Page 43 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Lorenzo and Dante took their places behind me as sentinels, Lorenzo at my left shoulder, and Dante at my right, while Nick slipped into the seat Lorenzo had vacated. His knee knocked against mine under the table. I wanted to move away. I should have moved away. But I found the unobtrusive touch so damn comforting.

Instead, I took a deep breath and steeled myself.

“Thank you all for coming.”

19

NICK

Initially,I’d thought Sofia’s plan to pretend everything was normal so we could poke at Sergio’s possessive jealousy was a disaster.

It wasn’t.

It was fucking brilliant.Shewas brilliant. Ignoring Dante’s objections, she’d pointed out that taking our polycule public had worked once already, drawing Sergio out of hiding so he could kidnap her. There was no reason to believe it wouldn’t work again, especially with the year’s biggest charity ball happening the same day that Sofia would graduate.

It was working, but it exhausted Sofia, and staring at her pale face in the moonlight ignited a violence in my soul I’d thought I’d long gouged out of myself. After another frustrating day of fending off gossip in class, she’d insisted that we go out to dinner as a unit to show Yorkfield that Sergio hadn’t made a damn bit of difference in our plans.

He hadn’t.

I still wanted her as fiercely as I had before, and so did Dante and Lorenzo. I hated that she’d worn her icy mafiaprincess mask for the entire meal, flirting with the three of us, charming the pants off of her uncle Luciano, who owned Baldino’s, and everyone else at the restaurant, pretending that everything was fine.

When she finally got back into the car and slumped against the back seat, her face wan and tired, I wanted to drag her into my arms and promise that everything was going to be okay.

Instead, I pulled her hand into mine, appreciating the gift of letting us see her tired and vulnerable.

Sofia looked over at me and smiled. Unable to stop myself, I reached over to push a strand of hair out of her face. When she didn’t flinch away, I cupped her cheek. When she nuzzled into my hand, as if seeking comfort, my breath caught and my pulse hammered.

“I hate this,” she whispered.

Dante and Lorenzo tensed in the front seat but didn’t say anything.

“Hate what, baby?”

With every movement, I was sure she was going to pull away, but instead, she leaned closer. I shuffled us around until I had my arm around her shoulder and she could lean on my chest. Awkward in the car, but I wasn’t going to lose this opportunity to touch her, to revel in the physical comfort of being so fucking close to the woman I was terrified I’d lost—that I might still lose.

Since Emilia had forced me to admit how I felt about Sofia, I hadn’t thought about anything other than how to convince her to let me stay in her life.

Uncomplicated, I reminded myself.

“I hate that I have to keep pretending that everything is okay,” she whispered, turning her face into my chest. “All Iever wanted was to escape this life, and no matter what I do, no matter how hard I fight, it keeps dragging me back in.”

Dante slammed on the brakes and turned around in his seat, his eyes slightly wild as he looked at our girl. “Do you want to escape? Now? I’ll put you on a fucking plane to Sicily and you’ll never have to pretend again.”

Her heart stopped. I felt it stutter back to life, thumping heavily in her chest.

“I need to finish this,” she said finally.

“That’s right, slut,” he agreed. “You’re SofiafuckingRusso, and you’re going to show those fuckers what happens when they fuck with you.”

Sofia didn’t say anything, just snuggled closer to me and closed her eyes, ignoring him.

“Slut,” Dante said again, his voice gravelly. I could feel the intense currents of need and emotion circulating in the armored sedan.

“Why are you all doing this?” Sofia asked, her voice tired and timid. “Why are you all still here?”

Dante’s eyes met mine in the mirror, stark and full of emotion.

“Kitten,” he began, then stopped, then shifted his eyes to hers, dark obsidian meeting blue. “Do you want to have this conversation in the car?”

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