the foiled plan (WAR OF SINS BOOK 2)

Chapter 11

Noelle's POV

Ican only stare at him in shock.

"Not my business..." I shake my head, trying to bite back tears. "You're an asshole, Rafaelo Guerra." I push at him with all my strength. "You're a fucking asshole," I say as I bring my heel down on his foot in an attempt to extricate myself from his hold.

Already I feel my lashes coated in tears, and no matter how much I try to, I can't blink them away.

"Where do you think you're going?" He calls after me.

"Let me go," I grit as he wraps his hand around my wrist.

"Noelle, you're..."

"I'm being unreasonable. I know," I add drily. "Just let go of my hand."

"I don't understand why you're so moody."

"Moody?" I scoff, looking at him in disbelief. "Next you're going to call me hysterical, no?"

For God's sake, why did I believe his words when it's clear he's just like my brother. After all, that's all I am—unreasonable, moody, crazy.

Wrenching my hand from his grasp, I don't even think as I open the door, dashing into the downpour.

"Fucking hell, woman! Where do you think you're going?" He yells after me, and in no time I find myself flush against his naked chest.

"Look at me, Noelle."

"Let me go," I whimper. "Just please let me go."

"Where do you want to go? There's nowhere you can go, pretty girl," he says on a gentler tone, his palm spread over my neck, his thumb pushing my chin up as he forces me to look at him.

My teeth are clattering, my entire body freezing as the cold rain hits my skin, but I don't let that stop me.

"As far away from you," I manage the words out.

"Damn it, Noelle. Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he grits, the tension in his jaw clear as he barely holds himself together.

"I don't know why you tried being nice to me," I start, willing myself to stay strong. "I don't know why you changed your behavior overnight, but I don't want any part in it."

"Noelle..."

"No, Raf," I press my lips together in an attempt to ground myself and stop shivering. "You're actually driving me crazy," I force a laugh. "And not in a good way. You're absolutely infuriating. You threaten to make me miserable and kill me. Then you do a one-eighty and promise you'll always protect me. But I don't know where I stand with you. I really don't." I take a deep breath. "I just... Let me be. Just let me be," the last words are on a breathless whisper.

His light eyes are shielded by the night, only a slight glint visible among the moon beams. The intensity in his eyes should scare me—it should terrify me.

But it doesn't.

Not when I find myself lost in them—a labyrinth I never want to escape.

His nostrils flare as he looks down on me, aggression rolling off him in rippling waves.

We're both breathing hard.

Inhale. Exhale.

The sound of the marauding rain dims and dims, suddenly a distant echo.

There's only my heart thumping.

His heart thumping.

Because somehow I can hear it. Somehow I can hear all those conflicting emotions within him.