Instantly Joaquin and Tomas straightened, the room filling with dangerous tension. Elijah held out his hand, palm up to warn them to back off. His bodyguards had been at his side, growing up with him, and they were more than bodyguards to him. They’d tear Alonzo apart if he tried to lay a hand on Elijah. And they’d do it before Joshua and Drake moved.

“It’s the kind of question a man asks when his woman has been beaten so badly she had to be hospitalized. It’s the kind of question a man asks when his woman has been betrayed, raked over by a leopard so fucked-up and out of control, it would tear a woman’s flesh from her body. That’s the kind of question I’m asking you and that’s why I’m asking, so fucking answer the question.”

Alonzo stared at him for several long moments. He was as good at keeping all emotion from his expression as Elijah was.

“She matters to me,” Alonzo answered. “I’ve been looking out for her since she was fifteen years old. She’s a good woman, and she got hurt on my watch. It isn’t going to happen again.” There was a hard edge to his voice. “You keep saying your woman, but I need to hear that from Siena.”

“You saw her in my bed. Did she look like she wanted to leave? The cops were here. She didn’t tell them she wanted to leave.”

“I need to hear that from Siena. I want to see for myself she’s safe and happy. Calling me like that means maybe she isn’t. Not answering my calls jumped that possibility. You putting me down here in this room tells me that probability just got higher. So no, her sitting in your bed doesn’t make her your woman. I need to hear her say that to me without a hint of coercion.”

The man didn’t have any back-up in him. More, he didn’t appear in the least bit concerned about being locked away with Elijah and his men, and that meant he had all the confidence in the world that he could take them down, which was another thing Elijah knew about. Elijah never had much to lose so he was never very worried about what could happen to him in any given situation. Alonzo clearly didn’t feel he had much to lose. Elijah knew that made him doubly dangerous.

“Your man, Paolo, he wants her in order to take over Arnotto territory. You looking to do the same?” Elijah watched him closely for any signs that suggestion hit a nerve.

“Is that what you’re doing?” Alonzo countered, his eyes every bit as flat and cold as Elijah’s.

Yeah. Alonzo Massi recognized exactly what he was facing, but he wasn’t going to back down, and that said a lot about him.