimace.

Since we’d moved, they hadn’t once focused their attention on the women. That in itself says everything. They’re either after Vlad or me. And I reckon this is the type of kill on sight mission, not one to draw things out by taking hostages or playing strategically.

No, it’s a simple show of brute force.

‘They will have to,’ he motions to the fire alarms now blaring in the parking lot, the sprinklers already hard at work to extinguish the fire from the car that had been hit. ‘They won’t have much longer.’

‘Did you see how many there are?’

It had been one car only, but we can’t discount the fact that more people could have been hiding here before.

‘At least four. Two on that side, and I think they’re carrying the heavy artillery,’ Vlad points to a far right corner. ‘I also spotted movement towards the other end, but I haven’t seen shots from that direction.’

‘That’s too close to the girls for my liking,’ I purse my lips. Even if they don’t have the automatic weapons the others do, I don’t want to risk anything.

‘Sisi can take care of herself. But I don’t think she can cover for both Venezia and Noelle,’ Vlad comments grimly. We’re both wet at this point from the onslaught of water.

‘Let’s do this, then,’ I start, my eyes on any potential movement from the enemy side. ‘Chances are they are after me,’ I say as I give him a short spiel of why that could be a possibility. ‘You go back to the girls, and I’ll try to get their attention. If they are after me, then they will surely take the bait and leave you alone.’

‘Fine. We can do that. But how are you going to face them alone? Need I remind you they have automatic guns?’ Vlad mutters dryly.

‘I’ll manage it. You go protect them.’

He gives me an odd look for a moment before he finally nods.

‘Thank you,’ I nod at him just as he’s about to leave.

His lips spread in his signature smile and he give me a mock salute before diving in the open space again, running at full speed through the storm of bullets before taking cover on the other side.

For a moment, I just wait, needing the confirmation he’s fine. He gives me a thumbs up from the other side and I breathe relieve.

Knowing what I have to do I simply steel myself, hardening my focus. At this point I can’t afford any distraction—no matter how much I may worry about my pretty girl.

If I take out the men, then there will be no more danger to her, too. And with that thought, I thrust myself in the open. Almost like waving a red flag to indicate my location, I stay still for a moment before the shots start.

This time, however, the men are done hiding as they dash out just as I start running towards the other end of the parking.

Like I’d predicted, they don’t bother with the others, all of them following me.

To characterize it like a storm of bullets is an understatement, and I’m really taunting fate as I stop, bringing my gun up as soon as I have a clear shot.

It seems I have better aim than some of the men, as my bullet hits one of them in the chest—high enough that it’s unlikely it hit a bulletproof vest if he had worn one. But as that moment requires me to stand still, a bullet from the other side makes it almost too close to my body. I whirl at the last moment, and the shot catches the fabric of my blazer as the material flies in the air.

Seeing this as the perfect distraction, I simply shrug it off my back, wrapping my fist in the top part of the material and twirling around while whirling it in the air—all in an attempt to distract them from my exact location.

The advantage of an automatic weapon is that it fires a rapid succession of bullets. The disadvantage is that it’s not the lightest weapon, and while it continues to fire as long as the person wielding it keeps his finger on the trigger, it’s not easily maneuvered—especially since he’s not using a tripod for it.

In fact, as I continue to move through the curtain of bullets, I count down the seconds between the change of direction—even if it’s half-an inch to the right or left. That tells me the range of movement of the wielder as well as the fact that the more he uses it, the more tired he will become and that range will decrease.

Now that all of them are in the open, I can see that only one of them has a machine gun. Two guys have regular guns while the third one has what looks to be a portable missile.

Military grade equipment.

What the hell? Who could have possibly supplied these guys with those weapons?

That must have been what caused the car to explode.

Using the momentum to my advantage, I fire a few rounds on my own. From the corner of my eye I also see Vlad slowly inching his way closer to the position of the men. Giving me a small signal, I nod as I dash once more, momentarily getting their attention just as Vlad strikes, throwing one knife that embeds itself into the man holding the portable missile’s head.

With two out of the way, now there’s only the machine gun man and the other, slightly inconsequential one.

Both are startled to see themselves the last ones standing, so I take advantage of this to aim my gun towards the one holding the machine gun, firing when I’m confident I can get a good shot.

And I do. Just not a fatal one.

My bullet catches him in the side, blood immediately pouring out.

