A Love of Vengeance

by Nancy Haviland

  And Stefano cursed a streak Gabriel would have been proud of.

  “Finally! That one piece I didn’t get falls into place.” Respect gleamed in his eyes, quickly replaced by worry. “And I’m so fucking dead.”

  Eva still wasn’t sure if he was playing her for a sucker. “Can I ask you something?”

  He gave her a dry look. “Might as well. You’ve already gotten more out of me than even my shrink has. If she knew, she’d be pissed.” His face then closed up, becoming dark, as if he’d just remembered something that made him angry.

  Her brow puckered at how normal he seemed to her just then. This guy was just as screwed up as the rest of them were. Lived with the crappy moments of his past, and apparently present, the way they all did. He just went a little too far in acting out the I’ll-get-you-for-that that most of them only imagined in their heads.

  “Those women who died,” she said, getting back on track. “The three Gabriel told me about. If you’re dropping this now, that means they lost their lives for nothing. You killed them for nothing. Made their families suffer for—”

  “Is that what he told you? That I killed them? Fucking guy. He killed them. Or had them killed. To cover his own ass. A step too far in my estimation, but that’s on his conscience, not mine.”

  “That’s a lie.” Her words were sure and swift.

  “Believe what you will.”

  “I’ll never believe Gabriel took three innocent women’s lives after being intimate with them. Why would he do that?”

  “To kill them before I could get to them, because he thought I was going to take the life of every woman he fucked? Hell if I know. You’ll have to ask him.”

  He stood, stretching out his back in that way people did when the stress was becoming too much for them. Eva wanted to do the same, but her shoulder was still throbbing even though it had been repaired. Plus, if she moved just then, it would have been to scratch Stefano’s eyes out for daring to speak to her about Gabriel fucking other women. And then killing them afterward.

  “I don’t expect someone like you to understand our world, Eva,” he said in a condescending tone. “Just know that most times we’ll do what needs to be done no matter how distasteful. What you have to watch out for, though, is when that line you always thought you’d never cross becomes blurred. When things that used to bother you don’t bother you anymore. That’s when you have to take a step back. Try to find your soul once more.” He sat down again. “Gabe knew it. That’s why he left. And he was smart to do that when he did.”

  “If you’re worried, why don’t you do the same?” she challenged. Gabriel and his friends didn’t quite know the whole story where this damaged man was concerned. Not even close.

  Then again, maybe if all of these heavies would actually talk to each other rather than declaring war over every single thing, they would.

  She rubbed her temple, hoping to distract from the drumbeat in the rest of her skull. Stefano must have felt something similar because a bone-weary exhaustion settled over him even as she watched.

  “If my brother, or your fucking father,” he said with a weak laugh, “doesn’t put a bullet in my brain in the next hour, I just might try that soul-searching thing everyone talks about.” Another humorless chuckle. “And to think I’d have Gabe’s girlfriend—the very person I thought to kill—to thank for it.”

  Eva had barely registered his words when Alesio’s alarmed shout made her jump. She was on her feet in an instant and looked back just in time to see Gabriel’s cousin dive for Furio. But the Mohawked bastard moved too quickly, avoiding the hit. He brought his elbow down so hard on the back of Alesio’s head Eva was sure she heard something crack. The younger man fell like a bag of bones.

  Unsure about what was happening, she looked to Stefano. He was still sitting in the rickety chair, but his hand was now pressed into his chest with blood seeping through his fingers.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered as she rushed toward him. But before she could reach him, her hair was grabbed from behind and she was viciously yanked back, landing hard on the dusty sofa cushions. Furio’s face loomed over her, his mouth twisted in an evil sneer, before he spun back to Stefano.

  “How the fuck did I wind up working for such a pussy?” he snarled, jamming the butt of his gun under Stefano’s chin. “The conversation I just witnessed was embarrassing. What a fucking waste,” he scoffed. “And after all my hard work. You think Gabe had the skin to take out those three chicks he fucked. That was me. He thought you did it—you thought he did. Perfect. Kept the game going.” He dug in the gun until Stefano made a choking sound. “You had it right back then when you said he didn’t deserve a woman. When the fuck did that change?”

