Page 127 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

As we stood, finally, Luca swept me into a hug. “You’vedone good, baby sister. I don’t know how I’m going to manage without you.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline. Was someone in my family actually acknowledging everything I brought to the table?

“You’ll be turning on that charm for the Oscuros now,” he continued.

“I will,” I murmured.

He pulled me in for a hug. “I’m proud of you, baby sister. Those men make you happy, and you deserve that.”

“I love you too, Luca,” I said, ruffing my fingers through his hair.

A soft breezeruffled my skirt as I left the restaurant, and I smoothed my hands over my dress, holding it down so I didn’t flash the entire world.

Leaning against the car was Dante, his jacket already off and his shirtsleeves rolled up, showing off his tattooed and corded forearms. Nico buckled Lizzie into her car seat, and when I bent down to kiss her, Dante placed his hand on the small of my back, the heat soaking into me.

“Kitten,” Dante said, his voice raspy. “Get in the fucking car.”

When I didn’t immediately move to obey his command, he yanked me backward, my side against his torso, his breath hot in my ear. “Get in the car before I show your family what a slut you are for me.”

My breath caught in my throat, but I didn’t move.

“I will, I promise,” I said, softly. “Just let me—I need to see them all get in their cars and drive away safely.”

Dante rotated his body until he stood behind me, animmovable wall of solid muscle. He tucked my head under his chin before wrapping his arms around my waist. The solid weight of his head over mine comforted me just as much as the heat radiating from his body as he embraced me.

As the last car pulled away. Dante kissed the crown of my head. “Ready, slut?”

I looked up at him. “Let’s go home.”

51

DANTE

Watchingmy kitten on her knees, tears dripping down her face, her ass covered in red stripes was, until this moment, the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Watching her negotiate with the five families who held the keys to the Italian-American organized crime in Yorkfield, her back straight, my ring on her finger—my eyes flicked to Nico and Lorenzo,ourring on her finger?— was almost as good as bending her over this overly fancy table, shoving those cream-colored pants down, and fucking her until she never thought about leaving us again would be.

“Absolutely not,” Sofia snapped, slamming the flat of her hand against the wooden table and drawing my attention back to the present. Tony Russo sat on one end, Mario Carlotti at the other. On each side of the table were two chairs. Sofia and Angelo, the new Costadon, sat across from one another, and the contrast between the old guard’s age and weakness, and her confidence and strength, had never been more apparent. Not only was she the first woman to sit at the table, she was the youngestdonby far.

“When I said that I will burn this city to the groundrather than allow trafficking to take root here, that’s what I meant.”

Stefano Ferraro laughed. “You are only sitting at this table because your boyfriend placed you here, child.”

I couldn’t see the expression on Sofia’s face, but when she turned and crooked a finger at me, I stepped forward.

“Darling,” she began. “Am I at this table because you put me here?”

“Bella micetta, if you told me to put a gun to Ferraro’s head, I’d do that too.”

She widened her eyes for dramatic effect. “Are you sure, darling? There’s a truce, and I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

I stood straight and drew my gun, pointing it at the elderly gentleman sitting across the table from my fiancée before anyone else could move.

Everyone but Tony and Sofia shoved back from the table. “Sofia put Sofia in that chair. Just like Sofia’s about to put a bullet through your head.”

Ferraro nodded cautiously. “Understood. Sofia… Oscuro?” he asked.

“Sofia Russo for now,” Tony said, cutting his eyes toward the ring on Sofia’s finger. “But Sofia Oscuro soon.”

I waited for Sofia to order me to step back. When she didn’t, I wondered if she realized she’d have to.

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