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Mattia could still feel the marks of his brother’s fingers around his neck and still had to fight back the rage that tried to coil through his veins at his brother’s actions. It had been bad enough when their younger brother, Rico, had walked away from the family business for the sake of love for a woman, but Tommaso had put a woman – a traitor no less – above their family. He would never understand or forgive that, and it had only solidified his intention to spend his life without the unwanted burden of a wife.

Family was everything. They’d all been raised to believe that. Family loyalty came first, no ifs or buts. Mattia’s siblings had all talked the talk when their father had been alive, but since his death, his brothers’ loyalty had died with him. His sister had proven herself over and over, especially the quick-thinking way she’d saved their mother’s life, but even his trust in her came with caveats. Siena was as passionate and volatile as Tommaso.

This woman with the slender body and pert breasts and striking silver eyes had passion in her blood too. Although she had better control of herself than his brother and sister, he knew it was only a matter of pushing the right buttons to force her into anger and loss of control.

She pulled a pondering face. “That is also interesting. When you say a man likes to be the boss of his family, do you mean he likes to be the boss of his marriage?”

“The man is the head of his family. It is his duty to provide for his family and protect them, and his wife and family’s duty to obey him. It’s the natural order of things. Trust me, no man with any sense will want to marry an unfeminine ball-breaker like you.”

Amusement danced in her eyes. “I must have missed the ark you sailed in on.”

“Does Elio not provide for you and protect you?” he challenged. “He is the head of your family. Without him, you’d be on the streets.”

Laughing, she stretched a leg out over the sofa. “Elio is my brother, and he helped raise me because our father was murdered by your father when I was three years old. I was hardly in a position to protect myself or provide for myself back then, but since I’ve been an adult, I’ve provided for myself and as my cereal box toy proves, protected myself too.”

“If you’d listened to Elio and taken protection in the form of bodyguards with you tonight, I wouldn’t have been able to kidnap you.” He had the satisfaction of watching her eyes narrow, and smiled.

Mattia had known from the moment he unlocked the door of his secret apartment that the Ranieris’ men had followed him there. For ten days he’d lived under the assumption that his every move was being watched and his every spoken word listened to. It’s what he would have done if the roles had been reversed. He’d known, too, that those particular Ranieri men belonged to Elvira.

It had been unsettling, knowing she was always watching him, maybe even the few times he’d managed to sleep. Unsettling in ways he’d never felt before and could never explain.

“Not everyone who’s sworn loyalty to your brother was being truthful with their fealty.” That made her eyes narrow even more. “I don’t dispute that the majority turned like the worms they are, but your family’s position isn’t as strong as you believe. All it takes is one bad apple to spoil the whole basket.” And one of those bad apples now in the heart of the Ranieri basket still belonged to Mattia.

When that bad apple had told him Elvira was meeting some girlfriends for drinks that night, Mattia had known it was time to strike. A one-word message had set the ball rolling on a plan he’d formulated before he’d even left Elio Ranieri’s home after that damned dinner party.

He’d genuinely had to bite his tongue to stop himself laughing when he’d received the further message that Elvira had left her apartment without any of her bodyguards. Only by reminding himself the Ranieris were watching his every move had he kept his poker face, but fuck, it had been hard. The stupid bitch might as well have gift-wrapped herself to him. If she’d kept her guards close, Mattia might have had a decent fight on his hands during the kidnapping. Instead, she’d made it easy.

Not so easy now, though, especially without Stefano as backup. That was one clever little gun she’d made for herself, and her aim at the poster proved she knew how to use it. He’d known she was smart, but she was much, much more intelligent than he’d given her credit for. Provoking her to anger was the best route, perhaps the only route, to taking back control.

From the amusement still dancing in her eyes, any anger was contained.

“I don’t disagree with that,” she said with a small, nonchalant shrug, “but you’re saying that my refusal to take bodyguards out with me tonight proves your theory that men should be the natural bosses of women?”

“Not should be,” he corrected. “Men are naturally superior to women and should always be listened to and respected.”

Not even a flicker of anger on her face. “Because you have penises?” she asked idly.

“Because it is the order of the world. We have bigger brain masses…”

“Bigger egos, you mean.”

“It is our duty to keep our women safe,” he continued, ignoring her interruption, which could only have been delivered better if she’d accompanied it with a yawn.

“Your women? So we’re your possessions?”

“The world is dangerous for women. You are naturally weaker and inferior to us. You need us men to think for you and protect you.”

“Think for us? I would love to see you say that in front of your sister. If you think us women need protecting from the big, dangerous world, it’s only because the men who live in it with us think with their penises.” Her silver eyes flashed with mischief. “Except maybe you. You’re too controlled to let your penis sway your thinking.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” She beamed. “Still, you might have used your bigger physical powers to kidnap me, but I used my smaller brain mass to take that power from you, so which one of us should take precedence when it comes to being listened to and respected? You for your penis or me for using my tiny brain to such excellent effect?” Making her point, she aimed her gun at him.

A burst of laughter – real laughter – had fired out of Mattia’s throat before he even felt it rise inside him.

“I can tell you have older brothers,” he said drily, making a point of adjusting his hold on his own gun as he privately admitted defeat at this line of attack. “I’m pretty sure Siena would have thrown a vase at my head if I’d suggested she was inferior to men.”

“I think if our families weren’t mortal enemies, your sister and I would be friends.” She tilted her head. “Or is she too feminine for a ballbreaker like me?”