Vengeance Unleashed (The Wanted Men Series Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  VENGEANCE UNLEASHED

  Don’t get left behind!

  By Nancy Haviland

  COPYRIGHT

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  VENGEANCE UNLEASHED PLAYLIST

  WANTED MEN GLOSSARY

  By Nancy Haviland

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  VENGEANCE UNLEASHED

  THE WANTED MEN SERIES

  NANCY HAVILAND

  Don’t get left behind!

  Sign up for Nancy’s New Book Alert (a.k.a. infrequent newsletter) to stay up to date on coming releases.

  By Nancy Haviland

  THE WANTED MEN SERIES

  Bestselling, award-winning mafia romance series

  Vengeance Unleashed

  (Formerly titled A Love of Vengeance)

  Vengeance Denied

  (Formerly titled The Salvation of Vengeance)

  Vengeance Obsessed

  (Formerly titled An Obsession with Vengeance)

  Vengeance Bound

  (Formerly titled Ultimate Vengeance)

  A WANTED MEN STORY

  Vengeance Aside

  Grievous

  COPYRIGHT

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2020 Nancy Haviland

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. For permission requests, email [email protected]

  Published by Nancy Haviland

  www.nancyhaviland.com

  ISBN: 978-1-988716-10-7

  Edited by: Polished by Moonlight

  Originally Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle, 2014, A Love of Vengeance, www.apub.com

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912338

  ONE

  SEVEN WEEKS EARLIER…

  “Holy shit, it’s him…”

  “Goddamn…it’s the other one…”

  “Hell froze? I hadn’t heard…”

  “Is it me or is he even bigger than I remember…”

  “We need to get gone. You know who that is…”

  Fear and respect colored the murmurs that flowed like a cresting wave through the exclusive Manhattan gentlemen’s club where Vasily Tarasov sat staring at the melting ice in his vodka. When he looked up and saw the newcomer commanding the entrance, he felt the tension in his neck and back ease for the first time in twenty-four long, devastating hours.

  Gabriel Moretti—currently going by the name Moore—was the youngest son of one of New York’s most notorious crime families. Currently flanked by two men known to inflict maximum damage without breaking a sweat, the trio were the epitome of effortless intimidation. They all owned it, but not quite so comfortably as the formidable Italian causing warmth to blossom in Vasily’s grief-laden chest. Like the others in their inner circle, Gabriel was loved and respected. He was a brother, minus the sharing of parents. Trusted.

  Which was why he’d been summoned.

  Vasily got to his feet as they approached and, even though he knew it made most of his boys uncomfortable—not fans of open displays of affection—he bestowed a warm embrace and a kiss to each of Gabriel’s cheeks. As they sat, he nodded at the protection who’d gone to join Vasily’s byki—bodyguards—at the bar.

  “Good flight?”

  “Sure. Never did get to the work I brought with me.”

  “Oh?”

  A flicker of amusement flashed on Gabriel’s face. It was mild and didn’t last as he explained, casting a fleeting look around, “One of the flight staff was very entertaining.”

  Ah. Of course. Easy sex came with good looks and a lot of money. Both of which Gabriel had. Though, it appeared the mellow mood that normally lingered after sex had fled during the drive into the city.

  “You’re not happy that I asked you here,” Vasily guessed.

  “Not particularly. I touch down at JFK and feel like I should be covered in Kevlar and armed to the teeth. Seattle doesn’t do that to me.”

  “No. I’m sure it doesn’t.” Vasily couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t aware of the invisible target that was front and center on his chest. He raised a hand to signal the waitress for two fresh drinks. “Did you tell the boys you were flying in?”

  “I talked to Vincente when I landed.”

  Vincente Romani was one of Stefano Moretti’s trusted capos; Gabriel’s estranged brother was the current boss of the family Gabriel had turned his back on five years ago.

  “They’re in Brownsville tonight. Recruiting.”

  Vasily’s mouth twisted as he pictured the degenerates gathering in some underground location, hoping to get a foot into a family that no longer made any sense. The longer Stefano held power, making one bad decision after another, the more confused Vasily and his associates became.

  He and Gabriel leaned back as their drinks were placed in front of them, and even though they were in friendly surroundings, they waited until they were alone again before continuing.

  “Why am I here, brother?”

  Anxiety and sorrow churned in Vasily’s gut at the blunt question. The sorrow was expected. The anxiety was fucking annoying considering he was Pakhan to one of the most powerful Russian Bratvas on the Eastern Seaboard. Since when did he feel anything other than expectancy when asking for a favor?

  “I need you to do something for me.”

  A strobe light glanced off the heavy platinum ring on Gabriel’s thumb as he downed half his drink and thunked the glass onto the tabletop. “Huh. And here I thought you were just starved for company.”

  Soon, he would be. “I need to know if you’re in or out.”

