Page 55 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

His eyes flicked from Sofia to Lorenzo to José to me, and the light in his gaze went out when he realized he wasn’t going to survive, no matter what he told her.

He gave us a phone number, some potential addresses, and most importantly, the location of two more warehouses holding girls.

When Sofia was finished, she stood and moved the chair out of the way. “I’m done.”

“Step outside, kitten,” I commanded her.

She closed her eyes and took a series of deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, the blue was clear as the winter sky and just as cold. “I’ll stay.”

“Back away, then.”

Di Traglia sat straight in his chair, refusing to look at me or anyone else. He didn’t whimper or beg for his life. For that, I made it quick and put a silenced bullet through hisskull. Sofia didn’t even blink, just walked over to the body and gently closed his eyes with her thumb.

Fucking steel.

“Two more to go, kitten.”

When we reachedthe house in the early hours of the morning, Sofia turned around to stare deep into my eyes, her brilliant blue eyes boring into mine, searching for something. Whatever she was looking for, she didn’t find.

“Is it always like this?” she asked.

“Like what, kitten?” I asked, crowding her against the wall and leaning my forearm above her head so I could breathe her in, even if she wouldn’t let me back into her bed yet.

“The hollow emptiness after killing someone?”

“It means you still feel something,” I said. “You still have a conscience.”

“And you? Do you still feel it?” she asked me.

I opened my mouth to give her a flippant answer, but the vulnerability in her eyes stopped me in my tracks. “I’d kill a thousand men for you and Lizzie,” I murmured. “And sleep like a baby at night, knowing I’d kept you safe.”

Her eyes widened, and when she brought her hand up to cup my cheek, I couldn’t stop myself from nuzzling into it.

“Good night, Dante,” she said softly. “Will you drive me to class tomorrow?”

I nodded, brushing her hair out of her face and suppressing the desire to wipe away the furrow in her brow with my thumb. When she decided she wanted to personally ensure Accardi’s death, to get involved instead of lettingus handle it for her, she had to have known that she’d be a party to torture and murder.

She opened the door to her room and slipped inside without saying anything else.

Fuck.

23

LORENZO

I should have sentSofia to Ginevra to go dress shopping. I should have told her I was busy. I should have done anything to get me out of sitting in comfortable chairs in expensive boutiques, growling at Declan every time he told her he liked a goddamned dress.

He could have sent anyone, but he came himself, mostly, I think, to give me a hard time. The troublemaking asshole.

“Feckin’ gorgeous, isn’t she?” he said, stretching his legs out in front of him while we waited for Sofia.

“You looking for a fight?” I muttered.

She strode out again, swathed in a shimmery navy-blue dress that hugged her curves, and a slit that exposed nearly an entire slender leg.

I wanted to be the kind of man so enraptured by her beauty that I composed sonnets in her name. Instead, my pants tightened, and all I could think about was how much I wanted her.

“That’s it, that’s the one,” Declan said, looking up from his phone, not hiding the admiration in his gaze.

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