Loving the Enemy (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 0)

by Charmaine Pauls

  Lily rolled her eyes. “I think I can manage by myself.”

  She trusted Jacob’s judgment, so when he followed the driver, she did the same. She looked up. The building looked like a block of flats rather than a hotel. The man pressed a button on an intercom.

  A male voice answered with a French greeting and when the driver said his name, the wooden door clicked open.

  “Follow me.”

  The driver led them up a narrow staircase to the fourth floor. The interior was elegant with red-carpeted stairs and a gold-trimmed rail. Ornate mirrors hung on the walls of the landing where they exited. Their guide knocked on a white door.

  Lily hesitated on the step. “Where are we?”

  “A guesthouse, madame. Within walking distance from the Eiffel Tower and the cost is a steal. Weren’t those your criteria?”

  “I guess.” She stole another glance at Jacob who stared at her with a tight look, his eyes clouded.

  Lily didn’t like the driver. He had a condescending way about him, or maybe he was just living up to the rude reputation of the French. She wanted to go elsewhere, to a proper hotel, but one look at Jacob and she decided it was better not to be picky right now. He swayed on his feet, looking close to fainting.

  The door opened and the driver made a little bow. “I brought guests, monsieur.”

  A man in a cream linen suit stood aside politely with a greeting. Lily took a cautious first step into the foyer and felt better when she took in the surroundings. The entrance opened up onto a big lounge with several small tables and chairs. It did indeed look like a guesthouse lounge or dining room.

  “This way please,” the elderly man said, showing them to the lounge. He closed the door behind them, locked it, and slipped the key into his pocket. When Lily eyed him curiously, he raised a brow. “Can’t be too careful these days.” He indicated for her to lead the way. “Please.”

  “We need to talk about the price,” Lily said, not moving.

  “We will.” His smile reminded her of a cat playing with a mouse. “Have a seat.”

  Lily looked at Jacob again, who was paler than ever. She took his hand and led him across the step, but when she rounded the door, she stopped dead. In the armchair facing them sat an attractive man with dark hair and a red birthmark on his cheek. He wore a crisp, white suit with a matching waistcoat and a cravat. In his hand rested an extraordinary cane with a huge, shiny stone.

  “Miss Reid. Welcome. I’ve been waiting for your arrival impatiently. My name is Cain Jones.”

  Lily’s breath caught. It was a set-up. She reached for the zip of her bag that held the gun, but the man who had met them by the door snatched both bags from her. They had to fight. She turned to Jacob, but he wasn’t moving. He just regarded her with that tight look and his hands fisted at his sides. Why wasn’t he doing something?

  “Jacob…” Cain drawled.

  As soon as his name was spoken, Jacob flinched. He didn’t move his eyes from Lily as the man continued to speak.

  “Thank you for delivering my package safe and sound.”

  The truth slowly settled in her stomach where it burned like a slice of hell. It licked its way up her insides with flames of agony and shame, shame for having been so foolish as to trust Jacob, and fall in love with him. He had played her all along, manipulated her and got her exactly where he wanted her–here, in the enemy’s den. And then it dawned on her that Jacob was the enemy.

  As she continued to stare at Jacob, internalizing each horrifying, hurtful truth, something like regret flickered in his eyes.

  He reached for her. “I know what you’re thinking, Lily.”

  She took a step back. “You don’t know what I think.” She couldn’t believe she had opened herself up to him, shared her most intimate experience with this traitor, and allowed him to touch her. “You know nothing about me.”

  “You know that’s not true,” he said softly. “I know what matters.”

  Her laugh was hollow. “And what might that be? That you’re a deceitful liar?”

  “That you love me.”

  The words were a knife in her soul, twisting and turning. It hurt like nothing she’d felt before, not even when she had found out what her father did for a living, or that Adam had betrayed her. Her fear of hunger and being hunted was nothing compared to this.

