Page 104 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“You don’t think there are going to be consequences to teasing Dante?” I asked.

Her chest heaved, her nipples hard and rosy, catching my attention with every breath. “What does that have to do with anything?”

My phone dinged.

Dante

She better not come before lunch today.

I showed her the text, and she laughed helplessly. “Et tu, Brutus?”

Kissing her collarbone with tender care, I straightened out her dress and combed her hair with my fingers before pulling her to me for a hug. “What’s the plan for Lizzie today?”

Before she could respond, the doorbell rang. Miss Carolina had arrived to watch Lizzie. Two guards stood outside the door, frisking her before they’d let her in.

We’d ordered groceries while we planned late into the night. Sofia opened the cupboards and the fridge, shock on her face.

And then she burst into tears.

“Oh, baby, what’s wrong?” I gathered her into my arms while she sniffled.

She looked at me, cupping my face with her long, elegant fingers. “Thank you. Thank you for everything, Nick.”

She turned to Miss Carolina, whose blank visage rivaled Sofia’s in how little it revealed. “Thank you so much for coming at the last minute. If you need anything—”

“If you need anything,” I interrupted, “let the gentlemen outside the door know. Lizzie won’t be able to leave the apartment today, but we’ll hopefully get that straightened out so she can get some fresh air tomorrow.”

Miss Carolina nodded. She wasn’t stupid. She knew who she worked for. “She’ll be fine, Miss Russo. Lizzie’s resilient.”

Lizzie might be, but how resilient would Sofia have to be?

“Your father repossessed your car last night,” I told her. “Anything he could turn off, he appears to have.”

She cocked her head. “How do you know?”

“Lorenzo’s keeping the lines of communication open with your brother.” We’d gone round and round on that last night as we sat at Sofia’s table until Lorenzo pointed out that the betrayal was his, and he would manage it however the fuck he wanted. And for now, that meant not telling Luca that Lorenzo’s loyalties had changed.

After peeking her head into Lizzie’s room to kiss her sleeping daughter goodbye, Sofia grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the apartment.

“Let’s go.”

39

SOFIA

My morning classesdragged after Nick dropped me off. My nakedness under my dress was so distracting that I couldn’t concentrate on my professors. I couldn’t concentrate on my T.A. I couldn’t concentrate on a goddamned thing as I squirmed in my seat, irrationally terrified that a breeze would blow through and reveal everything. Maybe that was the point.

It didn’t help that Luca and my father were blowing up my phone. I blocked my father’s number after he called me stupid in our first unpleasant conversation. When Luca wouldn’t stop interrupting my classes, I blocked him too. If I needed to get ahold of either man, I’d call Lorenzo.

When Dante picked me up for lunch, I was a mess—needy, emotionally fragile, and in desperate need of a hug. He leaned over to open the SUV door, and I climbed in.

“Hi,” I breathed, my eyes bright and wide as I drank him in, frowning at the dark circles under his eyes. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Hi,sir,” Dante corrected me, his eyes tracing a hot path from my head to my toes and back again.

“Hi, sir,” I parroted, dropping my bag on the floor between my feet.

He dropped a heavy hand on my thigh and held it there, heat burning through the thin material of my dress. “How was class, slut?”

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