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brother-in-law that her sister was now in the dreadful state she was in. It seemed fitting that Vassallo money should cover the cost of getting Alex back to normal, even though taking a single euro of it went against everything Ally believed in.
    She met his gaze head-on and named a sum that would have stunned most people—but clearly not this man. He barely raised a brow as he looked down at her, his mocking smile grating on her already jangled nerves. ‘You do put rather a high price on yourself, do you not?’ he asked.
    She gave him a pert look. ‘I have always found you get what you pay for in life, Mr Vassallo. Or don’t you follow that particular credo?’
    ‘I do not believe in throwing good money after bad,’ he returned. ‘But if the amount you want is what will achieve the results I desire, then we will both be happy, sì ?’
    Ally didn’t roll her eyes, but she knew her acid tone delivered the same effect. ‘Deliriously so.’
    ‘Tell me, Mrs Sharpe,’ he said, his hawk-like gaze still fixed on hers, ‘do you feel even a tiny bit guilty about what you did to my car?’
    She lifted her chin again. ‘Actually, I don’t feel guilty at all.’
    His lips thinned in anger. ‘Then I will endeavour to make you feel some measure of remorse,’ he said. ‘You are an unprincipled slut who wants someone else to foot your bills. I have met women like you before. You are after a sugar daddy—that is the term, is it not? ‘
    ‘I want nothing of the sort,’ she said through tight lips. ‘I can pay my own way and fully intend to.’
    ‘Then you will pay,’ he said implacably. ‘If you do not co-operate with my conditions you will not only be responsible for the damage to my car but for all the other things you have done to cause trouble for my family. If you think my brother-in-law is a push-over then think again in your dealings with me. You are not dealing with a man driven by his primal instincts but with a man driven by revenge.’
    Ally felt the word reverberate through her slim body like a powerful earthquake, making her feel more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her life. Every part of her felt the tremors of terror as she realised she had just stepped into her sister’s shoes, not knowing where in the world Alex had last been walking in them…

CHAPTER THREE
    ‘P ACK your bags,’ Vittorio said. ‘I will give you fifteen minutes to do so.’
    Ally stared at him, her mouth opening and closing until she could find her voice. ‘You want me to…to…come with you? Now? ’
    ‘But of course,’ he answered smoothly. ‘You are now my mistress—in the eyes of the press, at least. You will move into my palazzo overlooking the Villa Borghese immediately.’
    Ally felt her heart begin to slam against her breastbone again in panic. ‘But—’
    ‘Do not argue with me, Mrs Sharpe.’ He cut her off impatiently. ‘I spoke with your landlord on the way in. He wants you out of here within a matter of days, otherwise he is threatening to take legal action. I took the liberty of paying him what you owed, so now I am the one you owe. You will do what I say or suffer the consequences of your actions. Staying in a palazzo for a couple of weeks will be much more pleasant than several months in a cramped cockroach-infested prison cell, sì ?’
    Ally tried to disguise her shudder of revulsion, but she was sure there was little that escaped his intelligent brown eyes. She could feel their dark intensity holding hers in a battle of wills she had no hope of winning. She knew all she had to do was show him the photo she had hidden earlier to bring an end to this madness right here and now. She could explain her sister’s illness, hoping he would understand. But it was a risk she wasn’tprepared to take—or at least not yet, not until she knew what sort of man Vittorio Vassallo was. For all she knew he would go ahead and press charges, and with the sort of affluence and connections he possessed she could