Page 27 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Jesus, did I even hear myself?

Ginevra quickly introduced her husbands, as if we didn’t already know each other by reputation alone. Liam—the Butcher whose reputation preceded him. Cormac—the information security genius who supposedly dominated Ginevra’s odd polycule. And Rian—a cocky bastard so fucking Irish American it hurt.

They eyed me cautiously as we shook hands but didn’t give in to silly displays of dominance. I respected them more for it.

While we introduced ourselves, Sofia looked around at the couches, and I could hear the wheels turning in her head as she tried to decide where to sit, where she might be comfortable. I peered more closely at my kitten. No, she wasn’t seeking comfort. Even exhausted and in pain, she soughtadvantage.

I hated the pain in her eyes that came from not knowing how to be her charming, gracious self in the aftermath of Sergio’s brutality. I stood behind a large armchair and moved it back an inch, as if I were pulling back for her. “Sofia,” I said, an edge of command in my voice.

Ginevra caught my eye, her expressive brown eyes so different from her sister’s, and walked Sofia over to the chair. When my pet sat, I took up my position as sentinel at her right shoulder.

Morelli’s eyes warmed when he saw me. Luca tried to pull him aside as they walked into the study, but he shook his head.

Tony sat at his desk, no doubt intending to take command of the room. He signaled for Lorenzo to take a seat to his left, then watched with cold eyes as his enforcer strode toward Sofia.

Morelli bent to whisper in Sofia’s ear, one hand on her shoulder. “It’s time,” I thought he said.

She nodded, then squeezed his hand.

Tony’s face turned to stone when Morelli took his place behind Sofia’s left shoulder—the place he normally occupied for Tony.

Patti and Nico bustled in with coffee for everyone, pouring it out of antique carafes. Lizzie walked behind them with sugar, excited and proud to be part of the grown-ups’ gathering.

Nico noticed Morelli’s stance and raised an eyebrow. I shook my head, one brief jerk to the side. Now was not the damn time. My kitten needed our unconditional support. We’d drag what happened to her out of her later, but in front of her family? United front.

As the tension rose in the room, Patti shooed Lizzie out. Nico caught Sofia’s eye, then followed her daughter. Overthe last week, he’d taken over as Lizzie’s protector, doing his best to shield Lizzie from the violence of the Russos’ lives and our hunt for Sofia.

“Sergio Accardi kidnapped me and held me for a week,” Sofia began, her voice pleasant and calm, betraying none of her weakness or exhaustion. “What do you intend to do about that, Papà?”

Tony Russo scoffed. “Your attack dog over there already burned down the Costa’s neighborhood—tossed every bar, destroyed every nightclub, looking for you. I don’t know there’s much left to do.”

“Accardi still lives,” Sofia said. “I want him dead, and I want Gio Costa, who’s financing him, dead too.”

The warmth in my chest, my relief at her return, shattered, replaced with ice cold worry. Murder wasn’t Sofia’s style.

“Do you think you’re in charge of this family now?” Tony asked.

Fury flowed through me, cleansing and hot. “How dare you?” I growled. “Accardi had her for aweek.”

“You set the goddamned city on fire!” Tony shouted. “And you didn’t find her until last night!”

Sofia shifted in her seat. When I would have taken a breath to explain that I hadn’t saved her, that Sofia fucking escaped on her own, she said, “That’s right, Papà. It wasn’t you who saved me.”

She looked around the room. “Thank you, all of you, for your efforts to find me.” Her spine straightened and she leaned forward in her seat. “You were useless.”

The room went silent, the clink of Rian’s cup against his saucer the only sound as everyone in the room froze. One side of his lips curled up in an appreciative smile that I wanted to wipe off his face at the same time I wanted tosee that same respect for her from everyone else in the room.

“I walked out of that goddamned house in the suburbs on my own two feet. I hitchhiked back to Yorkfield. And I went to the only man I trust with my life.”

Sofia paused for effect, and once again, I wondered that the Russos hadn’t deployed her more effectively as a tool. Sofia had been wasted as an ornament.

“That man wasn’t you, Papà.”

12

DANTE

Tony’s eyesping ponged between Morelli and me, wondering which of us Sofia trusted, before falling on his enforcer. A lesser man might have trembled before his rage. Lorenzo waited calmly while his boss realized that Lorenzo’s loyalties had transferred entirely to Sofia—that the man he’d raised as a son had chosen his daughter’s side.

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