The Foiled Plan (War of Sins Book 2)

Scrambling back, I don’t get to take a step before he’s on me. The door closes with a thud, my back making contact with the wood. Before I can think to evade him, he has me caged.

‘No, no,’ he chuckles. ‘Did no one tell you it’s bad manners to not greet your brother-in-law?’ He’s so close I can smell him. His breath is on my face, so I turn my head to the side to avoid his touch.

Fumbling with my microphone, I know the best course of action is to alert Raf, but before I can do anything, a knife cuts through my dress.

My eyes widen, my hands moving to stop him, but it’s in vain as he quickly secures them above my head.

‘It’s not personal, darling,’ he drawls as he rips my dress to shreds, pulling stripes of it and flinging them to the ground. ‘But I can’t have my brother here,’ he says as he cuts the wire twirled around my bra, throwing the small device to the ground and smashing it with his foot. ‘At least not yet.‘

He smiles as he takes a step back, a twisted grin that makes me sick to my stomach.

‘Don’t try anything,’ he waves at the door with his knife, ‘I have perfect aim,’ he winks as he retakes his seat.

‘What are you doing?’ My arms come around my midriff as I hug myself, my skin already erupting in goosebumps from the cold.

I would have thought that being semi-naked in front of a stranger would make me break in a sweat, but somehow, I don’t detect any nefarious interest in my bare skin. If anything, he hasn’t glanced at me once.

His perusal had been clinical as he’d pulled the wires from me, but aside from that, he’s kept his eyes to my face.

‘I wanted us to have a chat. You have fifteen minutes before you’re going to be missed. I’d say that’s plenty of time to get acquainted,’ he jokes, leaning back in the chair and watching me with a relaxed expression on his face.

My eyes search the entire room for the camera, since I know Raf’s monitoring the entire building, but Michele picks up on it immediately.

Lifting one finger in the air, he waves it in front of me.

‘Have you heard of a loop?’ He asks and I frown, shaking my head.

‘My brother is currently watching footage of you reading your music sheet, on a loop. He won’t know anything’s wrong,’ he smiles wolfishly.

‘You planned this…’

Which means he knew about Raf and Cisco’s plan.

‘I did. Not as much as Rafaelo did, but then, he was always very thorough,’ his eyes grow icy under my gaze. Almost as if uttering Raf’s name has the power to give him frostbite.

‘Why do you hate him? What has he ever done to you to be so…vile?’ I shake my head in disgust.

‘Cover yourself,’ he takes my robe from the chair, throwing it at me. ‘And we’ll talk.’

I quickly pull the robe around my body, the material offering some comfort.

‘Are you going to kill me?’ I ask, almost on a whisper. My eyes take in the room, and the fact that there’s something written in red lipstick on the mirror.

He had this all planned.

‘Hmm, am I?’ He pins me down with his eyes. ‘Maybe,’ he shrugs. ‘I haven’t decided just yet,’ his lips widen in a malicious smile.

My legs are shaky as I follow his directions and take a seat across from him, all the while thinking of ways to get away.

But he’s not going to make it easy—not with the way his eyes keep tracking my every move.

We sit for what feels like forever, his unnerving gaze sending chills down my back. But it’s very clear that’s the intent.

He’s a bully. And that’s how bullies act—through intimidation.

‘What are you going to do with me?’

Not only am I out of my depth here, but I also have a hard time grasping his goal. If he knew the entire event was a trap, why show up at all? He must have known Raf and my brother would have troops stationed everywhere. Even if he came prepared, how is he going to manage to leave the building unscathed?

Nothing makes sense.

‘Call it a curiosity. I wanted to know the woman my brother married. But then again, he only married you to get your brother’s backing, didn’t he?’ he smirks, thinking he stroke a chord in me.

‘Maybe,’ I shrug. ‘I do what I’m told,’ I lie.

This will go better as long as he doesn’t believe that I mean anything to Raf, because then he won’t have anything to use as leverage.

‘Such a good girl,’ he drawls, but his appellation rubs me all kinds of wrong. Whereas with Raf I yearn for that praise, in this instance it takes everything I have not to be ill on the floor.

I force a smile.

‘Liar, liar, liar,’ he chuckles, taking out a tablet from under the vanity and laying it on the table, the screen facing me. With just a few touches, the scene from earlier plays on the screen.

My cheeks are on fire as I see Raf taking me from behind. Though I know we didn’t actually fuck, in the video, it looks like we did.

