Page 110 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

“Was that really necessary?” I asked. I’d never be able to wear a bikini again without the whole fucking world seeing the scars.

Dante’s fury had faded to smugness. “Yes, slut,” he answered, and then smeared his thumb through the mess on my thigh. “Go shower.”

They’d claimed me with blood and violence, but even though I loved them, I couldn’t do the same. I hardened my heart.

I had to end this myself.

Clean and bandaged,I zipped up an elegant white sheath dress and smoothed my hands over the clean lines. Ready to face the world, I pulled out my phone in the bathroom.

Sergio

I’ll know if you tell anyone.

Sofia

I won’t.

If I did, they’d stop me. This was the only way to get Lizzie and Mamma back. I swiped my thumb across my phone and erased the messages.

Downstairs, Luca and Rian argued quietly about security arrangements while Cormac typed away at a laptop, presumably continuing to receive intelligence about where Sergio might be hiding my daughter and my mother.

While I was dressing, my men had cleaned up, donning suits. My breath caught as I admired them, how their muscles filled out their jackets, their hair brushing their collars, my fingers itching to run through it. They were handsome—Nick with his startling green eyes and blond hair, and a smile that never quit, Lorenzo with kindness in his whiskey-colored eyes that turned so quickly to fury when enemies threatened those he loved, and Dante, with salt-and-pepper curls that fell into obsidian eyes that ran hot with rage and lust.

When the three of them turned to look at me, the frank admiration in their gazes almost undid me. I gathered my strength around me like a cloak and prepared to save my daughter.

My father caught my eye from the table where he drank coffee. “Congratulations, Sofia.”

Oh, were we pretending everything was normal? I slid into a seat beside him, scrolling through my phone as we sipped our coffee and waited for news.

Fucking nothing.

My phone had stopped dinging the moment I promised Sergio I’d meet him after walking across the stage.

44

SOFIA

Dante droveme to the university, watching me warily through the rearview mirror as I clutched at Nick’s hand. Anxiously, I tried to act as though nothing was wrong, gathering the steel in my spine so I could walk across the stage and then do what I needed to do.

Dante knew. He fuckingknewI was up to something, and he wasn’t stopping me. I clutched at my purse, holding it close to my body, along with my white cap and gown, as if they were a talisman that could ward off my growing anxiety.

I’d dreamed of this day for so long, the day when I’d have that stupid piece of paper that would let me leave Yorkfield and get a job anywhere in the world, pretend I hadn’t grown up in a gilded cage, close my eyes to the violence around me, and raise my daughter in relative peace. Lizzie was supposed to be here, beside my parents, clapping for me, even though she wouldn’t understand why it was so important until she was older.

Instead, my father’s face was taut with grief, all of us hollow shells as we went through the motions of celebrationin front of the whole town, pretending that nothing was fucking wrong.

This was bullshit.

Dante parked outside of the event, and Lorenzo got out first, sunglasses on, earpiece in, looking like the bodyguard he was. The university had balked at the presence of visibly armed guards at the graduation—they liked their violence more subtle, I supposed—but all the fucking families had kids here, nephews and nieces, cousins, graduating or celebrating friends who were graduating. Even Gio Costa was here to watch Ana accept her master’s degree, the fucker.

When Lorenzo opened the door, I swung around to step out.

“Wait,” Nick said, pulling out a necklace from his pocket—my collar. I leaned forward so he could clasp it around my neck. Everywhere our skin touched sparked longing that raced through me. He flicked the pendant so the side that said kitten faced forward. “I’m proud of you, baby,” he said, brushing his lips against mine.

I wanted to lean into him, hold him, wrap his arms around me and hide in his embrace. But hiding wouldn’t solve anything.

Dante stared down at me before brushing his knuckles along my jaw. “A general accepts his queen’s decisions,” he murmured. “Hergenerals,” he corrected himself with a smile so soft it looked out of place on the hard planes of his face.

My eyes flew to his.Theyknew. And they weren’t stopping me. My heart overflowed.

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