  Stefano coughed weakly, his skin losing color at an alarming rate, blood now dripping off his wrist to land in small crimson splashes on the dusty floor.

  “You really think I’m gonna let Adrianna’s death go just because you got fucking soft over Gabriel? Over her?” He waved the gun in Eva’s direction. “What the fuck, Stef? Yeah, we were fucking her and not playing house, but still.”

  Stefano’s eyes widened. “You . . . ?” he tried.

  “Yeah,” Furio said with a satisfied smile, leaning in. “I was in there, too. Sometimes only minutes after you finished with her.”

  Furio delivered a violent backhand with his cast, sending the already badly injured man sprawling across the floor, a trail of blood following him to where he landed, motionless and still near the wall.

  “No,” Eva whispered around the confusion swirling through her head. Furio had killed those women? He’d also been having an affair with Stefano’s girlfriend, the woman who’d died in the explosion? He was the one responsible for all of this?

  “How did you get the power to fuck up everything?” he screamed at her. “If you’d have shut your fucking mouth, they’d have killed each other in a matter of minutes and I would’ve been set!”

  “I . . . uh . . . I . . .” she stuttered, trying to think of something to calm him down. But his manic rage was too overwhelming.

  “It was finally—finally!—time for this family to pay for what they took away from me,” he hissed, digging his fingers around her throat. “Adrianna was mine, and Gabe did more than kill her that day. He killed our chance to merge with the big boys. Her and her old man wanted to tie their family to the Morettis, so she was working to marry the pussy over there bleeding to death. After the fact, we’d have taken Stef out and ruled, me and her. It should have been easy!”

  Fireworks exploded behind Eva’s eyes as she clawed desperately at his hands, trying not to pass out. God only knew what he would do to her if she was unconscious.

  “Looks like she should have gone after Gabe instead,” he continued with a little more control. “Who knew Stefano wasn’t even a Moretti? Poor sucker.” He laughed, baring his teeth, snapping them close to her fading vision. “Didn’t matter in the end, though, because Gabe and his old man fucked us over anyway. I settled part of the score back then, and now I’ll finish the job when your man gets here. A little later in the game than I’d hoped for, but who cares. The end result is the same.” He looked to the door. “It would have been better if the Moretti brothers had taken each other out like they were supposed to, but no matter. I can still turn this shit show Stefano created to my advantage. Then I’ll slip in and do a better job of heading this organization than any of them.”

  Just as she felt herself sliding down into the darkness, Furio released her with a rough shove and left her gasping for oxygen.

  “Now, the way I see it, because you’re making me work for my place at the top, you owe me, and I’m gonna enjoy collecting. Over and over until you can’t take any more. Until you beg me to fucking go ahead and kill you.” He placed his gun on the table, the barrel facing her. “You ready, little kitty?” He rubbed his erection through his pants in a grotesque way.

  “Gabriel is coming for you, you bastard,”
she choked furiously, her raw throat allowing just a whisper. She prayed it was true. “I hope he sends you to hell where you belong.”

  He backhanded her, nailing her already-damaged cheek. Before she could recover, she felt the sharp pinch of a knife at her collarbone.

  Oh, God, no. Please, don’t let this happen.

  “Your man is gonna find one used-up little princess when he gets here,” Furio rasped, cutting away at her shirt.

  And that’s when she heard an earsplitting crash.

  CHAPTER 25

  “Get the fuck off of her, Furio!”

  Gabriel quickly checked to see that Eva was still alive before turning his focus back to the crazy bastard holding his beauty at knifepoint. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brother on the floor, unmoving, lying in a pool of his own blood.

  He wanted to tear Furio limb from limb with his bare hands. But that motherfucking glint of metal poised over Eva’s throat had his desire to kill taking a backseat to his need to save her.

  He had to get her away from the wild card standing over her.

