Page 98 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

The silence on the other end of the line dragged on.

“Come home, Sofia,” my father said, finally. “It’s the only way to keep Lizzie safe.”

An hour after strange men had tried to kidnap her from the campus daycare, I was hard-pressed to come up with an argument otherwise.

“Okay, Papà.” I slumped and hung up the phone.

Dante glowered at me from under furrowed brows as we stood under the fluorescent lights of the apartment building lobby. “Is that what you want, kitten?”

“No,” I whispered, “but what other choice do I have?”

“Mamma, I’m hungry,” Lizzie whined, tugging on my pants. “I want a snack.”

“Just a moment, sweetheart,” I told her absently, trying to figure out next steps.

Dante cupped my cheek in his hand, sending butterflies rioting in my stomach. “I promised you I’d protect her no matter what. You don’t have to go back home to your parents.”

I looked at him for a long moment, trying to calm the emotions roiling in my gut. “How much money did you say Sergio stashed in accounts in my name?”

Dante tilted his head. I could see him weighing the possibilities. Accessing that money would draw out Sergio, although I was already certain that Sergio was behind today’s attempted kidnapping. Visit? Assault? Dammit, I still had no idea what happened at the daycare. Instead of getting answers, Dante and I were sitting here dicking around, trying to get into my apartment.

“That’s my girl,” he finally said, stroking his thumb over my cheekbone. “There’s more than enough money. Come back to my hotel room—”

“No,” I answered firmly, surprised at my confidence. “I need my own furnished apartment in a safe building.” In a few minutes, my father’s men would arrive, or Luca. I needed to have a plan by the time they did. I pulled out my phone, ignoring the receptionist, who continued to stare at us with wide eyes.

Heshouldbe fucking scared, after what my men did to the last receptionist who put my family in danger.

“Adam Zhang,” the voice on the other end of the line said.

“Adam, this is Sofia Russo.”

The silence on the other end of the line gave me pause, but I plunged ahead. “I need to call in a favor.”

37

LORENZO

The Russostoo easily forgot that Sofia was one of them, raised by the same ruthless Tony Russo who’d tried to sell her to the Irish for ten million dollars before she got pregnant, by the same Patti Russo who so flawlessly and invisibly supported her husband in every way, in the same violence that all the rest of us lived.

She'd internalized their lessons her entire life, and watching her transform from a pawn into the queen I knew she could be was a fucking joy.

I knocked on the door to her borrowed apartment. Dante Oscuro opened it, his eyes narrowing. “If you’re here to ask her to go back to her father’s, you can fuck right off.”

“Tommaso interrogated the man we caught at the daycare. I thought Sofia might want to know what we learned.”

“Come in, Lorenzo,” Sofia ordered.

Dante sneered at me but stepped aside.

Sofia sat on the couch. She’d showered and changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt. Her quiet beauty bowled me over. Sofia was a stunning woman, always perfectly pressed, not a hair out of place. Seeing her without her mask on, her hair in loose waves around her shoulders? Showing me this vulnerability was a gift. I dropped into an armchair, resisting the urge to sit beside her on the couch and yank her into my arms.

“Sergio Accardi came to the daycare today accompanied by two men. The security guards refused to allow him entry, but while he was kicking up a fuss, two other armed men entered through an unlocked fire door. Tommaso caught one of them, and a fight ensued in the daycare building. During the fight, Sergio and the other man disappeared.”

Sofia closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch, exhaling with a sharp puff of her cheeks. “What did the man he caught have to say?”

“He helped Sergio blow up one of Oscuro’s clubs this morning. Said Sergio was losing his shit because he couldn’t get his hands on you.” Sergio was more than losing his shit. Sergio had been raving about photos he’d received of Sofia and Dante together, about how Dante had defiled and ruined her, and he’d be forced to accept damaged goods to obtain the port properties he believed were his due.

Dante poured whiskey into cheap plastic cups and held one out to me before offering one to Sofia. She downed her whiskey with a scoff. Dante rubbed his thumb over her collarbone, an affectionate gesture that spoke of physical comfort between the two. Hot jealousy arced through my chest. There was more to this story than Dante or Sofia were telling me, starting with the possessive way he touched her on campus, and why the fuck she listened to him instead of Luca when it came to her safety.

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