Page 9 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

She scoffed, derision etched across her features as I tightened my fingers in her hair. “He surprised me yesterday, but we didn’t have an opportunity to chat.”

“You’re not close to the father of your child?”

She rested her hands on my thighs, her pink-painted nails giving away her nerves as she tapped patterns against my skin.

“No.”

“But he wants to be.” Maybe that was my leverage. “And he wants Lizzie too, doesn’t he?”

She looked up at me, weighing me, judging me. I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to fill the silence.

“Can you protect her?”

My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “What do you mean, protect her?”

“He’s going to try to take her. I know it. Why else would he have stalked me to the pediatrician’s office over the weekend?”

Sofia licked her lips. The practiced seduction of the movement didn’t deter my growing need for this coldly beautiful woman.Manipulative bitch.I couldn’t tell if she was a genuinely talented actress or truly scared of her boyfriend.

“If you can protect her, I’ll do anything you want.”

5

SOFIA

I kneltbetween Oscuro’s powerful thighs, overwhelmed by his musky sandalwood scent, desperate to pretend I was still in control. He dwarfed me, easily half a foot taller than me, with muscles that strained the expensive fabric of his button-down shirt and dress pants. Faded tattoos peeked out of the unbuttoned collar of his shirt and across his fingers, clenched into a fist on his thigh.

His dark hair, cut shorter on the sides than the top, had streaks of silver near his ears, as did his closely trimmed beard. Brown eyes so dark they were almost black glared at me, then softened as he thought about what I’d offered.

“Anything?” he asked, his Italian accent thick and heavy as his full lips tilted into a lopsided smile. “That’s a dangerous thing for a whore to promise. I can protect your daughter,” he said. “Keeping something else of Sergio’s from him will give me great pleasure. But that doesn’t mean I won’t make you pay for it.”

“What do you want?”

“I told you, Sofia. I want your tears.”

“That’s not terribly specific,” I answered dryly. His grip loosened in my hair until he gently scratched my scalp. The sheer satisfaction of the motion terrified me, even as it soothed and allowed me to regain my long-departed composure. When he pressed my cheek against his thigh, I closed my eyes, permitting myself a bizarre moment of comfort as my breath slowed and my heartbeat returned to normal.

“I’m not convinced your daughter needs protection from Sergio,” he said while gently stroking his fingers through my hair. “Nor you.”

I shuddered, reliving the terror from the day before as I dashed through the pediatrician’s office with Lizzie in my arms, desperate to hide from her father once again.

Dante Oscuro was the fucking boogeyman. The Sicilian mob, the terror of Italy, and head of the largest arms trafficking operation in Europe. He was a fucking ghost. His second in command, Matteo Zanetti, was the visible head of his operation, supposedly so Dante could handle the brutal, murderous side of the businesspersonally.

I met his eyes, staring into the darkness that met me there, fighting not to drown in it. “If you can protect Lizzie, keep her safe, keep her out of his hands until I graduate and leave Yorkfield, I’ll do anything,” I answered, widening my baby blues like saucers and nibbling on my bottom lip, as if with nerves.Anything, I reminded myself as I indulged in the manipulation.

His eyes followed the movement of my mouth. An unfamiliar flutter in my belly distracted me until his fingers tightened against my scalp.

“So eager to whore yourself out to me,” he murmured.

I laughed, bitter and angry. Another man in my life who wanted to control me, then had the gall to act surprised when I used the only tools available to me to get what I needed. “Will you do it out of the goodness of your heart?”

“No,” he snapped, yanking my head back. “And I’ll have you whether or not I protect your daughter.” I fought the tears of pain threatening to spill over, determined not to give this terrifying man what he wanted

“You could have me willing, though,” I whispered, my heart pounding a million miles a second as I plunged ahead, deliberately ignoring the cost of the bargain I was about to make. I’d made so many Faustian bargains over the years to keep Lizzie safe and gain my freedom. What was one more?

“Sergio’s girlfriend whoring herself to protect her daughter?” he mused, maintaining the burning tension on my scalp.

“Anything to protect her,” I answered.

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