Page 25 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“And report back to you.”

When I stepped away, the slowness of her fingers peeling away from my shirt gave me hope. Maybe she could forgive me. Maybe I could fix this. Maybe we could be friends again. I scoffed at myself. Friendship was not what I wanted from Sofia Russo.

Dante waited for me in the lobby, picking at his fingernails with a wicked-looking knife. “Done begging for forgiveness?”

“You’re an asshole, you know that?”

He laughed and spun the knife around on his palm. “The security feed was looped. There’s no record of Accardi in the building.”

I followed Oscuro to the SUV, where two men in suits dragged Jason Torani out of the trunk onto the asphalt. Fuck. He was a goddamned cousin.

“Oscuro, we don’t do this on the sidewalk in America.”

He raised an eyebrow, his lips teasing at a smile. “No? Not like in the movies?”

I laughed, enjoying his easy charm. “Let’s take him inside.”

Torani begged through his gag as I hoisted him over my shoulder. Dante slapped him in the face. “Stop talking.”

I began to understand what Sofia saw in the man.

Down in the basement, I dropped Torani on the ground. Dante stared down at him, then knelt, slicing open the gag with his knife.

“Please! Let me go! I let him upstairs in exchange for a few hundred!”

“Jason, what the fuck were you thinking?” I asked.

Torani moaned. “They beat the shit out of me, Lorenzo.”

“Because you put Miss Russo in danger,” I answered thoughtfully. “What were you thinking?”

“Untie me and let me go!”

Oscuro traced his knife down Torani’s face. “How much did he pay you?”

“Five hundred. It’s in my wallet! You can have it!”

Oscuro hummed, and Torani wet his pants.

“Was Accardi with anyone else?”

“He was alone! I swear it! Jesus, why do you all care so much? He’s the father of her kid, and the frigid bitch won’t let him see her.”

Oscuro raised an eyebrow. “Is that how Americans usually talk about the daughters of theirdons?” His voice was soft and dangerous. What the hell was going on between him and Sofia?

“Look, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was a big deal. It’s Sergio. We practically grew up together. All of us did.”

I pressed my lips into a grim line. “You accepted a bribe to let an unmarried man into the apartment of Tony Russo’s daughter?”

Torani narrowed his eyes, rediscovering his grit. He jerked his head toward Dante. “That asshole’s been in there. Why the fuck shouldn’t Sergio get to see his kid?”

Oscuro frowned. “The difference is that Sofiawantsme in her apartment.”

My eyes flicked to Oscuro. There was so much more to this than either of them was telling me.

“What do we do with him?” Oscuro asked, nudging Torani with his toes. “Someone going to get pissed if I cut off his balls and feed them to him?”

I mulled it over. The Toranis lived in Russo territory, and this was a Russo building. “No.”

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