Page 4 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“It’s getting late, and I don’t have any more appointments today. Ready to go?”

I nodded and walked over to the couch to scoop up Lizzie while he hung up his white doctor’s coat.

“May I?” Nick asked, standing beside me.

I wasn’t short at five-foot-eight, but he was well over six feet and loomed over my willowy frame.

I bent down to kiss Lizzie’s temple. “Sure.”

He lifted her with muscular arms that filled out his dress shirt when he flexed.

Stop it, Sofia. Stop noticing. Stop paying attention.

My daughter nuzzled into his neck as he carried her, and my breath caught again at the simple trust she showed him. I might be a terrible judge of character, but Lizzie wasn’t.

He handed me a baseball cap that smelled of spice—of him—and I slipped it over my head, along with my sunglasses. He draped a blanket over Lizzie, hiding her curls. Not a perfect disguise, but better than nothing.

We took the stairs down to the lowest level of the garage to the staff parking lot. Oh, sweet Lord, my dear compassionate doctor drove a Volvo. I raised my eyes at the two car seats strapped into the back of his car, my heart stuttering, unreasonably shattered.

When he stood up from carefully strapping Lizzie into the passenger side, he must have seen the stricken expression on my face because he immediately pushed into my space and raised a hand to my face, as if he were going to cup my cheek. Thank goodness, he froze, then stepped back before he could touch me because I would have let him. I would have turned my cheek into his hand and enjoyed the comfort he offered.

God, I needed to get a grip on my emotions. My mamma raised me better than this, better than to let a stranger know my thoughts by the expression on my face.

“My sister has twins. I installed them when they came to visit a few weeks back, and I haven’t taken them out yet.”

I closed my eyes, appalled at the relief washing through me. “Do you have your GPS app open? I’ll give you my address.”

He nodded and again gave me the space I needed to put myself back together. Was I that obvious, or was he particularly observant?

Lizzie babbled the entire ride home, thrilled to be in Nick’s car, thrilled to have his attention, thrilled at having spent the afternoon somewhere new and exciting instead of her daycare.

Oh no.

If Sergio found us at the doctor’s, he’d undoubtedly be able to track her down at the campus daycare. I closed my eyes as Nick pulled in front of my building, not ready to leave and face my empty apartment. Lizzie giggled from the backseat. Momming wouldn’t wait, no matter how much I wished it could.

“Thanks for everything, Nick,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt.

He turned those intense green eyes on me. “I can’t pretend to understand what you’re going through, but you seem like you need a friend.” He pulled a card out of his pocket, then reached across my knees to open the glove compartment and grab a pen. I ignored the heat that danced across my skin where his arm brushed against me. He scribbled a number on the back of his card.

“Please, if you need anything, even someone to watch Lizzie for a couple of hours, call me.”

2

DANTE

“Sergio Accardi flewto the United States yesterday.”

I slammed the flat of my hand on my desk, furious that the Italian authorities hadn’t stopped him, furious the mafias running Rome didn’t catch him before he arrived at the airport, and furious he’d been able to leave Sicily and my sphere of influence.

Matteo watched me with caution. I’d murdered men for delivering better news, but I wasn’t going to kill my second in command for my own error.

Two days ago, I let Accardi walk out of my estate instead of slitting his throat. Now the motherfucker was safe in America instead of delivering the arms he’d promised would arrive today in exchange for his life.

“Is there any indication he intended to keep his word?”

Matteo shook his head.

How had a lowlife Italian-American wormed his way into so many European operations in such a short period? Whatever he might owe my colleagues, he owedmea million fucking euro, and I was going to collect my money or take his life.

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