Page 20 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

“Lorenzo?” she asked.

“I’m here, I’ve got you, you’re safe.” My heart broke for this beautiful, stubborn woman, who felt so frail in my arms after only a week’s absence.

She burst into tears, deep wracking sobs that shook her entire body as she clutched at me, burying her face in my neck.

“Oh, sunshine,” I said. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Lizzie?” she asked through sobs.

“She’s fine, staying with your parents.”

Sofia pushed up off of me. “I have to see her.”

For the first time, I got a good look at her sunken eyes, her bloody wrists. “You don’t want her to see you like this. Let’s get you cleaned up, get Nick to look at you, and I’ll take you over first thing in the morning.”

“She’s with my parents?” Her voice broke, and she slumped back down into my arms. Everything she’d fought so hard for, her independence, keeping Lizzie away from her toxic, violent family—she’d lost it all in one foul blow from her asshole ex.

“I want to call Nick, okay?” I said, stroking my fingers over hers, desperate to take away her anguish, agonized that there wasn’t anything I could do to help.

She shook her head.

“Sweetheart, we need to look at your wounds.”

Sofia hid her face. “I don’t need a doctor.”

“Nick can?—”

“I said I don’t fucking need a doctor,” she hissed, shoving away from me so hard she toppled from my arms. I caught her before she could fall, and she winced as I yanked her back to me.

“All right, love. No doctor right now, no Nick. I’m going to wash you and then bandage those wounds, all right?”

She whimpered, but when she didn’t stay no, I carried her to my bathroom and set her on the counter, only then realizing she’d had a gun in her lap the whole time.

“May I take this?”

Sofia blinked, then mechanically flicked the safety on and handed it to me, butt first. I set it behind her, then carefully unbuttoned her borrowed shirt.

She didn’t say anything, just stared straight ahead as I slipped the flannel off her shoulders, revealing the lacy gown and the bruises that dotted her collarbones.

“I need to take this off so I can get a better look.”

Sofia didn’t answer, just lurched forward off of the counter and into my arms.

I caught her, steadying her against the cabinets, then inched up the nightgown, keeping my eyes glued to her face until I’d pulled it over her head. Fury washed through me at the same time as heartbreak at the sight of her covered in bruises and abrasions. Once again, I’d failed to keep the most precious person in my life safe. And I couldn’t even tell her how I felt.

We stared at one another for a long moment, her heart beating so rapidly I could see her pulse fluttering in her throat.

“Wait here,” I instructed her so I could warm the water. I kicked off my shoes and slid off my belt, then gestured for her to walk past me into the shower.

She obeyed without question, shuffling past me to stand under the warm water.

I stepped into the small shower with her, fully clothed, letting the water pour over us. “Tell me if the temperature isn’t okay.”

She didn’t answer me, just closed her eyes and tipped her head up so the water poured over her hair.

Silently, I washed and conditioned her hair before handing her a soapy cloth so she could wash herself. She took it, her hand shaking with the effort of lifting it, then cried out when she opened up a wound on her wrist.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “Let me.”

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