Page 95 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“Luca?” I gasped as I took off running toward the campus daycare.

“Sofia, where are you?”

“On my way to the daycare, they just called about Lizzie.”

He must’ve picked up on the panic in my voice. “Sofia, what’s going on? They called to tell me someone was trying to get in to see Lizzie.”

My stomach dropped. Sergio found her. Oh my God. I had to get there. What if Dante’s men couldn’t protect her? Nightmares barreled through me as I hung up on Luca and called Dante, fumbling with my phone's touch screen as I ran.

“The daycare,” I gasped.

“I’m on my way,” he answered and hung up.

God, why was the campus so fucking big?

A few minutes later, I arrived at the daycare, sweat pouring down my back as I gasped for air. I swiped my ID and burst in, crashing into Lorenzo. I gasped out, “Lizzie—where is she?”

“She’s fine, Sofia,” he murmured, brushing my hair out of my face.

At my stricken expression, he wrapped his arms around me. “She’s safe, I promise. Take a deep breath. You don’t want her to see you like this.”

I wiped the tears off my face, rooting around in my bag for a tissue. Lorenzo grabbed my hands. “Let me.” He gently cleaned my face with his handkerchief. I leaned into him, craving the safety he offered me, giving into the longing for once. “She’s okay,” he murmured. “I promise.”

Shuddering, I nodded, allowing him to gently take care of me, even as I anxiously eyed the row of classrooms where I knew Lizzie played.

“I’ll take you to her as soon as you’re cleaned up enough that you won’t scare her, all right, sunshine?”

He handed me a bottle of water, and I downed it, shoving my lank and sweaty hair out of my face.

He continued to whisper assurances as he straightened me out, and I shoved how good it felt to let him take care of me into that deep and broken box I hid inside my soul to examine another day.

“You ready?”

I nodded sharply. Together, we peered through the glass door into Lizzie’s classroom, where, as promised, she played with other children, carefully supervised by her teacher.

Relief washed through me. Lizzie was okay. Of course, she was okay. Dante promised me she’d be safe, and safe she was.

“There’s a man out back named Tommaso Zappo who’s got one of the assailants all tied up,” Lorenzo murmured in my ear, his torso pressed against my back, as he rubbed up and down my arms, still comforting me. I couldn’t bring myself to reject his touch, even knowing it could lead to heartbreak. “Safe to assume he’s Oscuro’s?”

I closed my eyes. It was too soon for this. I wasn’t ready for this confrontation, for my family to discover the details of the arrangement that kept Lizzie safe, particularly on the heels of the emotionally draining night I’d had with Dante and Nick. “Yes.”

I leaned against the wall, catching my breath, sticky and sweaty, and trying to figure out my next steps.

The daycare director bustled down the hallway, accompanied by a uniformed security guard. “Miss Russo, could we please step into my office?”

Lorenzo brushed a finger down my face, his eyes unreadable as he caressed my cheek. “I’ll keep an eye on Lizzie.”

“Thank you,” I said, resisting the urge to nuzzle into his hand and seek the comfort he offered.

With a bracing exhale, I shoved away from the wall and followed the school director into her office. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dante arguing with the security guard at the entrance. “Let him in, please,” I implored the school director. She nodded to the guard.

Dante rushed to me but stopped short of an embrace. Instead, he laid his hands on my shoulders, stroking his thumbs over my collarbone. “Take a deep breath, kitten,” he said, echoing Lorenzo’s earlier instructions.

Aware of the very public gaze of Lorenzo, the daycare director, and all of the staff, I didn’t lean into him like I wanted to. “I need to do something. Would you—” My voice cracked as my choices narrowed, and the door to my gilded cage slammed shut in my mind. “Would you please work with Lorenzo to figure out what happened?”

I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. He nodded, then released me.

When I stepped away, my face was composed, and I was ready to face whatever the director had to say.

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