‘Stop it,’ I whisper when it gets to the next part, where I’m on the table, spread out with Raf between my legs.

‘At least he’s getting his money’s worth,’ Michele mocks, pausing the video.

‘I find it hard to believe you only came here to humiliate me. Or to show me you’re a peeping Tom,’ I raise a brow, doing my best to remain calm.

From what I’d learned about Michele, he’s unpredictable, and that means I don’t know how he will react to a more direct confrontation.

‘Hardly,’ he laughs. ‘I’m not interested in who my brother fucks,’ he chuckles. ‘But you may be interested in who fucks him,’ he says with a satisfied smile on his face. The smile that only widens as he sees my sudden discomfort.

‘What are you talking about?’ The words are out of my mouth before I can help myself.

‘And there it is, the jealousy,’ his tongue peeks between his teeth, his lips pulled in a broad smile. ‘We’ll get to that too.’

My fists clench in my lap as I realize what he’s trying to do—sow distrust between us.

‘I trust Raf. He would never be unfaithful to me,’ I declare staunchly, without realizing that those words reveal major insight into our relationship.

He doesn’t reply, merely looking at me expectantly, a jocular expression on his face, as if he’s waiting for the end of the joke so he can laugh.

‘Hmm,’ he hums. ‘How well do you know my brother?’ He suddenly asks, bringing his hand to his chin as he regards me curiously.

‘Well enough,’ I shrug.

‘Is that so…’ he narrows his eyes at me. ‘Did he tell you about his childhood? About his reputation as the retard?’ he chuckles, but I don’t reply.

I don’t want to play his game when it’s clear that all he wants is to undermine Raf’s position.

‘I wonder… Would you still see him in the same light then?’ Michele muses before he clicks on another video.

It’s a house party of sorts, and the video is filled with a lot of background noise. But as the image starts focusing, there’s no mistaking Raf’s blonde hair and blue eyes. Everything else, though…

I blink, unable to believe it’s the same person. He is still tall, but his clothes hang loosely on his lanky frame. But that’s not what Michele wanted me to witness. No, it’s what happens next.

As someone approaches him, he hunches his shoulders, avoiding direct eye contact, his entire body shaking.

‘I d-don’t k-know,’ he answers to a muffled question.

‘What do you think of your husband?’ He asks with a satisfied smile on his face.

The video continues, and Raf seems to be in a heated argument with someone, his pale face growing redder by the second, his stutter becoming increasingly more pronounced. That’s when the front of his pants becomes wet.

My eyes widen, while Michele can’t stop himself from chuckling.

‘He told me about that part of his life,’ I get my bearings together as I address Michele.

‘Really?’ He raises a brow.

‘Of course. He told me it was all a disguise. And if I’m not mistaken, it was for your benefit. So that his father would discount him as his heir.’

His lip starts twitching in distaste as I bring up their father—or rather, Raf’s father.

‘Did he also tell you why he did that?’

I tilt my head, frowning.

‘I see he didn’t. Then maybe the next video will help,’ he says as he swipes the video on the tablet.

The background is black and the sounds are muffled, but I think I hear harsh breathing.

Suddenly, though, the image shifts. Someone is in control of the camera, and as it begins to stabilize, I inhale deeply, barely able to control myself.

It’s Raf—my Raf—yet it’s not.

He’s pinned to a table, a man’s hand on his nape as he holds him down. He’s naked, his back marred with fresh and old scars. The camera moves lower, and I bring my hand to my mouth, stifling a sob at what I’m witnessing.

The camera focuses on his ass, a man’s dick sliding in and out of him, grunting as he rapes a barely conscious Raf. One hand is holding the camera, the other is kneading his ass as he thrusts into him.

‘Stop it,’ I whisper, unable to keep on watching.

‘Why?’ Michele laughs. ‘How does it feel to see someone else fucking your husband? And I hear he fucked him good, too. He was his favorite.’

‘You’re sick,’ I shake my head, suddenly standing up.

My stomach is churning, and I barely make it to the trash can before puking. On my knees, I continue to heave just as the images keep replaying themselves in my mind.

‘So sensitive? What is it that did it? The sight of your husband fucking another? Or was it the fact that it’s a man?’

‘You mean raping him?’ I turn to him so he can see the disgust in my eyes. But it’s not disgust with Raf—it could never be with him. It’s with the man in front of me—the lousy excuse of a human that seems to derive pleasure from others’ misfortune.