  Tears stung at the back of her eyes, but she blinked them away. Jacob wasn’t worth a single one of her tears. “I guess that proves just how naïve I’ve been. Congratulations. You did a good job.” She laughed again. “You even fooled me.”

  Cain spoke up again. “Miss Reid, before you judge Jacob too harshly, there are some other truths to consider.”

  Jacob flung around. “No. Don’t do this. It’ll destroy her.”

  Cain raised his head to the man who stood in the door, a silent spectator. “Pierre, Jacob needs a doctor. Call Eve. Tell her to clear her schedule.”

  “Yes, monsieur.” The man gave a stiff nod and disappeared.

  “It’s time Miss Reid and I have a talk in private,” Cain said, getting to his feet.

  “Please,” Jacob moved forward, “give us a moment alone.”

  “Seeing how events have turned, I suppose you deserve nothing less.” Cain walked to the door and closed it behind him.

  Lily imagined bringing her fist down on Jacob’s jaw, but she recognized the fantasy for what it was–a mental effort to blow off steam. Taking a punch a Jacob wasn’t going to change anything.

  “Just hit me,” he said, “and get it over with so we can move on and talk.”

  The fact that he knew her so well, could practically predict her thoughts, only made the ache worse.

  She crossed her arms. “We have nothing to say to each other.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt you, I swear. I couldn’t tell you. That’s why I warned you, why I asked you not to love me.”

  “You’re right.” She gave him a cutting look. “I shouldn’t have loved you. Betrayal by a friend is bad enough. Betrayal by a lover is downright low.”

  “I’m trying to save you.”

  “From what?” she spat. “You’re the only one I need saving from.”

  His jaw clenched. “Not by a long shot, Lily. I’m not the one you need to be worried about.”

  “And who should concern me?”

  There was turmoil in his eyes, as if he debated some inner question. Finally, he said, “Your father.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‡

  “My father?” Lily’s beautiful, blue eyes were wide, moist with the tears she held back.

  The urge to soothe her was bigger than the knowledge that she needed space to deal with the truth. Jacob tried to take her hand, but she jerked away from him as if his touch would burn her. That hurt, but hell, it wasn’t like he didn’t expect or deserve it.

  “I was contracted by Cain to find your father. You were a means to an end. I was hoping you’d lead me to him.” It was hard to admit but he plowed on. “I know that, right now, you hate me, but if it wasn’t for me you’d be dead, either killed by Sky or your father’s assassins. I’ve negotiated for your life. If you give Cain what he needs, he’ll protect you. I can’t do it on my own, not against your father’s whole army.”

  The shock on her face told him she realized just how deep his deceit went.

  “The park … when you found me…” There was a plea in her expression for him to deny it. “It wasn’t by chance, was it?”

  “No,” he said softly.

  “It was planned.” Her voice carried disbelief, like she still hoped he would deny fact. “Your flat, the phone calls to Kyle… Oh my God. Even Kyle was a setup.” Her lips parted and closed as more truths registered in her eyes. “For how long did you follow me before you approached me in that park?”

  “A couple of days,” he said evasively.

  “You watched me suffer. No, you let me suffer on purpose to wear down my resolve, didn’t you? You made sure I’d go willingly when you fo
und me. You bastard.”

  “I didn’t know I was going to fall in love with you, Lily.”

  “Fall in love with me?” She laughed softly. “You didn’t love me when you pretended to help me in the park. What was the plan?” Trembles ran over her body. “Were you supposed to kill me?”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. Back then, when I took you to my flat, I had no idea what to do with you after you had served your purpose. But I already knew back then that I’d never hurt you.”

  She held up her palm. “The attack in your flat, was that staged too, to freak me out, to make me follow you?”

  “That was real.”

  “Who…? Was it even Sky Communications?” She bit her lip and looked away from him.

  “I don’t know. Your father has many enemies, Lily. Cain isn’t the only one.”

  “If what you say is true, why didn’t you just say so?”

