Page 7 of Pregnant By the Italian Mafia Enemy

Her lack of terror intrigued me further.

“Maybe if you beg a little harder,” I said, lowering my tone as I grabbed both of her hips and pressed her into the wall beside the window. She let out an involuntary gasp in the process. “The last time someone challenged me like this, I chained them to a wallfor two days and let them rot. When I returned, do you know what I did to him?”

“No—”

I move my head down to whisper in her ear. “I cut off each of his fingernails, and then when he stopped screaming, I took each finger from his hand, one knuckle at a time. It was like cutting baby carrots. Do you know how easy it is to make someone apologize when they’re missing pieces of all their fingers?”

She surprised me as she leaned back and rammed her knee right into my diaphragm.

Rage rippled through me at the same time as amusement did. I should have snapped her neck or demonstrated what I did to people who disobeyed me, but my attention caught on the pebbled nipples beneath her shirt, and my involuntary reaction seized.

Time felt like it erupted in slow motion as my reaction to her became rather obvious. She shoved at my chest and balled her fist, aiming to swing at my face. It was quick work to step back far enough to avoid the sloppy hit before moving in again.

I avoided all the flailing limbs as I grabbed her wrist and twisted her into me. Her back fell flush against my front as I pressed her into the wall, one hand pinned behind her back and the other pinned to the wall at her side.

She tried wiggling free of my tight grip, but I didn’t allow her an inch of headway.

I maneuvered both of her wrists into one of my hands, pressed them between us, and gripped the back of her hair with the other hand, tilting her head back.

“You are either stupid, or you lack an understanding of your situation,” I snarled in her ear. “You are my prisoner, and you’re doing a poor job of convincing me to let you go. You’re reckless and fucking stupid to fight me here. You saw shit that you can’t unsee. I’m trying to help you. Most people in my situation would have killed you on the spot.”

“You didn’t,” she huffed rebelliously.

I tightened my grip on her hair in a way that I knew would be painful, and she hissed through her teeth.

“For that, you should be on your knees for me.” I shook my head, the image making my cock grow harder beneath my jeans. I heard her gasp and knew she felt the proof of my arousal against her back. “Why are you acting afraid of me?”

“Why would you think I’m acting?” she asked, her voice trembling.

She may have been difficult to read, but she wasn’t impossible. I knew the scent of true fear, and she showed no signs of it. I’d be stupid not to find that suspicious. As her body huffed beneath mine, I could only stare down at her and calculate what to do next.

If she were one of Valentino’s cronies, this day would have gone differently. She would have made a move to kill me or my men. She wouldn’t have resorted to sloppy punches and spitting in my face.

This girl who could hardly defend herself wasnotone of his pawns. I’d have someone do a background check on her to be certain, but Marquis was right. She didn’t fit the profile.

But with her erratic behavior, she was still a threat.

If I couldn’t predict her next move, I couldn’t trust her to leave.

“If you were afraid, you would have stayed frozen to the spot until I left,” I demanded.

“Haven’t you ever heard of fight or flight?”

I nodded. “You didn’t fight when you were in the alleyway.”

That reminder had her speechless. She clamped her lips together and averted her gaze.

“Where do you think we should go from here?” I asked into her ear.

“I think you should let me go, and we should put all of this behind us,” she said. “I—I’m sorry for spitting in your face, okay?”

“I don’t think you are.”

“Talking to you is pointless if you can’t believe a single thing I’ve told you.”

“In my line of business, actions speak louder than words, and your actions have shouted to me that you aren’t interested in being helpful. Your actions have demonstrated that you’d do anything to fuck me over.”

She stiffened. “Then what can I do to prove I’m not a danger to you?”

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