Page 6 of My Italian Stepbrother

“You know who that is, right?” I stalk towards him so I’m just inches away from his face. He nods and stares at his shoes. “So why the hell were you out here then?”

“Benny, I told you–”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I interrupt, raising my voice just slightly. My eyes are locked on him, and I don’t blink while I stare him down. “You saw your boss's daughter, my stepsister out here enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful day, and you thought to insert yourself into the scenario?”

“You’re making a huge deal of it, Benny. Nothing happened. I was just saying hi,” he pleads with me.

I inch closer to him and shove his chest. He can’t talk to my girl like that and get away with it scotch free. He stumbles backward and catches himself before he falls.

Carlo jumps right back up into my face and tries to intimidate me. He pushes my shoulders, and I immediately grab him by the neck and put him in a chokehold.

The others come running to the pool from the living room and manage to separate us.

“You’re insane!” Carlo yells at me while I swat Henry’s hands away from me after he tries to hold me back.

I walk away and hold my hands in the air to signal to them that I’m done fighting.

“I think we should just go for now,” Henry chimes in. “Benny, it was good to see you again. We’ll talk soon.”

Henry walks the others out of the house, and I open the gates for them to leave. Henry has always been the peacemaker of the group, so I’m glad he was invited today. Otherwise, things might have gotten messy.

Right after they leave, I storm upstairs and go into my room. My door slams behind me, and I pace back and forth for a minute before walking through the adjoined bathroom into Brie’s room.

She jumps up from her bed where she’s been sitting when she sees me. She’s put on a short crochet coverup over her skimpy bathing suit. I stare at her for a second. Being this close to her while so much of her skin shows is driving me mad. If I could, I would ravage her right here and now, bend her legs back over her head, and slide inside of her while she begs me to let her finish.

“What the hell were you doing out there?” I snap at her, distracting myself from the filthy thoughts flooding my mind.

“I was just swimming, I didn’t–”

“You can’t go running around here dressed like this,” I hiss through clenched teeth, gesturing to her half-naked body. “There are bad people who come through here, and you’ve just learned that not all of them care that you’re dad’s stepdaughter.”

“This is just a bathing suit,” she whines. “And I didn’t know they were here. I won’t do it again.”

But she has to learn. I’m still reeling from what happened downstairs, and it makes my blood boil thinking about the likes of Carlo getting cozy with her. There are more of him, and he’s not even the worst of them.

“Bend over. Now.”

“What?” she asks with an incredulous laugh.

“I won’t repeat myself. Bend. Over.” I’m stern this time. Crossing my arms, I raise my eyebrows, wondering if she dares to defy me.

She gapes at me for a moment, a glint of fear in her eyes, but she listens and bends over on the bed. I kneel behind her, almost too distracted by the plush, round ass presented in front of me to properly focus on the lesson I’m going to teach her.

In one swift motion, I slap her ass, spanking her to teach her not to put herself in dangerous situations anymore. She yelps and squirms. A bright red mark where my hand hit forms on one asscheek, and I spank her there again.

I hear her suck in a breath right after my hand makes contact. Her fingers curl on the sheet, but she doesn’t say anything.

“Do you understand now?” I growl at her, waiting for a response. When I don’t get one, I spank her again.

“I understand,” she finally says in a quiet whimper.

I hesitate for a second before standing up, but I get to my feet and walk out of the room without saying another word.

Walking away from her and closing the door behind me takes more strength than I care to admit. But I lie down in my bed and take a deep breath to compose myself.

What the hell was Carlo thinking? Who was he to approach my sister—his boss’s daughter—in my home? Unbelievable. I could kill him. I’m so angry I’m seeing red.

When this business is in my hands, things are going to change. These men won’t be here anymore. We’re going to be running business in a much different way, and if they don’t like it, they can leave. No more abuse of power, no more women being hurt and taken advantage of under my watch.

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