  “If I told you the truth, you wouldn’t have come willingly. This was the only way to save you. Believe me, if there was another way, I would have taken it.”

  “Save me from what?”

  Jacob closed his eyes fleetingly. What he had to say was going to destroy her and she had been done in by enough people she loved. Including him.

  “Not from what, Lily, from who.”

  Her laugh turned hysterical. “From you?”

  “From your father.”

  “My father may be a criminal, but he’ll never hurt me.”

  “He’s got a price on your head, Lily. The man you shot in France, who do you think sent him?”

  She blinked a few times. Her pretty face paled. She swayed. Jacob jumped forward, but she put her palm out to stop him and grabbed the chair back to keep steady.

  “I don’t believe you,” she whispered.

  Her pain sliced through him worse than any bullet he’d ever taken. If he could carry the weight of it on her behalf, he’d do it.

  “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

  She lifted her eyes, her long lashes moist with her tears. “Don’t you sweetheart me. I once may have been foolish enough to believe you, but now I know you’ve lied about everything.” She shook her head and took a step away from him. “This is just another one of your sick, manipulative games.”

  “This is no game, Lily. If you want to live, you have to work with Cain.”

  “None of what we shared was ever real.” Her voice was cold and distant, but he could see the fire in her eyes, her affection turning into hatred. “How much is Cain paying you?”

  “Lily–”

  “How much is my life worth to you?”

  “Stop it. Lily please–”

  “You used me. Cain–whoever he is–wants my dad and you used me to lead you to him. I bet you thought I knew where he is. Did you get shot on purpose, Jacob, so that I’d feel sorry for you and bring you to my dad’s doctor? Was it your insurance for getting your job done, for making sure you collect your payment?”

  “I didn’t get shot on purpose. That wasn’t a set-up. Neither is needing a doctor.”

  “But it served your purpose.”

  He hung his head. “Yes, it did.”

  “Who is Cain?”

  “He’s trying to stop what your father has set out to achieve.”

  “And you want me to believe you’re fighting for a good cause?”

  “That would be a beginning, yes.”

  “The men who killed every single person in my house, my nana, our driver … Sky Communications … are they Cain’s people?”

  “No. Sky is still out there, looking. Those men were sent to take you ransom. It would have left your father vulnerable and exposed. They would have tortured you, Lily, until you talked. Until you told them what you knew. And then they would have used you to get to your father. He couldn’t allow that. That’s why the assassins came.”

  “You’re not a bodyguard, are you?”

  “A bit more than that.”

  “So why tell me all this now? Why not just walk away and never look back? You could have pocketed your money and been far away from here by now.”

  “Because I started caring, Lily.”

  “I don’t believe anything you say. You’re a liar and a cheat.”

  His chest tightened with an ache. He couldn’t deny it, therefore he didn’t. “But you care for me. Admit it. Let me help you. Let Cain help us. I know you still want me.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You can fight it all you want, but you do.”

  She didn’t validate his statement with an answer. As the silenced stretched, Lily squared her small shoulders and lifted her chin. Those droplets that shimmered in her sapphire eyes finally slipped free. Anger made place for disappointment. She looked down on him, even from her shorter height, as one would look down on the filth of the earth. Finally, she turned away from him and walked to the door.

  It hurt like hell. They were both aching. But he deserved it. She didn’t.

  She twisted the knob and when she realized it was locked, she banged on the door. “We’re done in here.”

  “Lily, please.” He rushed forward and grabbed her shoulders.

  She wiggled away from him, her face turned to the side, as if she couldn’t tolerate the sight of him. “Don’t you dare touch me.”

  Even locked up with her perceived enemy, Lily was feisty, fighting him. The possessive bastard in him wanted to grab her and hold her until she saw reason, but the better man he was trying to be, knew she needed space. She needed time to process everything.

  When the door opened and Cain stepped back inside, Lily faced him with squared shoulders and a straight back. “What do you want from me?”

  “Information,” Cain said.

