Page 1 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

1

SOFIA

I’d losttrack of time, the rhythms of Sergio’s visits to the windowless room where he’d tied me to the bed ebbing and flowing with the haze of drugs he’d pumped me full of.

“Help!” I screamed during a rare moment of lucidity, struggling against my bonds, the movement resulting only in a hard cuff to my face and another needle to my neck.

“Darling Sofia,” Sergio cooed, stroking down my side, his touch gentle through the lacy nightgown he’d clad me in. I faded in and out of consciousness.

Pain shot through me, bringing another moment of lucidity. I closed my eyes and let the tears leak out. “I need you to sign these, sweet wife.”

Sweet wife?

“No, Lizzie,” I murmured, feverish and in a dream, certain my daughter was in harm’s way, but unable to save her.

My sense of time and place had deserted me long ago. Panicked, terrified, aching with fear for my daughter, I held tightly to Dante’s promise to keep her safe. He had to. I’d promised him anything. I’d given himeverything.

Sergio wanted something from me. I couldn’t remember what it was, but I knew I couldn’t give it to him.

With dead eyes, I watched Sergio watching me. His gaze roved over my body as I fought the effects of the drugs, trying to remember where I was, why he was doing this, what he wanted.

Lizzie.

He wanted Lizzie.

And he was going to abuse me until I gave her to him.

Fuckingnever.

I am SofiafuckingRusso. I repeated it to myself over and over as Sergio shoved my stomach down onto the bed and lifted up my nightgown.

SofiafuckingRusso, as I heard the click of a cell phone camera.

SofiafuckingRusso as I clutched my belly, refusing to look at my body as the fabric dropped back down over my legs.

SofiafuckingRusso.

2

NICK

I staredat the wreckage of my clinic. Fire had scoured it while we were at mass, showing our support for the Russo family and their missing daughter. My missinggirlfriend.

“Arson,” Lorenzo said softly, kicking burnt rubble out of the way. “It’s a warning.”

“I know it’s a warning,” I answered just as softly. “Stay away from Sofia, or we’ll take everything.” I looked up into Lorenzo’s golden eyes, sure my face was as haunted as his. “Sheiseverything, and Sergio’s already taken her.”

I should have told her. I should have laid my feelings out on the table instead of playing Dante’s stupid fucking sex games. I should have?—

Lorenzo clapped me on the back, bringing me back to the present. “We’re going to find her.”

But when? My phone pinged. Dante forwarded another video of Sofia belly down on the bed, hand shaped bruises on her hips, her blonde hair spread out and hiding her face, and her arms stretched forward, as if bound. Her body shook back and forth in a rough rhythm.

Each time we received a video, my heart broke, again,and again, and again. I traced my fingers over the screen, as if I could brush her hair out of her face and stroke my fingers down her skin to comfort her. I promised her we’d be there soon, and prayed it wasn’t a lie.

Lorenzo watched over my shoulder. I shoved the phone at him, no longer able to watch the video on repeat.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “She’s in bad shape.”

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