Page 6 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“How much have I asked you for since Ginevra got married?”

He looked me up and down. “Other than for a background check for your nanny? Not a goddamned thing.”

“That’s right,” I said, my tone icy. It was easy for Luca to forget I was raised in the same murderous household as he was. “This seems like a small thing. Security for Lizzie when she’s at home in the evenings without me and on the apartment at night.”

He pursed his lips. “And in return?”

I slammed my hand down on the table, furious. “Do I need to give you something in return? You’re the fucking heir to Papà’s empire, and I am your sister. My only power is between my legs, and that’s not for sale.”Not for him to sell, anyway.

I almost took pity on him as his eyebrows rose in shock, as once again, he realized how fucked up my life was.Oh, Luca.

Poor little rich Sofia. My life was fucked up, though—nothing I had was mine. My apartment, my car, and my credit cards—all depended on my father’s generosity.

I tried to get a job my sophomore year. My second day at work, the owner of the restaurant let me go with his apologies. My father’s head of security had threatened to bulldoze his restaurant if he continued to employ me.

Luca sighed. “You have more power than that. You know that, right? If you ever fucking asked—”

“Iamasking, you asshole! I want security on Lizzie at night!”

“Hey, hey, hey, easy, Sofia,” he said, trying to calm me, as if I were a child.

He wasn’t going to do it. How fucking stupid of me to give my family a hint that something was wrong without assurances they actually would help. I bottled my frustration and rage, locking it away in the same box I’d held in my soul since I was ten years old, no longer allowed to attend public school after Ginevra’s kidnapping, stuck at home with private tutors while she finished high school and then took off to the other side of the country for university.

“Thanks for buying me lunch. You were, as always, extraordinarily helpful.”

I gave him my most charming smile and walked around the table to drop kisses on each of his cheeks. My mask in place, I was once again a perfect, glamorous, lovely princess my family could trot out as an example of their elegance, good breeding, and help the world pretend our fortune wasn’t built on blood and violence.

I felt Luca’s eyes boring into my back as I strode off, my kitten heels clicking against the tiles of the student union, communicating my ire without words.

4

DANTE

I waitedin her living room, listening as Sofia hushed her daughter to sleep. After months of tightening the web around Sergio Accardi, he’d fled to the States, back to the mother of his fucking child instead of facing the consequences of his actions. I’d let myself into her apartment a few minutes before, efficiently bypassing the weak security of her apartment’s card reader, and settled onto her couch to wait.

When she emerged, she wore a short robe and a silk nightgown that clung to her curves. Fucking gorgeous—far prettier in person than her pictures implied. On the plane ride there, I’d obsessed over them, as if flipping through her file would soothe my unreasonable compulsion to possess her.

My body tightened with need as I traced my eyes over her, the contrast of the green robe against her creamy skin, the low cut of the neckline that revealed the curves of her breasts, and her mouthwatering legs, illuminated by a faint light from the hallway.

Her expression was tired, more vulnerable than I’d expected, considering the icy hauteur of the photos Matteo found for me. Strands of blonde hair fell in wisps around her face, escaping the loose braid hanging down her back. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, her breasts drawing the material of her nightgown tight, silhouetting her figure.

Sofia Russo was stunning. For the first time, I understood why Paris had kidnapped Helen, consumed by her beauty.

I imagined her in front of me, on her knees, helpless and bound, tears streaming down her cheeks, her luscious pink lips wrapped around my cock as I fucked her desperate and vulnerable face.

Change of plans.

I wasn’t just going to terrify Sergio’s girlfriend—the mother of his child—into giving him up. I would steal her away for myself, humiliate and possess her until she couldn’t tell which way was up until it was my name on her lips as she screamed her release. I would indulge myself, my baser passions, and ruin something of Sergio’s at the same time.

Just because I fucking could.

After a moment’s repose against the wall, Sofia straightened with a sigh, pushing errant strands of hair out of her face with perfectly manicured nails. She flicked on the light and turned toward the living room. When she discovered me sprawled on her furniture, gun in hand, smiling cruelly, she didn’t gasp with surprise or cry out. She turned on her heel and took off down the hallway.

Fuck, her instincts were fast. I leapt up from the couch and dashed after her as she opened a door. With one hand wrapped around her waist and the other around her throat, I yanked her tight against my torso.

“Stay still, Sofia Russo,” I growled into her ear. Her ethereal floral scent wafted over me as she fought, in silence, to escape my grip. She didn’t call for help or make a noise as she struggled silently and uselessly.

“Who are you?” she whispered, continuing to battle against me, small and delicate in my arms.

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