Page 1 of Final Reckoning

1

Against The Wall

November 23

I shouldn’t be here.

There’s no danger, not tonight. Bruno Santiago, the deranged criminal who’s got his sights set on my family, is safely in his compound, holding a lavish Thanksgiving feast. It’ll be tomorrow at the earliest before his thoughts turn back to hunting the Adamos.

But here I am, crouched in the dark, outside the house where a small fraction of my huge clan are having their own celebration. I tell myself I’m testing my cousin Kosta’s security so I can alert him to any issues.

That’s a lie.

Yeah, I’ll tell him I got through, and that he needs some more redundancies built in. But it’s not why I’m here. There’s only one reason I’m in Kosta’s back yard, ignoring the icy November air, watching his house.

She’s inside. The woman who’s haunted my dreams since the night I first saw her. The one I need to forget but can’t stop thinking about.

Quinn Callahan.

I’ve stayed alive in a nest of vipers for over two years by trusting no one and ruthlessly watching my back. By allowing myself no weakness.

Quinn makes me vulnerable just by existing.

As if I’ve summoned her with my thoughts, the back door opens and she comes out. My cock jerks at the sight of her, dressed for dinner in dark slacks and a long-sleeved, light blue shirt. It doesn’t show any skin, but it clings in all the right places.

Hell, she could probably wear an outfit patched together from burlap and string and get me hard. I’ve been celibate for too long, but before Quinn it wasn’t a problem. She makes me feel like a ravening beast.

In one hand she carries a plate, with tin foil covering what looks like an enormous mound of food. She sets it down on the low stone wall that separates Kosta’s back patio from the rest of the back yard, then sits beside it.

Damn her. She knows I’m out here. Twice before, I’ve broken cover to warn my cousins of imminent threats from Santiago, and both times Quinn interrupted us.

The first time it was an accident; the second time, she came looking for me. I’m certain of it. Most women can’t get away from me fast enough, unless they’re too damaged to have any sense of self-preservation.

Not Quinn.

What the fuck is she doing, bringing me dinner? Maybe she feels sorry for me and she’s trying to befriend me, or this is some kind of womanly courtship ritual. Either way, it’s a bad idea.

Part of me wants to shake some sense into her. Another part wants to turn her over my knee. And all of me – but one part in particular – wants to fuck her until neither one of us can walk.

Which makes me an even bigger fool than Quinn.

She huddles into herself, shivering. Damned woman’s going to sit out here and catch pneumonia waiting for me. Cursing us both, I rise from my hiding place.

* * *

I was sittingat the dining room table, watching my sister Brianna get engaged to Lando Adamo, when a tingle ran down my spine and the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I clapped and cheered with everyone else at the table when Bree said yes; then I filled a plate and slipped outside.

Don’t ask me how I know he’s here; I don’t understand it myself. I seem to have formed some sort of psychic bond with Matteo Adamo.

The wall is as chilly as the air around it, the cold seeping through my clothing and into me as soon as I sit down. I hunch over, hoping he doesn’t ignore me until I’m forced to leave the food and go back inside.

It’s pathetic, but I need to see him. Even a glimpse of him would ease my mind. It makes no sense at all, given that I’ve been around him for maybe five minutes total in my entire life, but it’s vitally important to me that Matteo be okay.

All I know for certain about him is that he’s Romero’s and Lando’s cousin ... and that he keeps dangerous company. My two brief encounters with him, when he came to warn us about Santiago, were enough to brand him on my awareness.

I just turned twenty, and I’m already certain that no matter how long I live, I’ll never meet another man like Matteo Adamo.

“You’ll make yourself sick.” His voice, like rough-hewn granite, comes from close behind me. My whole body tightens in response.

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