Page 20 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“Fuck you, Lorenzo,” she snapped, shocking me with the bitter anger on her face. She grabbed the glasses and the bottle. “Thank you for coming today, Dante. I know it meant a lot to my father.” She brushed her fingers over Oscuro’s shoulder as she passed, an almost reflexive gesture that made me wonder once again what was going on between the two of them. He snatched at her wrist, but she twisted away too quickly.

Oscuro didn’t hide his admiration as he watched her stride into the house, her shoes forgotten in the grass.

“That’s my cue to depart, I suspect,” he said, his lazy smile shocking me. “She’s a firecracker,” he mused. “More so than I expected.”

Sofia? A firecracker? No, she was a fucking volcano, an inferno beneath the surface, waiting to erupt and destroy us for the lifetime of insults and pain we’d inflicted upon her.

I escorted him to the gate, turning the conversation to more innocuous topics, unsurprised to find his manners as elegant as the Russos’. Easy to forget he was a notorious arms dealer, famous for doing his own wet work. Blood would flow through the streets of Yorkfield before he left. I had to find a way to keep the Russos, and Sofia, out of it.

9

SOFIA

A quiet knockon the door during dinner surprised me. I gave Lizzie a stern look as I set down my fork. “Don’t move.”

She giggled, mischief in her liquid brown eyes.

“I’m not kidding, Miss Isabella. I will be right back, and there better not be a mess when I get here.”

Lizzie nodded solemnly. Halfway between the table and the door, her wail drew my attention. She’d knocked her water off the table. When she heard me swear, she burst into tears.Dammit.

“Sorry, sweetheart, I’ll be right there, okay?” I opened the door, expecting one of Dante’s guards on the other side.

No.

Sergio.

Putting my entire weight into the movement, I desperately tried to close the door, but he’d already slid his body into the crack. He shoved the door open and pushed into my apartment.

“What did you do to the guard?” I asked.

“He’s sleeping. He’ll be fine.”

Lizzie turned around from the table, her big brown eyes wide open as she looked at the visitor, then dismissed him. She wiped her tears with her sleeve, determined not to cry in front of our visitor.That’s my girl.

“Sweetheart, would you go to your bedroom, please? I’d like you to build me a giant block castle so we can play dragons later, okay?” Despite my terror, I kept my voice calm and even, never taking my eyes off Sergio.

Sergio narrowed his eyes. “Keep her here.”

I shook my head. “If you want her back in your life—if you want to be her father—then you don’t want her to hear this.” My desperate gamble paid off, and he nodded.

I lifted her off the booster seat and walked her to the hallway, my movements rough and jerky with fear. When she turned to me with big eyes, about to object, I made my voice firm. “Now, Lizzie.”

To my eternal gratitude, tears didn’t well in her eyes. She didn’t whine about being sent to her room, and she didn’t dawdle. No, my beautiful, precious child toddled right off to her bedroom. Thank God.

As soon as she disappeared around the corner, I turned back to Sergio. He’d sprawled out on my couch in a position disturbingly like that of Dante a few days before. My eyes slid over his figure—he’d aged dramatically in two years. The laugh lines I’d found so attractive had turned sinister and menacing, as if a permanent scowl was etched on his face.

He held a gun loosely in the fingers of one hand, the other arm draped over the back of the couch as he stared at me.

“What do you want, Sergio?”

“Money,” he snapped.

“Done. Tell me where you’ve opened the accounts. I’ll sign them over to you right now.

He laughed, the sound bitter and angry. “No, I don’t want you to transfer the accounts to me. I want you to write the checks.”

Not understanding, I made my way over to an armchair and sat, not taking my eyes off him. “Sergio, that doesn’t make sense.”

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