Seizing Lust: The Deadliest Sin Series, #9

By Gwyn McNamee

You would think I've learned my lesson by now.

That I wouldn't repeat the mistakes of the past.

That I wouldn't commit the same sins.

But the crazy thing about sin is, sometimes, it seizes you before you even see it coming.

It blinds you to reason and logic.

Makes you weak where you were once strong and powerful.

That makes you vulnerable.

Especially in Chicago during this growing war between the families.

Everywhere I turn, a new enemy lurks in the shadows.

I've done my best to protect those I love.

To keep them from getting caught in the crossfire.

It hasn't been enough.

And the only way to remedy it is to take lethal action.

 

***Seizing Lust is the ninth book in The Deadliest Sin Series about organized crime in Chicago. This series is best read in order, as the stories are chronological and each sin builds on the events of the previous one.***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gwyn McNamee
• Release date: Apr 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393575900

Gwyn McNamee

Gwyn McNamee is an attorney, writer, wife, and mother (to one human baby and two fur babies). Originally from the Midwest, Gwyn relocated to her husband’s home town of Las Vegas in 2015 and is enjoying her respite from the cold and snow. Gwyn has been writing down her crazy stories and ideas for years and finally decided to share them with the world. She loves to write stories with a bit of suspense and action mingled with romance and heat. When she isn’t either writing or voraciously devouring any books she can get her hands on, Gwyn is busy adding to her tattoo collection, golfing, and stirring up trouble with her perfect mix of sweetness and sarcasm (usually while wearing heels). Gwyn is the author of The Hawke Family series, The Slip Series, The Deadliest Sin Series, The Inland Seas Series, The Supernatural Love Stories in the Absurd (written as her alter-ego, DP Payne), and several stand-alone novels.

Book preview

Seizing Lust

Seizing Lust

The Deadliest Sin Series - Book 9

Gwyn McNamee

SEIZING LUST

© 2021 Gwyn McNamee

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All rights reserved. Except as permitted by U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the author.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, or organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

About the Author

OTHER WORKS BY GWYN MCNAMEE

To everyone who has ever seized lust.

Lust is a pleasure bought with pain, a delight hatched with disquiet, a content passed with fear, and a sin finished with sorrow.

- DEMONAX

1

KAT

"B ecause Rea and I have a son, and I know where yours is."

The air instantly sucks out of the church around me, tightening my chest, and it takes me a moment to process his words.

I know where yours is.

They whirl around my head like a hurricane-force wind, and I try to break them down one by one.

When they fully register. When the truth of what they mean finally hits that part of my brain where I’ve hidden all my secrets, I try not to show any reaction. I swallow thickly. I…I don't know what you're talking about.

Konstandin regards me with something akin to pity in his eyes. Certainly not something he would ever have given any of his victims. Let's cut the bullshit, Kat, or should I call you Brynn? Because that's who I'm talking to right now. The woman who gave birth to Aleksander's child and named him Jeton. The woman who tried to ensure that he would never be found. The woman who left him with that family in Albania to try to save him from the world that you stepped into as Kat.

Blood thunders in my ears, and my chest constricts so badly, I can barely take a breath. My vision starts to waver in front of me.

No. This can't be happening.

Everything I went through. Everything I did to make it to this point. Everything I sacrificed. All of it was for nothing. The carefully constructed façade of Kat is gone. It’s all crashing down.

The web of lies I created is now wrapping me up and keeping me here to be devoured like some stupid fucking fly by the vicious spider named Konstandin.

He takes a step closer to me. Brynn, look at me.

I don’t want to. I don’t want to stare into the eyes of someone so evil, someone who would threaten an innocent child. I would do a lot of things to get what I want, but there’s a line I would never cross. This line.

My hands fist at my sides. I want to lash out, to rail against him and what his words mean. But I need to know what he knows. I need to know what he’s already done. So, I force myself to open my eyes and meet his dark ones. How did you…how did you find him?

It should have been impossible. I did everything right. I covered my tracks. Ensured there weren’t any records. Secured promises from people I trusted.

Konstandin sighs and runs a hand back through his hair. He glances toward the front of the church, almost like he’s checking to ensure we’re still alone. "Aleksander wasn't the only one who still has connections back home. After he tried—and failed—to kill Rea and me, after he used our son as bait… He pauses to let those words sink in. I knew I needed some help. People I could trust. People who go way back with my family to before we ever came to the States."

You went home?

That seems like a pretty idiotic thing to do if you're him. Just like there are a lot of people in Albania who wanted Michael and me dead, there are just as many who want to see the end of the Morinas. And Konstandin is the last one. Except for, apparently, this son he managed to keep hidden.

He shakes his head. "No, but I made sure I had ears open there. I wanted to keep an eye on what was happening after Aleksander's death, who else might come for us from his crew. I didn't anticipate you showing up."

No one did. I take a deep breath and squeeze my shaking hands together so Konstandin doesn’t see them. Outward signs of weakness are invitations for a man like him. For weeks, I didn't know what to do after he died. He didn't even know I was pregnant. All I knew was I had to take him home. I had to bury him with his brother, father, and the rest of the family. He deserved that much. And as I made my plans to go back, as I thought about all the things Aleksander had planned, all the things he would have wanted, I realized what I had to do.

Konstandin raises one dark eyebrow. Become Kat?

I nod slowly and lay a hand across my flat stomach, remembering what it felt like to have Aleksander’s child growing inside me. I knew what it meant. What I would have to give up. But our son wouldn't have been safe if I had stayed Brynn Gashi.

You don't know that. His response comes fast and with a conviction I can’t share.

Bullshit. I narrow my eyes at him. Are you telling me you wouldn't have come after my son and me? That you wouldn't have blamed us for Lorenc’s death? Are you going to stand here and tell me you haven’t been gunning for me since that very day?

His best friend died in the confrontation with Aleksander, and I imagine Konstandin has a lot of feelings about that. A lot of feelings I share about him and what he did.

I had dismissed the possibility that Konstandin could have been behind the sabotage of the plane, but now that I know he’s here in the States and that he’s been watching me so closely, it’s definitely not impossible if he somehow managed to get the