The Salvation of Vengeance (Wanted Men #2) by Nancy Haviland

room. “What?”
    “I accidentally walked in on her changing and saw—”
    Nika aimed a kick at his expensive Italian leather shoe. “Shut. Up,” she said through gritted teeth. And then more clearly, “It’s nothing, Caleb. Vincente thinks he saw something he didn’t.”
    “It looks like someone took a tire iron to her back.”
    She gasped at the betrayal and glared up at the Neanderthal. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared back. The leather bands covering a small visible patch of a tattoo on his wide wrist caught her eye; the half-dozen worn strips were not fancy but for the small charm dangling off one of them. A precious silver angel, her wings flared as she bent over, smelling a bouquet of flowers. Why the sight of that dainty figure suddenly made Nika’s throat ache, even as her jaw ground together at this guy’s audacity, she didn’t know.
    “Nik?” The note of alarm in her brother’s voice pulled at her heartstrings. “What’s he talking about?”
    “Nothing,” she insisted. “It’s a bruise. Big deal.”
    “Bruis es . A lot of them,” Vincente supplied.
    “Would you stop it?” She stomped her foot in frustration. As hard as she tried to come up with something acceptable to say, Nika’s mind remained as blank as a new chalkboard. So, steeling herself for a few minutes of untold embarrassment, she opened her mouth and nearly vomited around her next word.
    “BDSM,” she shoved out of her constricted throat.
    The silence that descended was how Nika imagined outer space would sound. Nothing registered in her ears but a buzz as her blood pressure steadily rose second by second.
    “What did you say?” Caleb’s face took on an oddly confused look.
    “Bondage and shit,” Vincente said.
    “I know what it is,” Caleb barked, and, bless her brother’s beautiful heart, he screwed up his face, not believing it for a second. Not that there was anything wrong with the practice—
    “It’s bullshit anyway,” Vincente added. “Playing with pain does not do to a body what I just saw. Now stop fucking around, Red, and tell us why you’re covering—badly—for that dead man you’re married to.”
    To save my brother’s life! she wanted to scream. Instead she snapped, “Thank you for ruining my attempt to make my brother feel better, Mr. Expert.” Her need to get out of there was suddenly a screaming roar in her head. Kevin was going to be off the rails.
    Unless she could somehow get that memory stick before he started in on her and get the hell away from him.
    “I’m going to find Eva,” she said, stalking toward the door. “She’ll vouch for me. She knows what I’m into.” How can I say that without laughing hysterically? She stalled and put up a hand when they both went to follow. “Oh no you don’t.” If only she could tell them what was going on and bring them with her for protection. But no. Because if it wasn’t the memory stick she’d felt in the suitcase, then the evidence against her brother was elsewhere. And if she showed up with these two and Kevin learned their secret was out, he wouldn’t hesitate to send that footage to the police and Caleb would go to jail. Her brother would lose his freedom and wouldn’t get it back until he was in his fifties. She couldn’t let that happen.
    “You two stay here, and I’ll bring Eva up. It’s bad enough you’re making me drag her into this on her wedding night. I don’t think she’d appreciate talking about it in front of her guests.”
    Nika spun on her heel and stormed out. It was all she could do not to take her shoes off and run. But she walked at a steady clip, without being followed, and made it down the stairs. Crossing her fingers when she reached the spacious foyer, and feeling guilty as sin because she was ditching Caleb, she went straight for the front door. She waved at the three goons and walked out to the low hum of voices coming from the living room.
    As she lurched down the stone steps to the