  “You just keep turning up, Furio. Like a nasty STD. Once you have it, you can’t get rid of it.” As he spoke, he slowly stepped back and turned his body just enough so he could withdraw the dagger he’d hidden in his waistband. His aim was as good now as it had been years ago. He knew it. But he was still afraid. He couldn’t wait, though, because if Furio grabbed his gun off the table, it was over.

  Too bad the boys were still embroiled in battle outside, otherwise there was no doubt one of them would have already pulled the trigger and Gabriel would be looking through a round hole in Furio’s fucked-up head.

  As expected, he shifted, preparing to reach for the Glock pointed at Eva. That’s when Gabriel threw. The dagger whizzed through the air with enough speed that the Mohawked fucker didn’t see it until it was embedded in his right shoulder. Surprise flared on his face when his arm jerked back and he lost the knife, but Gabriel was already there. Grabbing him, he smashed his forehead into Furio’s nose. And it was on.

  He yanked the dagger out, hoping for a steady blood flow to follow, and cracked his elbow into the guy’s temple, causing his head to snap sideways.

  He spun, his attention shifting when he heard Eva’s sharp gasp. She was reaching for the gun.

  “Don’t touch it,” he barked.

  Her hand closed over the metal.

  “Don’t touch it!”

  His roar had her snatching her hand back, the gun falling to the floor, her eyes meeting his with a look of utter confusion.

  He would not let her have a man’s death on her conscience.

  “Don’t look at me!” she screamed.

  With good reason. His distraction cost him, and Furio nailed him in the jaw with a solid right that had his brain sloshing against his skull and stars exploding behind his eyes.

  “You know I’m going to fuck her, Gabriel,” Furio taunted. “I’m going to make that sweet little kitty lie in her own pool of blood while I bury my cock inside her. Just like Elle. And Melissa. And Jordan.”

  The image Furio painted was as disturbing as it was gruesome.

  And it was time this bastard died. Now.

  Gabriel could barely see through the madness that filled his mind. He lunged at the psychopath, slamming him into the wall with a thumb embedded in his bleeding shoulder. The howl that came from Furio’s throat was the last sound he made. Gabriel rammed the hardest punch he’d ever thrown into that keening face, twisted him around, wrapped his arm around that thick neck, and wrenched so hard he was surprised the head didn’t detach from its base. Letting go, he let the lifeless body fall to the floor.

  He turned to find Eva kneeling on the floor next to Stefano. He stepped over his kill and moved to her side, reaching her just as Vasily and Alek burst in, the rest of the boys behind them.

  Eva threw herself into his embrace. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered over and over. “I shouldn’t have left. I should have told you what—”

  “Shh. It doesn’t matter. None of that matters now. You’re safe and—”

  She kept going, talking over him. “I’m so sorry. He said he had a bomb or something and would kill you and my father. I couldn’t let him. I couldn’t. I’d die if anything happened to you.”

  “Oh, Jesus Christ, baby,” he whispered through his aching throat.

  Up close, battered, her face cut, bruised, bleeding, the skin of her neck marred by reddened welts and a small cut. Gabriel let out an agonized moan that had his boys shuffling behind him.

  A big hand suddenly appeared to stroke Eva’s hair, and Gabriel bared his teeth in a step-the-fuck-off-or-lose-a-limb snarl. Then he saw who the hand belonged to.

  “Relax,” Vasily murmured quietly, softly petting his daughter. “It’s just me. Holy fuck,” he whispered coming down to place his lips on the crown of Eva’s head as he drew the cut sides of her T-shirt tighter together. “What have I done to you, precious?”

  “Nothing,” Gabriel answered for her. “I did this.” He knew the blame was his. And he would accept it.

  Vasily’s sigh was long-suffering. “Yuri, get over here and check her out.”

  Yuri Davidenko, Vasily’s private physician, came forward. Gabriel hadn’t seen the guy in a while, but he was still the same handsome sonofabitch he’d known before leaving New York. Totally at ease in his role as MD, Yuri came forward and knelt between them, placing a black medic bag on the floor.

