The Salvation of Vengeance (Wanted Men #2) Read Free

from Long Island. She and Kevin would be staying in Brooklyn, but Nika didn’t care. She’d have been fine at Rikers, as long as Kevin, in his perpetually paranoid state, brought the evidence against her brother with him, as he did whenever they went away for more than a night.
    Passing her thumb over the address once more, Nika’s heart jumped, quickening her pulse. But it wasn’t due to thoughts of letting loose her brother and his notorious motorcycle club on Kevin once she had the evidence in hand. No. This silly excitement was caused by thoughts of who else would be attending the wedding.
    Gabriel shared a house with three of his friends. Maksim Kirov, the gorgeous, if not absurdly arrogant, Russian mobster who owned a swank nightclub in Hell’s Kitchen. Alekzander Tarasov, Eva’s cousin and another Russian made man, just as gorgeous but a little less I-know-you’re-staring-because-I’m-hot . He and Gabriel owned TarMor, the übersuccessful project management firm where Eva now worked as an associate business manager.
    It was the third housemate who had caused Nika’s body to react. The one who’d been haunting her dreams for weeks now, taunting her, making her relive the bone-rattling kiss they’d shared in a quiet corridor of the Crown Jewel, the posh hotel Gabriel and Alek owned here in downtown Seattle.
    Vincente Romani.
    Caleb had told her Vincente owned a midsize company called ROM Construct that was based out of Manhattan. Oh, and it seemed when Gabriel had taken over as boss of the crime family he’d grown up in, Vincente had stepped in as his underboss. He’d been a lieutenant in the Moretti family before that, to the former boss, Stefano, who was Gabriel’s older brother. According to Eva, Stefano had disappeared a few weeks ago.
    The bottom line was Nika had been having inappropriate dreams about an undeniably gorgeous but deadly Italian mobster.
    Aim high, sista.
    She ignored the high five her pride figuratively offered, leaving it hanging, too busy trying to pretend it wasn’t desire that curled through her body at just the thought of the man. The first time Nika had seen him, he’d been standing on the sidewalk in front of the Crown Jewel. She’d crossed the street, worrying over what Kevin’s reaction would be when he found out she’d left their apartment—after all, she’d just taken a beating like no other from him a few days before—and had glanced up into a face that was sinister and cold, yet so beautiful she’d been instantly captivated. His hair was long and black and fell past his broad shoulders. He was taller than she was, which was something, considering she loved to wear heels that put her at a healthy six-one, give or take an inch. His body had been tightly muscled, his features equally cut and hard. And his eyes—those dark-brown, haunted eyes—conveyed a blatant move-on-or-be-sorry to anyone who dared to meet them.
    Well, she’d met them, but she had yet to move on. What she’d seen had shaken her to the core. So much so that she’d stumbled and would have fallen had Vincente not caught her.
    And then he’d kissed her only minutes later.
    She shifted and cleared her throat, feeling jittery. It was stupid to feel excitement at the thought of seeing him again.
    Would he look at her with that same interest as last time? Did he even remember their last encounter? Did he think about it? The way she did so often?
    That kiss, a simple meeting of their mouths, had stayed with Nika. Why? Because she’d been aroused by it. By him. And then she’d been relieved. The desire that had crashed over her when Vincente kissed her had let her know Kevin hadn’t won. It was still possible for her to feel something for a man, even after everything that had been done to her.
    Not that she wanted another man. She shuddered. Maybe not ever.
    Once she found that memory stick and she finally allowed Caleb to deal with Kevin as he saw fit, she was done. Oh, she might fool around someday,