Page 44 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

Her eyes flew to mine. “No.”

I moved back toward her and nuzzled her neck. “You’re not a brat, slut, and I’m not a brat tamer. I told you to do something, and I expect you to do it.”

She pressed her cheek against mine, trembling against me. She took one shuddering breath, then another, and then another, until her breathing calmed. I could feel the rapid beat of her pulse slow against my lips as she composed herself.

“Take the picture, kitten.”

She didn’t say a word as she slid into the backseat, trembling, staring straight ahead. Had she ever met a man who could shake her composure like me? I grinned at the thought.Hopefully not.

Moments later, José pulled up in an armored sedan. I climbed onto the passenger seat, and we sped off to his club.

“What are you doing, boss?” he asked me as we took the streets of Yorkfield too fast.

“What do you mean, what am I doing?” I growled, knowing exactly what he was asking about.

“The Russo bitch is going to be nothing but trouble.”

“She’ll draw out Accardi.”

He looked at me out of the side of the eye. “Keep telling yourself that, boss.”

We parked behind one of his clubs and walked to his office, talking the whole way. “What have you found?”

José shook his head. “Jack shit. He’s staying off the grid on purpose.”

Fuck.“Has he been in contact with the Costas?”

“He must be. It’s the only way he’d get a crew fast enough and experienced enough to hit four clubs in one night. If he’s here at the Costas’ behest, shit’s about to go down.”

And shit, as José so eloquently put it, was bad for business on both sides of the ocean. Crime families, governments, and warlords did business with me because of my discretion. Sure, we’d continue to sell arms, but our European casinos and clubs? The restaurants? They’d all suffer from the notoriety a very public American war would bring me.

What was Sergio’s angle with Sofia? I didn’t believe for a moment he was motivated out of love and longing for his daughter. Or his ex.

José continued past his office into a dank stairwell that smelled of piss. I followed him without comment, curious as to what he’d wanted me to see. The sounds of fists thudding into flesh echoed against the concrete and brick of the basement, and the stench of blood and fear permeated the air.

He opened a metal door. Inside, one of his men worked a man over. The captive sat on a metal chair over a drain, his feet and hands taped to the chair and duct tape over his mouth. I stared at the bruised and bleeding man. Swarthy, tall, and thick, like he spent time slinging bodies around, not just in the gym. His nose was broken, and blood seeped through his button-down shirt.

“Enzo Accardi,” José introduced him. “Sergio’s younger brother. He thought he could feel up the girls on the floor.”

I raised an eyebrow. Feeling up the girls upstairs didn’t typically require torture as punishment.

I backhanded my captive. “Is that how Accardis treat women?” I asked, my voice dangerous and quiet, trying to hide the real reason behind my fury—I was spiraling out of control with my need for Sofia, and this man dared threaten what was mine.

José raised a discrete eyebrow. He was, of course, absolutely correct—I shouldn’t make this personal. I ripped off the duct tape, enjoying the man’s cry of pain.

“What the hell?” Enzo protested. “I just touched her! I’ll never do it again!”

My footsteps tapped slowly on the slick concrete floor as I stalked around him, noting his shoulder holster and the now empty sheathe at his belt. He’d come to my club armed.

“Well, boss?” José prompted.

Enzo tried to turn and look at me from where I stood behind him. “Boss? Who the fuck are you? José, who is this motherfucker? Does he know who I am? Who I work for?”

José fisted the captive’s hair, then slammed Enzo’s head into the back of the chair. “Do you know whoheis? Do you know whoIwork for?”

Enzo froze, his eyes flicking wildly from side to side as he tried to figure out how much fucking trouble he’d landed himself in.

I gripped his shoulders and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “My name is Dante Oscuro.”

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