Page 37 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

I knew.

I’d heard her cry out in terror, then listened, helpless, from the other side of the door, while Lorenzo quietly soothed her as she sobbed and begged him not to let anyone know she cried.

Nico prowled into the kitchen, wearing neatly pressed slacks and a button-down shirt, delighting me with his intensity. This was not the boyish doctor of two weeks ago. This was a man who’d sold his soul to protect his woman and his family, and I respected him for it.

“How’d she sleep?” he asked.

He had to have heard her too. Guilt was a funny thing—I’d spent my entire life avoiding it, and now this slip of a girl, a spoiled, ruined, American princess, was shaking the foundation of my soul.

“I slept fine,” Sofia said, emerging from the stairwell.

Nico strode up to her and pinched her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Don’t lie to me, Sofia,” he growled.

Sofia wrenched her chin away. Lorenzo deescalated by handing her a coffee mug. To my surprise, she sipped at it without adding sugar and cream, then closed her eyes, her hum of pleasure going straight to my cock.

Fuck.

I wanted her on her knees, telling me how much she needed me, begging for me to fuck her, fill her, breed her. But even a sick bastard like me knew this wasn’t the time. I stepped behind the kitchen island to hide my growing hard-on.

Lorenzo looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, like he knew what I was thinking.

Sofia stepped around Nico and scooted up into one of the barstools around the island, wincing at the movement. She turned back to him and said, “Thanks for leaving me the ibuprofen this morning.”

Nico’s jaw clenched, but he accepted her answer, nodding sharply. When the doorbell rang, he muttered, “Breakfast,” and turned on his heel.

“Kitten,” I murmured. Her makeup barely hid the deep circles under her eyes, and it didn’t hide the cuts and swelling on her cheeks at all. “He’s trying.”

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were filled with ruthless determination. “Trying took my choices away. Trying got me kidnapped and abused. Trying is going to end up with me dead and my daughterback in Sergio’s clutches. Trying isn’t fucking good enough, Oscuro.”

I flinched at her continued use of my last name, putting the same distance between us that she put between her and Nico. I recognized the defense mechanism and ignored it.

“Kitten—”

“Don’t kitten me, Oscuro,” she snapped. “It’s too—” She took a shuddering breath. “It’s too raw when you’re chastising me,” she finished quietly.

Nico returned with bags of food, and we set about plating it while Sofia sipped her coffee in silence.

“I slept like shit,” she confessed finally, her voice dry, like sandpaper scraping over harsh edges. “Which should surprise no one.”

Nico wrapped his arms around her, then waited. When she squeezed his hands on her torso with her own, he pressed his cheek against hers.

“I promised uncomplicated, and I meant it.”

Sofia scoffed but didn’t push him away. “I’m still angry,” she whispered.

“I know, baby,” he answered, kissing the top of her head before moving to take the seat beside her. “You better eat the chocolate chip pancakes now, because once Lizzie gets up, it’ll be a free for all.”

Sofia’s lips quirked up, almost into a smile, before falling again. She didn’t say a word as she ate, silently and methodically.

I couldn’t bear to watch her bravery, her front of normalcy. I didn’t know how to treat this version of Sofia. She’d laid claim to me, but we hadn’t negotiated new terms, and without them, uncertainty churned in my gut. Without a word, I stormed out of the kitchen.

“Uncle Dante?” Lizzie’s voice yanked me out of myreverie. She wore her pajamas and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

She held out her arms. “Up!”

Unable to hold in the smile at her confidence in me, her unconditional affection, I scooped her up into my arms, startling a giggle out of her.

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