‘Raping, fucking,’ he shrugs. ‘Semantics,’ he says with a grin on his face.

‘You’re a degenerate,’ I spit at him.

‘Maybe. Not all of us can be such paragons of virtue like Rafaelo.’

‘I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? What did he ever do to you to be so…evil?’

He looks at me with a serious expression for a moment before he bursts out laughing.

‘Evil,’ he brings his arm around his midriff, holding on to it as he laughs. ‘I quite like that,’ he winks. But suddenly his countenance changes again.

From hilarity to seriousness, it’s like he has a control switch.

‘It’s all a matter of perspective. You say it’s evil, I call it justice.’ He rises from the chair, stooping on his haunches in front of me.

‘But in your world, justice only encompasses the good, doesn’t it?’ He asks as he grips my jaw with his fingers, looking at me with a strange expression on his face. ‘I’m used to being the bad guy. I’ve only ever been that. But can Rafaelo say the same thing?’ His mouth tugs up in a dry smile as he shoves me aside.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Your Raf is so used to being the good guy, he doesn’t know what it’s like to be on the other side. Or,’ he pauses, ‘he merely doesn’t want to admit it.’

‘I don’t…’

‘You don’t understand, of course,’ he interrupts. ‘You, like everyone else, are probably convinced that poor old Raf has been tortured his entire life by me. That I’m the monster who’s persecuted him and made him suffer, isn’t that right?’ A strange expression washes over his face.

‘You mean sending your brother to be raped and killed isn’t persecution? It isn’t a torment? What the hell is wrong with you?’ I ask, shocked at his gall.

His delivery is flawless, and it’s clear that he strongly believes in whatever delusions he has.

‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ he grits out, his tone changed.

Suddenly, his hand is in my hair, his fingers buried deep in my scalp and a yelp escapes me.

His features are drawn up in cruelty. His physical beauty might be uniquely appealing, but it’s the pure malice reflected in his expression that makes him the ugliest man I’ve ever seen.

‘You can only have good if you have bad, Noelle,’ he addresses me by my name for the first time. ‘I was branded bad, so Raf became good by default,’ he says, his hold tightening. ‘You want to know how good your husband is? You asked me why I sent him to be raped and killed. Because he did the same to me,’ he states with unwavering conviction.

‘What…’ My eyes widen, unable to believe my ears. ‘You’re lying.’

‘I’m not. You can ask him, if you survive that is,’ he gives a dry laugh. ‘But I merely gave back what he deserved. I engineered his entire sojourn so that he can experience everything on his own.’

‘The hacienda…’

‘Ah, Sergio’s heaven. Yes, indeed,’ he smiles. ‘Although I expected him to waste away there, not to escape. I’m still not clear how that happened,’ his pupils become two slits as he gazes down at me in disgust.

Flinging me away from him, I fall on my ass. I’m breathing hard, adrenaline kicking in my veins.

But what can I do?

There are five more minutes until the next part of the show is supposed to start. If I don’t go on the stage, Raf will definitely wonder what happened to me and will likely come to check.

‘Get up,’ Michele orders me, this time, removing a gun from his waist and aiming it at me.

‘Wha—what …’ I slowly rise to my feet, afraid of making the wrong move and enraging him. Considering the many mood changes I noticed in such a short amount of time, it’s safe to say he’s too unpredictable.

Putting my hands up, I say a small prayer in my mind, wishing I would have had more time with Raf. Because if this is the end…

‘We’re going for a walk,’ he intones, swinging the gun around as he ushers me towards the hallway.

‘Don’t worry. No one will notice us. The loop is playing on all screens. They will only come when I call,’ he tells me in a satisfied voice.

‘So that’s it? You’re going to kill us both?’

‘You’re an awfully curious woman, Noelle. Don’t you know what happened to the cat?’ He’s close behind me as he pushes the butt of the gun in my back. I feel his breath on my nape, and that fact alone has the power to make me hyperventilate. I guess it’s a small mercy that he hasn’t already raped me, or hurt me in any way.

But as he leads me out of the backstage room and towards a row of stairs, I’m suddenly afraid he’s just biding his time, taking me somewhere else to do the deed.

Instinctively, I tighten my robe around my body.

Instead of ushering me down the stairs, though, he motions me up, towards the roof.

And just as he kicks open the door to the roof, pushing me forward, I feel a blow to my head.

A quick intake of breath, and my eyes flutter closed, darkness claiming me.

I may die after all.