Page 16 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

Luca misunderstood my maneuver and grinned, mischief in his eyes as he held his arms out for his niece. Lizzie, the traitor, tumbled straight into them. My brother spread his legs until he forced me to scoot closer to Dante’s heat. Our thighs and arms pressed together, and my heart sped up at the contact. What if someone noticed? What if someone suspected this was more than an innocent flirtation?

“Your daughter is beautiful,” Dante told me. “She has your determined spirit.”

The compliment shot straight to my soul, warming me from my toes to my fingertips. Despite my best efforts, I blushed, then was furious with myself for craving his approval.

I found it difficult to concentrate on the service, distracted by Dante’s unnerving presence—each brush of his leg against mine, our elbows knocking together when we knelt, his hand at the small of my back, steadying me when I wobbled, my bare knee against the expensive fabric of his trousers. My heart beat against my ribs like an unsteady drum as the tension rose between us.

I didn’t dare let my composed mask slip, not here, not surrounded by family, not in the neighborhood that my father had ruled and supported for decades. Certainly not with my brother to my right, watching us with amusement, marking each sharp intake of my breath.

Sixty agonizing minutes later, the service ended, and Dante stepped out into the aisle, offering me his arm. I couldn’t refuse in public without garnering attention, so I slid my fingers around his arm. I inhaled his sandalwood scent, the warm spice washing over me and reminding me of how he’d left me the night before, how I’d imagined him as I pleasured myself alone in my bed.

This man was making me pay for my daughter’s safety with my body, and my panties were flooding because I liked the way he smelled.Fucked up, Sofia.

The community welcomed him like a celebrity, stopping him every few steps to welcome him and speak with him. He kept me on his arm, not letting me slip away and hide with my family.

I didn’t understand until I noticed that the young people who usually fluttered around Luca and me, especially the men, kept their distance. This was a public claiming, as good as a ring on my finger, for the community to back off. Sofia Russo belonged to Dante Oscuro, arms trafficker.Fucking super.

He would leave, though, once he got his money from Sergio. Then I’d have to pick up the pieces of my reputation—Sofia, who’d turned into an ice queen after she got knocked up, then chased after Dante Oscuro. Who did she think she was, anyway?

When we finally made our way to the courtyard, I tugged on my hand. Dante laid his fingers over it, holding me tight. Shaking my head at his possessiveness, I kept my face pleasant.

“Please, let me go. It won’t take much to transform their wonder over your interest in me into censure because I’m sleeping with you.”

He peered down at me with fathomless brown eyes a woman could lose her soul in. “That’s because you are a slut, Sofia.”

I blinked at his cruelty, my heart thudding to a stop.

“Myslut,” he continued, angling his body toward mine, the darkness in his voice sending gooseflesh running up and down my skin as my heart started back up again.

Luca interrupted us, bringing Lizzie with him. “Dante, Mamma would like to invite you to lunch at our family home.”

“Mamma!” Lizzie exclaimed. “Nonna invited us for lunch, too!”

I laughed and scooped her into my arms. “We have lunch with Nonna every Sunday, sweetheart. Of course, we’ll have lunch today.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Dante,” I said, not releasing either of my hands from Lizzie to shake his. “I’ll see you at my parents’ house.”

On my way out of the church courtyard, I stopped to greet my parents.

“He seems enchanted with you, Sofia,” my mother murmured, to my dismay. The last thing I needed was my mother fixating on Dante as my future husband.

“Of course he is,” Luca piped up, ever the peacemaker. “She’s beautiful and smart and has the Russo charm.”

My father caught my eye and, without words, reminded me of my role in the family. Luca might be the heir, but I was bait. I knew Dante was in Yorkfield to hunt down my daughter’s wayward father, but Papà would imagine Dante was here for business. My job would be to keep Dante comfortable, drinking, and relaxed, as my father felt him out for future partnerships.

I’d be invisible as I worked my magic, flattering the man and using my elegance to add to the old-world ambiance of Papà’s study after the meal. Obedience was the price of my apartment, tuition, even daycare for Lizzie. The moment I stepped out of line again, all that would disappear.

My older sister would never have stood for that bullshit. She expected to stand on equal footing with the men in our family, and they elevated her to do it. Me? I was the youngest daughter, barely marriageable, with nothing to commend me except my figure and my charm.

Fine.

I strapped my daughter into her car seat, then started the car. I couldn’t risk letting my tears fall in front of the church, but I could take the long way home and compose myself before I arrived.

Dante

Find a babysitter for Wednesday.

8

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