  “Let me guess.” Her voice had a cutting edge. “About my father?”

  “You’ve guessed right. And then you’re going to lead me to him.”

  “Well,” Lily said sweetly, “go to hell.”

  Cain arched a brow. “I’m curious. Why would you protect him? Didn’t Jacob tell you he signed your death warrant?”

  “I don’t believe you. You’re liars. My dad left me with guards to protect me. If he wanted me dead, he would have just instructed them to do the job.”

  Jacob was becoming desperate for her to see the truth. “He sent the assassins after the attack on your home, Lily, realizing the risk you were to him. I swear to God, I won’t lie to you about your family.”

  “She loves him,” Cain said with a curious tone to no one in particular. “Lily, if you know what he’s doing is wrong, why not give us the information to stop him?”

  “Stop him means you have to put a bullet in his head, right?”

  “Yes,” Cain said, not missing a beat.

  “I don’t have to agree with what he’s doing, but that doesn’t mean I want him dead. He’s still my father, the man who raised me, who took care of me all on his own after my mother died, and yes, no matter what he did, or what he’s doing, I do love him, and I won’t be the cause of a bullet in his brain. So you’re just going to have to kill me. You may as well get on with it.”

  Jacob tensed at her words. Nobody was going to harm a hair on Lily’s body. “Lily, it’ll be easier if you cooperate.”

  She turned on him and hissed, “You don’t get to tell me what to do. You’ve lost the right to have an opinion on my life and my choices.”

  Jacob felt a coldness settle in his gut, not because of her words, but because of what Cain could do to her if she didn’t give him what he needed. It wasn’t supposed to be this difficult. Jacob hadn’t reckoned with Lily’s fierce loyalty, a misplaced duty her piece of shit of a father didn’t deserve.

  “You said you wanted to go to the police,” Jacob reminded her gently.

  “Yes. I wanted him to stop what he was doing. I never wanted him dead.”

  “Your father can’t be stopped by the law or the police,” Cain said. “He’s much too powerful. You don’t understand the enormity of the situation,” Cain said, “b
ut you will.” He glanced over Lily’s shoulder at the door. “Pierre.”

  Jacob didn’t like the insinuation in Cain’s words. He moved to her fast, grabbing her into his arms and backtracking to the hallway. A sharp jab in his neck stopped him. Involuntarily, he let go of Lily to touch the prick that burned at the top of his spine. The room started to turn. He stumbled and put out an arm to brace himself against the wall.

  “What have you done?” he said to Cain. “I love her. If you harm her, I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

  Cain chuckled. “Young love. I do find it the most fascinating thing in the world.”

  Jacob swooned. He held on to his consciousness, fighting the darkness that came. Lily’s wide, tear-stricken eyes were the last thing he saw.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‡

  “What have you done to him?” Lily said as Pierre dragged Jacob’s limp body down the hallway.

  “He’ll be fine. Eve will be here soon to attend to his wound.” Cain turned to a liquor tray and lifted a carafe. “Wine?”

  She shook her head, trying to get her mind around everything that had been said in the last few minutes.

  “Coffee? Water? Anything?”

  “No. Why aren’t I dead, yet?”

  Cain ignored her question. He walked back to the sofa and sat down. “Please take a seat.”

  Lily lifted her chin. “I prefer to stand.”

  Crossing his wrists over his knees, Cain regarded her peculiarly. “I have ways of breaking you, but I’d rather not. I like Jacob. He’s a good soldier. I don’t want to hurt the young woman he loves.”

  “He doesn’t love me, or he wouldn’t have deceived me.”

  Cain sighed. “First love. So self-righteous. You think he has to act in a certain way if he loves you and if he doesn’t meet your expectations, you deduce that it can’t be love.”

  “Deceit isn’t love.”

  “Jacob’s definition of love may be different. He may not have demonstrated it in the way you wanted him to, but his actions are no less greater than any of your pre-set expectations.”

  “The act of selling me out?”