  Curiosity shone in Gabriel’s eyes as he leisurely crossed heavy arms over his parking lot of a chest. “If I’m able, you know damn well I’ll do whatever you need me to.”

  Vasily nodded once and picked up his phone. He hit send on an already prepared email. “I’m leaving for Moscow when we’re through here,” he announced as Gabriel palmed his own phone to show he’d received the message he didn’t yet open. “While I’m gone, I need you on someone. You’ll protect her with your life, if necessary.” Christ, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “I’ll take over her care again after I wipe out the pieces of shit who killed her mother last night.”

  “Whose mother?”

  Bracing himself to reveal the precious secret he’d kept for more than twenty years, Vasily gave his answer around a feeling of pride like no other. “My daughter’s.”

  Gabriel froze, his leg comically raised midair because he’d been in the pr
ocess of hooking his ankle on his knee. He slowly lowered his size fourteen Ferragamo and blinked for a minute as if waiting for a punchline.

  “Your daughter.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yours.” The Italian’s tone was heavy with suspicion.

  “Yes.”

  “You wanna tell me when the hell you had a kid? And how the fuck do we not know about her?”

  The kid in question was actually a grown woman. Evangeline was as captivating as her mother, although in looks she was much more Vasily than Kathryn…

  Coughing through the agony his love’s name caused as it drifted through his thoughts, he pushed out more words. “No one knows about her. Or they didn’t, until recently.” The reminder that his enemies now knew of Eva’s existence turned his heart to stone. “I filled the boys in earlier, so if for some peculiar reason you’re in need of a hand, they’re now informed.”

  Gabriel’s head was bobbing. “Yeah. Okay. Unless you want to see my head explode, you have to start from the beginning. Because I’m in the Twilight Zone. You have a kid.”

  The beginning. If only he could go back there, he thought, imagining the charred remains of the woman he’d loved and had created a child with so many years ago now laying in a cold, silent morgue in Seattle. He’d have done so many things differently.

  “I’ll get to the details in a minute.” No, he wouldn’t. “First, I want your word that you’ll see this through for me.”

  Gabriel waved his hand impatiently. “You have it.” As if it were a stupid request. “Of course you have it. Goddammit, Vasily.” He shook his head. “Out of curiosity, why are you putting me on this? What about Maks or Alek? We both know they’re more than capable. Not to mention here. She is in New York, isn’t she? Who’s taking care of her now? How old is she? Is she even out of diapers? And, again, just out of this raging curiosity that’s kicking my ass, why the hell isn’t she in your life?”

  “At any other time, I would trust my nephew with this, but not in the shape he’s been in since Sacha left. Maks? Of course, but I just don’t want him.” The idiot would try to have sex with Eva—who, at twenty-three, was very much out of diapers—and Vasily would have to permanently maim his beloved Avtoritet. Perhaps castrate him. He didn’t want to do either. “Anyone else in our circle will lead the Baikovs right to her. It has to be you.”

  “Ah. They’re the threat.” Gabriel’s eyes frosted over at the mention of the bratva responsible for destroying what little happiness Vasily had known. “Alek mentioned you recently shaved them down a few members. I can’t believe they’re still fucking with you.”

  The conflict between the Tarasov and Baikov syndicates had been there since Vasily was a child. But this? This cold-blooded murder put things on a whole new level.

  And that’s why they were here tonight. Gabriel receiving this assignment came down to one thing. His ability to get the job done, no matter the level of difficulty. He was intelligent. Voracious. Dangerous. He could read a situation in the blink of an eye and react accordingly. Harshly. And that’s what Vasily needed.

  Coming in closer, he loosely clasped his tattooed hands on the table in front of him. “They’ll always fuck with me, just as I will now forever fuck with them.” Their eyes locked. “While I’m doing that, I am placing my daughter’s safety in your hands.” As the club’s patrons chatted and drank and laughed around them, a deep understanding was shared between Vasily and this Italian he’d watched grow into the man he was today.

  He sat back to break the moment and confirmed, “She is here in New York, attending Columbia, as a matter of fact.”

  Gabriel, too, sat back, his stare steady and focused. Annoyed. “Columbia. She’s old enough to be in college. Christ Almighty. How’d you do this? How the fuck did you keep a secret like this for so long? I mean…Maks.”

  Vasily chuckled a little. Maksim—another cherished member of his inner circle—and his need to know everything did indeed make it near impossible to hide anything. But keeping Kathryn and Eva’s existence under wraps had been necessary to protect them.

  Yet here they were.

  He moved on without addressing the whys. “Her name is Eva. She’s twenty-three. She’ll be returning home to Seattle when she finishes school in a few weeks. Luckily, aside from being based in Seattle, you have the freedom and resources to travel back and forth as often as needed until she graduates. You also have Vincente to step in when you can’t be here. I’d appreciate a weekly report detailing her movements. Nothing invasive. Just…keep me updated. She doesn’t have a lot of friends and leads a very simple life, so you won’t be running.”