  Eva’s head suddenly came up, eyes blinking as if she was trying to focus and couldn’t. “Stefano,” she said, her voice cracking. She tried to turn, but Gabriel held her where she was with his arm over her thighs. “We have to help him.”

  “Eva, we need to see to you fir—”

  “No. Not until—” Her words choked off and she shook her head, bringing her fingers to her temples almost immediately. She raised cloudy eyes to him, imploring, “Please, Gabriel. Check on your brother.” When he didn’t react fast enough, she grew more agitated. “Now!” She looked around until her gaze landed on Yuri. “Help him!” she suddenly shouted with authority, sounding every bit her father’s daughter.

  Cursing in Russian, Yuri snatched his bag and slid over to Stefano while Gabriel and everyone else in the room wondered what the fuck was going on.

  “Barely a pulse,” the MD said over his shoulder.

  “Save him!” she demanded.

  “Sweetheart, you have to calm down.”

  “He didn’t kill those women! Furio did,” she whispered hoarsely, gaze glassy and unfocused. “He wasn’t going to hurt me. He wasn’t! He’s not what you think. You’ll understand when you hear the truth. I promise! You don’t understand what happened—Hey!”

  Maksim pushed the plunger on the syringe he’d popped in Eva’s arm, and for once Gabriel was glad for the guy’s initiative. The sharp needle was removed just as she swatted at it.

  “Stop it! You don’t know what . . . You don’t know . . .” She tried to continue. “There’s more to the story . . . He was just a child . . . Not evil . . . I want him . . . Gabriel . . .” She wanted Stefano? What the fuck? “What’s wrong with me?” she mumbled.

  “Relax, baby,” he said tightly as he put himself in position to catch her when she went down. “Just relax.”

  “But Stefn’o . . .” she slurred. “Not . . . yur’ . . . br’thr . . .”

  Gabriel caught her as she collapsed, eyes widening with shock. Refusing to leave her on the filthy floor, he scooped her up and brought her back to the not-much-better couch. Careful to support her injured arm, he gently laid her down.

  “She’s only partly right. You’re half brothers.”

  His head came up, and he looked over to where Lucian was standing near Stefano’s feet, looking concerned.

  “Explain,” he demanded.

  “Years ago, my father told me that Albert Moretti once shared the fact that his wife was already pregn
ant when they married. Stefano was about three at the time this conversation took place. Your father said he was already regretting the promise he’d made to raise the bastard as his own.” He raised his hands. “His words. Apparently, once you came along, things went from bad to worse for Stefano. My father said he felt sorry for the kid, and even more for the young man he grew into, because he was never allowed to forget that he didn’t belong. Doesn’t make half the shit he did okay, but at least you understand it.”

  Gabriel blinked as his gaze landed on the man lying on the grungy floor, fighting for his life.

  Or was he fighting?

  Nearing his limit, he watched Micha take over for Yuri, starting an IV as he continued to treat Stefano, whom Gabriel could now see only as a rejected child.

  Vasily scrubbed his face in exhaustion. “That explains a lot. One more reason for me to hate Albert Moretti.”

  “Why have you never told me this?” Gabriel asked Lucian.

  “If I went around revealing even half the shit I’ve learned to my associates, I’d have more enemies than Satan himself.” The Romanian swept his stoic gaze around the room, meeting every eye in the place. “I’m sure most of you would agree that some stories don’t need to be told.” He came back to Gabriel. “Would it have changed anything if you knew before now?”

  He thought about that for a second. “Fuck. I don’t know,” he answered honestly, wishing he could say it would have. But who knew?

  “I highly doubt it, brother. You know, just as well as I do, that things need to run their course. You can’t force a conclusion to a situation just because you’re tired of it. It doesn’t work that way. Does it, boss?” He winked, which made Gabriel’s lip curl in irritation.

  “Wish we were at the clinic, or even on the jet,” Yuri muttered. His accent was thicker than Vasily’s, but his English was perfect. Like his hair.

  “Do what you can until we get her home.” Vasily brushed the hair from Eva’s forehead and placed his cheek next to hers for a moment before stepping away.