All Chapters of A Sinful Devotion: Chapter 1 - Chapter 3

Nicholas Rhodes The smell of gunpowder always lingers longer than the sound of bullets. It clings to the air like guilt. I pushed through the smoke-filled warehouse, boots grinding on broken glass. The echo of distant sirens bled through the night, but I barely heard them. My mind replayed every second of the ambush—every scream, every wrong move, every name I’d lost. It was supposed to be routine. A simple exchange at Pier 9. Five crates, four men, no witnesses. But someone had fed the Rossis our schedule down to the minute. They’d been waiting for us, hiding behind the freight containers like vultures. My men had fought hard. Too hard. None of it mattered now. Marco stumbled toward me, his shirt dark with blood that wasn’t his. “They knew everything, Nick,” he rasped. “Even the backup route. Someone sold us out.” The words sank in like a knife under the ribs. “Who had the route list?” “Only a handful. You. Me. Vega.” Rafael Vega. The name landed heavier than the smoke in m

NicholasThe first time I saw Rafael Vega he wasn’t a threat. He was a shadow waiting to be used.A name in a file, a pair of steady eyes in a room full of trembling ones.I remember the warehouse light cutting through dust, the smell of oil and rust clinging to the air. He’d been brought in after a job gone sideways—half the crew scattered, one man missing, yet Rafe stood untouched. Calm. Too calm.I asked him his name.He said, Rafael Vega, sir.No arrogance. No fear. Just that strange steadiness that made people listen before they meant to.He was younger then—sharp-boned, lean, quiet. I should’ve dismissed him as another survivor looking for a place to hide, but something in me hesitated.The same hesitation that would later destroy us both.He learned fast. Loyal to a fault, or so I believed. I let him too close—closer than I ever had with anyone under my command. In meetings, he’d stand behind my chair, silent and watchful, eyes tracking every threat before I did. We were rhythm