Page 24 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

We stared at each other, each of us refusing to move, to bend. But I’d already been through hell, and Dante’s sneer didn’t scare me anymore.

With a mocking smirk, he bowed and gestured with one arm. “After you, Miss Russo.”

I walked into Lorenzo’s living room like a goddamned queen, with my back stiff and my chin up.

Nico sprang to his feet and rushed toward me before enveloping me in a hug. “Sofia, I’m so—” He stopped and pressed my face into his chest as he squeezed me tight. I must’ve gasped in pain because he jerked back, then tilted my face up to meet his. “I’m glad you’re safe,” he said finally. “Are you okay?”

How could I even begin to answer that question? Dizziness washed over me, and I wavered on my feet. Three sets of hands reached out to steady me, and then Dante swept me off my feet, settling me onto his lap on the couch.

“I need to?—”

“Eat,” Nick finished for me, handing me a croissant. “I’ve got your dessert-masquerading-as-coffee too, but eat first.”

No.

Absolutely not.

Settling back into our old patterns was too easy, tootempting. Poor Sofia, spoiled mafia princess, so desperate for male attention while she tried to protect her daughter, she’d do anything.

Fuck them.

I squashed the warm feeling that came from their care and slid off of Dante’s lap, snatching Nick’s coffee out of his hands before taking my seat alone at Lorenzo’s tiny dining table. Tough mafia dons didn’t drink sweet, caffeinated disasters. And now, neither did I.

“Dante, tell me, where is my daughter right now?”

I needed him to say it, needed him to admit that he’d reneged on our deal.

He tilted his head, his voice flat. “At your parents’, which you already know.”

I nodded, hiding my grimace at the bitter taste of the coffee.Better get used to the bitterness, Sofia. You’re a fucking Russo.

“And when I promised you I’d do anything to protect her, what was it you promised me in return?”

Dante watched me from eyes so dark they were almost black. “Sofia,” he began, but stopped when I raised an eyebrow.

“You kept me naked in a cage while hotel staff dropped off room service. You put a collar on me. You made me kneel at your feet and beg you!”

“And you loved it!” he exploded. “You craved it the same as I did. Don’t lie to me and pretend you didn’t.”

“You tookeverything, Dante. You crept into my soul, and you wrapped those tattooed fingers around it, and you stole it away from me. And you’re right. I did let you. Because you promised you’d keep my daughter safe.”

I took a deep shuddering breath to temper the fury threatening to explode out of my chest. “But you broke thatfucking promise, you asshole. Lizzie spent the last week with my parents, in the exact situation I’ve fought her entire life to keep her out of!”

Dante watched me, his jaw ticking, but he didn’t say anything. What could he say?

“Sunshine,” Lorenzo said, his voice censorious. “We’re going to your parents’ together, and we need to present a united front.”

“Do we?” I asked, drinking the bitter coffee, the strong taste growing on me with every sip. “Why is that, Lorenzo?”

Dante threw his hands up in the air. “Because now that you’re back, your father will take any excuse to lock you away again and then quietly marry you off, instead of escalating the war on the Costas.”

“Sofia,” Lorenzo said, taking the chair across the table from me. “Lizzie’s fine. We’ve checked on her every day. Nick takes her to the park every day. Dante reads her a bedtime story every night.”

My heart stuttered and then started at an astounding pace. No. Dante might be checking on my daughter, making sure she felt loved, but I’d crawled for him, sucked his cock, let him tie me up and fuck me stupid, all in exchange for her protection. Reading to her was theleasthe could do. He fuckingowedme.

They didn’t understand that the damage my parents would do wasn’t physical, that it came from a place of twisted love—be perfect, be quiet, be thin, submit to whatever cruelties the men in your life subjected to you.

No more.Never again.

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