I imagine that the added pain should slow down his movements and the way he wields the gun.

But just as I think I may only need a few movements to take him out, he passes his weapon to the other man, switching to a simple pistol.

Vlad shakes his head at me just as the machine gun starts firing. I barely have time to jump out of the barrage of bullets, avoiding getting hit by rolling between two cars for cover.

Shit!

The switch makes it so the new wielder is not as tired and can now fire with a full range of movement.

Lifting my head above the car’s hood to track their positions, I note they are both coming towards me.

Just then, I spot a dark shadow between the cars right across from me. The dark curls are the first giveaway, and my eyes widen in horror.

Noelle.

What the hell is she doing?

In that moment, my brain short-circuits. All my previous strategies go out the window as my only purpose becomes her—keeping her safe.

How could she come right into the heat of the battle?

I take my eyes off her for a moment as I search for Vlad’s form. He’s still where I saw him last and I lift my brows in question, a nerve actively twitching in my jaw.

He simply shrugs, shaking his head and motioning to the gun in his hand—only one gun.

I frown, not understanding what he means. But as I bring my gaze back to Noelle, I realize she has the other pistol with her.

‘You’re fucking dead, Vlad,’ I grit out, my entire body rife with tension.

How the hell could he have thought it was a good idea to give Noelle a gun when she barely has any idea how to use it? More than anything, how could he have let her jump into danger when I told him to fucking protect them—all of them!

Done caring about engaging the men smartly, I pause for only one second as I check my ammunition, loading a new cartilage before getting to my feet.

Noelle shakes her head at me, putting one hand up to tell me to stay put. How the hell does she expect me to do that when she’s so close to those fucking gunmen?

I march forward, my attention wholly on her. I only keep minimal track of what’s happening around me.

Gun raised, I simply lift my arm up as I shoot. One after another, I fire at both men, keeping them busy dodging the bullets as I stride the distance between the two car rows.

I’m taking a risk. I know that.

But it’s an even bigger risk to leave Noelle alone. Not when I know she could easily become a casualty of this damn conflict.

Time stills as I put one foot in front of the other, my entire life flashing before my eyes just as an errant bullet flies by me. My breathing intensifies, my heart contracting in my chest.

It feels like I’m fucking suffocating.

One hand still on the gun, firing as fast as I can before my ammo runs out, I bring the other to my neck, loosening my collar right as my gaze collides with hers.

‘Don’t move,’ I call out—or I think I do.

There’s a buzzing sound in my ears, and I can barely make sense of my surroundings or what’s happening. I only know one thing.

I need to get to her.

Another gun joins the shoot-out and I absent-mindedly realize it’s Vlad.

That buys me enough time to take the final step, diving between the two cars just as one of the men aims at me.

I spread my arms open, wrapping them around Noelle as I take her to the ground with me, cocooning her to my chest and holding tight.

She struggles to move but I hold her still.

‘Don’t,’ I rasp out, harsher than intended.

She stills in my arms, slowly raising her head to look at me.

‘Stay put, Noelle. I’m not joking with this. Don’t you dare do something stupid,’ I grab on to her chin, looking her dead in the eye so she can see how serious I am about this.

‘But you’re all alone.’

‘And I’ll deal with it. Just… If you’re in danger, I can’t think straight. You get me?’

Slowly, she nods her head, her big eyes still watching me with apprehension.

God, but what could have gone through her head to make her dive like this into danger?

‘Good. The more focused I am on them, the faster this will be over. Are we clear?’

She nods again, though something tells me I should doubt her easy acquiesce. Still, I don’t have time for this as I hear steps coming towards us.

Sparing her one last glance, I let her go as I get up, assuming my stance as I get ready to aim.

One person appears in my field of view. The man has his gun out, his finger ready to fire as he’s undoubtedly searching for a good angle. I don’t give him time for that. The moment I have a decent shot, I take it, my bullet hitting him in the shoulder and making him drop his gun.

He curses out loud, bringing his other hand to clutch at his bleeding shoulder. It’s then that I realize something.

He’s a new one.

Between the one I already hit and the one currently carrying the machine gun, this guy is a new one.

But I don’t get to dwell on that as another shot rings out before a wide hole appears between his eyes. He falls to his knees with a thud, a knife dropping from his hand.

My eyes widen as I slowly turn to see my wife holding a gun aimed in his direction, her finger on the trigger, her entire face devoid of any emotion.