  Gabriel nodded absently as he got to opening the email. His nostrils flared slightly as though he’d drawn in a sharp breath. He brought the phone in for closer inspection, and just that quickly, his expression shut down.

  He lifted cold eyes to meet Vasily’s across the table. “Not a lot of friends. This one leads a simple life.” His tone said he didn’t believe it, but he’d see. “Tell me, does my brother and his fucked up vendetta against me figure into this? I’m assuming…since she’s…since she looks like she does that you’ve considered it.”

  Of course he’d considered it. “If at some point Stefano gets wind of this and he targets her despite learning she’s my daughter?” Vasily’s blood ran cold. “I don’t have to tell you what the outcome will be. To avoid any possible problems, I’d like to warn him off right out of the gate, but that might draw his attention when he may not take any notice in the first place. With Vincente in so deep, you’ll instruct him to keep his ears and eyes open so you can deal before anything gets anywhere near her. Is that clear?”

  The former underboss dropped his attention to the photograph once more, and when he spoke, the beautiful sound of the darkest violence was clear in his voice. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure no harm comes to your daughter on my watch, brother. You have my word.”

  As they shook hands across the table, Vasily took some comfort in knowing he’d just guaranteed his daughter’s safety from anything that dared come at her.

  TWO

  PRESENT DAY…

  Eva Jacobs gripped the cardboard box containing random guy-crap that should have been reclaimed from her place last night. She couldn’t say she was surprised Caleb, her best friend’s brother, which made him Eva’s brother by default, hadn’t come by. He was neither materialistic nor sentimental.

  Nudging the car’s door shut with her knee, she bent to speak into the open window. “I’ll just be a minute,” she confirmed with her Uber driver again, thinking of her suitcase and carry-on in the trunk.

  The man’s nod made his second chin dance. “Then onto to JFK. Got it.”

  “’Kay. Be right back.” As she crossed the busy Washington Heights sidewalk, her cell rang. She fished it out of her pocket and entered the apartment building.

  “Hey,” she greeted her best friend when the display showed a picture of her and Nika sitting on a Starbucks patio last summer. She pressed the cracked elevator button with the corner of the box.

  “I have bad news.”

  Nika’s subdued tone had Eva’s smile fading. “You can’t come,” she guessed, shoulders slumping.

  “Kevin said he made plans for us and can’t change them. He wouldn’t say what, but apparently whatever we’re doing tomorrow night starts at the same time as the benefit.”

  For as long as Eva could remember, her mom had done charity work. Their favorite event had always been the annual Pediatric Cancer Foundation gala being held in Seattle tomorrow night. A few things would be different this year.

  One, the event wouldn’t run as smoothly as it had in other years because Kathryn Jacobs wouldn’t be there to oversee things.

  Two, instead of the Washington State Convention Center, the function would be held at the Crown Jewel, one of Seattle’s most exclusive hotels.

  And three, Eva would be attending alone. Something she’d hoped Nika would help her avoid.<
br />
  Swallowing the knot that formed in her throat, she stepped into the elevator and forced a lightness to her tone that she wasn’t feeling. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.” She understood that it wasn’t Nika’s fault that her husband had a habit of springing sudden plans on her. But only when those plans conflicted with anything Nika might do that didn’t include Kevin.

  And no way Eva was inviting that asshole along.

  Eight months on and she still couldn’t bring herself to accept her best friend’s marriage to a weirdo they’d met through Caleb’s club, the Obsidian Devils MC. Fixating on a patched member’s little sister was one thing, managing to get her to marry you in a Vegas quickie was something else entirely. The guy gave Eva the creeps back then, and that hadn’t changed. Even Caleb hated him, and, though discerning, he was usually pretty accepting of all the guys who hung around the clubhouse, members or not.

  “I wish I could come.” Nika’s voice rang with regret. “I know how hard it’s going to be for you.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll get through it.” Would she? “My mom’s friends won’t mind entertaining me. I’m glad you guys are finally going out,” she forced herself to add. Even though “out” to Kevin probably meant to the garbage chute in the hallway of their apartment building, but whatever.

  “Yeah,” Nika murmured with zero enthusiasm. “Are you at the airport?”

  “Not yet. I’m at Caleb’s, dropping off some crap he left at my place. He was supposed to pick it up last night but didn’t show.”

  “That’s not like him.”

  Eva smirked. “Probably lost track of time with one of the girls.” Caleb Paynne was never short of female attention. He was a big, handsome brute, had muscles for miles, and the cut he wore over his broad shoulders put him in the same sought-after category as a minor celebrity.

  “Probably. Dick move, though. So what time will you be home?”