Page 74 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Hard pressed to hold back tears, I pressed my palms hard into my eyes as I fought for control. I had been so damn close to finishing up my degree like a normal college student, like everyone else.

“Okay, fine,” I whispered. “Let’s wait for Dante then.”

Fifteen minutes later, he opened the door on the other side and slid in, kissing me hard on the forehead.

“Vito’s fine, drugged, but fine. It looks like the first attempt this morning was nothing more than a distraction to set up the second.”

I nodded, still tucked into Lorenzo’s arms. Instead of fighting Lorenzo for me, Dante grabbed my hand and heldit, twining his fingers through mine. We rode in silence back to Dante’s suburban home.

Nick waited for us there, his hair disheveled, pacing furiously in the living room as Miss Carolina set Lizzie in front of the television as a distraction. He snatched me up as soon as he saw us, clutching me in his arms. “Are you okay, baby?”

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered, despite the weakness in my knees, my whole body shaking as I realized just how close I’d come to ending up in Sergio’s clutches again. At least, I assumed it was Sergio, or Sergio-adjacent, since we’d been knocking out his trafficking operation, warehouse by warehouse, over the past week.

“Mamma!” Lizzie hollered, dashing up to me. I bent down to pick her up, when Nick snatched her out of my arms.

“C’mon, sweetheart, let’s let Mamma sit down, okay?” He led me to the couch and then handed me my daughter. Gratefully, I tilted my face up for a quick kiss before he settled in beside me, his arm draped over my shoulder.

Dante scanned the room, silently communicating with Lorenzo, who nodded. “I’ve got them,” Lorenzo said.

Dante nodded, then pressed a hard kiss onto my lips before turning on his heel and striding out the door.

Lorenzo dropped onto the couch beside me and pulled me close, tangling his fingers with mine. “I need to interview you about what happened while your memory’s fresh.”

Shit. I knew that. I just—fuck. I couldn’t handle my men smothering me with care right now. Not after another goddamned attack on my life and safety.

I pulled away from him, and his eyes shot to mine, hurt and confused.

“Give me a few minutes to hold Lizzie tight, please?” I asked softly, annoyed that he was hurt, annoyed that Iwanted to soothe over his pain. That wasn’t the newer, harder Sofia I’d been cultivating.

No, stop that. You care about Lorenzo, and it’s okay to want to comfort him.

Lorenzo smiled at me, sweet and slow, understanding the careening train of my thoughts. “Sunshine, take all the time you need.”

30

LORENZO

It brokemy heart to watch Sofia throw her walls back up in the wake of the attempted kidnapping. We sat in the living room of Dante’s house, trying to balance Sofia’s safety with her desperate desire to graduate and our own aching need for her.

“Walk me through everything that happened this morning.”

She described her coffee with Ana, the walk to the campus library, the empty hallway, and the assault that took out Vito. I swore softly at how clever Sergio had been, to sacrifice one of his own men for a chance at grabbing Sofia.

Thank God she’d been able to get away. Her assailant had melted into the background of the busy campus, but the man Tommaso had shot was associated with the Costas. Did Ana know Sergio had used her in that manner? Did she care?

Sofia shook her head. “Ana couldn’t have known. The Costas don’t trust her. She’s too wild, too unpredictable, too desperate to escape their clutches.”

“Are you sure, sunshine? People do a lot of dumb shit for families.”

When Sofia cocked her head, I flushed slightly.

“Gio Costa hates Ana almost as much as she hates him.”

A soft knock at the door interrupted our conversation. My finger to my lips, I held my gun and peeked out the peephole.Luca.

Holstering the gun, I opened the door, and he shoved his way in, ignoring me. “Sofia?” he asked. She smiled, standing to greet him.

Once reassured that she was in one piece, he rounded on me, his fist flying through the air and slamming into my face.

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