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Her next smile was the sweetest one yet. “Did I forget to mention that? I’m so sorry. But yes, Elio knows your right-hand man is back in Naples.”

Enough time had passed to share that little nugget. She’d no idea why her brother had been crossing the road to Stefano with such intent, but the important thing she’d clung to was that Elio had known Mattia’s closest associate was back in Naples. For all she knew, Elio might have still been with Stefano when he’d heard Mattia’s message about holding Elvira hostage. If not, he’d have sent his men to get him. Enough time had passed to find him.

“I assume he’s supposed to be here, helping you keep me captive, probably doing all the cooking and other domestic chores you’re incapable of doing.”

That Mattia was now showing the strain of maintaining his poker face was as delightful as his expression when he’d first seen her gun.

“I guess fate has lent me a helping hand – you might not be one for taking advantage of drunken women, but that creep damned well is. If Stefano had done the sweep of my body when you first brought me here, he’d have found the components of my gun and probably my ovaries too.” Laughing, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Give it up, Esposito. If Elio hasn’t got this address out of him, he will soon. My brother might already be on his way here with his real army.”

The green eyes held hers for the longest time before his firm lips formed a sneer and he shook his head. “You know, as tempting as it is to let you think you’ve got it all worked out, there are a couple of dots you haven’t connected.”

Mattia took great satisfaction in seeing the sudden flash of uncertainty on Elvira’s face, and now he too leaned forward, putting his plate on the floor without breaking eye contact, just as she’d done.

“You saw your brother crossing the street to Stefano just as I kidnapped you, right?”

Lips tightening, she just stared at him.

He smiled cruelly and relayed what he’d learned only five minutes ago. “Stefano’s in an induced coma.”

The silver eyes flickered.

“In a wonderful quirk of timing, your brother beat him to a pulp before he learned I’d kidnapped you. I’ve yet to learn what he did to provoke the beating, but it doesn’t matter. Elio beat him senseless, and so I’m afraid he’s not going to be able to torture this address out of him.”

Mattia paused to savour the moment.

The odds of victory had been slipping away from him since Elvira produced her gun. Stefano’s failure to get here or call had accelerated the sense of doom nibbling silently at his guts, but now the messages sent from one of the rats who’d jumped ship to the Ranieris had evened the playing field again. This particular rat was Mattia’s bad apple on the inside.

The handover would be harder without Stefano, but at least he could now be confident Elio’s focus would be on following Mattia’s demands and not on a rescue attempt.

“The good news is that the doctors think Stefano will make a full recovery,” he continued before allowing himself a small smile. “Just not in time for your brother to get this address out of him, and don’t hold out hope that he’ll learn the identities of the men who helped kidnap you, and torture the address out of them – even if he does figure out who they are, they’ve set sail on a boat and will remain at sea until the deadline. The cavalry isn’t coming, Elvira. It’s just you and me, and if my demands aren’t met by my deadline…” He raised his gun and aimed it at her face.

The tension that had filled the small room was strong enough to taste, but before he could relish it, her lips loosened and tugged into a smile. “I give you credit for the way you’re playing your hand. I always thought when people called you the cold, calculating Esposito that they’d only got the cold bit right, but there’s much more to you than a brooding face.”

“Like there’s much more to you than a pretty face?” The words came out without thinking.

Something pulsed in her eyes. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Sure, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t put a bullet between your eyes.”

“You’re attracted to me?”

“Unfeminine ballbreakers are not my thing.”

“What’s your thing then?” Her eyes were dancing again, a sure way of knowing the brain he’d underestimated was thinking of her next move.

He needed to think of his too. If he was going to live to see his mother and siblings again, he had to provoke Elvira to anger and get that damned gun from her. All his efforts so far had provoked only amusement…

Apart from when he’d made that taunt about her family’s history being boring. He’d seen a real flare of anger then, he remembered. Only a flare of it, but it had been there.

“Not going to answer?” she taunted. “You know, I’ve never heard of you having a lover. Are you a virgin?”

He fixed her with what she’d called his dead-eyed stare. It was a look that normally made people quail but had no more effect on Elvira than any of his other stares or the gun aimed at her face did.

“If you’re not a virgin, then my guess is you allow yourself only discreet hookups.” Her eyes squinted in thought. “But not with hookers. Not out of any moral purity but because you would think it beneath you.”

He fought hard to keep himself calm under the weight of her provocation, but something must have shown on his face because she laughed. “Your father slept with hookers, didn’t he? Those parties he hosted for his rich and powerful friends, buying women for the night for them to use however they wanted.”

His veins had turned to ice, sickening memories he’d spent what felt like the whole of his lifetime trying to forget sluicing through his brain. “Shut up.”