Page 104 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Did he see her stiffen in pain, how his words pierced through her like an arrow?

Lorenzo lunged toward him, stopping only when Sofia threw up her hand.

“Where is Sergio Accardi?” she asked.

“Fuck you, bitch.”

Before any of us could stop her, she whipped the knife across his face, leaving a long thin line of blood stretching down his cheek.

“If you know who I am, then you know who raised me.And you know the men I’m fucking. And you better be fucking grateful I just stopped one of them from murdering you for your disrespect.”

“Kitten,” I began, uncertainty unfolding in my stomach.

She held up her hand to me, just as she’d done to Lorenzo a few moments before.

“He has my daughter and my mother,” she continued, so quietly I had to strain to hear her.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before letting him knock you up, bitch.”

Sofia stood there, her breathing rapid. It killed me not to see her face, to not know what she was thinking. This piece of shit didn’t deserve her consideration.

I blinked.

He screamed.

She’d plunged her knife into his fucking thigh.

I couldn’t stop myself. I stalked toward her and yanked her into my arms, devouring her lips with my own, desperate to taste her after that delightful display of bloodthirsty fury. She melted into my arms, tangling her fingers in my hair and dragging my body against hers. I knew this was just her way of focusing on anything but her missing daughter, but I didn’t care. I wanted her.

“What the fuck?” our prisoner hollered as I notched her pelvis into mine, lifting her thigh so I could press her pussy against my hard cock, rolling my hips so I could shove against her clit.

When she mewled against me, whining when I gripped the flesh of her ass in my fingers, I groaned into her mouth.

“That’s my sweet, ferocious kitten,” I murmured against her skin, working my way down her neck to her throat, thrusting my hips up against her until she moaned withpleasure. I released her ass to knead her breast, only for a harsh clearing of a throat to interrupt me.

“Sofia,” Lorenzo said, gently. “Dante.”

Her eyes glazed over with lust, lips swollen and bee-stung, Sofia panted softly as I lowered her leg to the ground. I cupped her jaw with my hand, stroking my thumb over her blood-spattered cheek as we both came back down to earth, strangely reluctant to release her from my arms.

This desire to shield her, to protect her, was all-consuming. But it wouldn’t help anything, wouldn’t help her. She’d spent her entire life surrounded by men who should have protected her but didn’t. She needed someone who’d stand by her side while she fuckingruled.

Forcing myself to unwrap my fingers from her body, I stepped away, leaving her standing alone, softly panting. Lorenzo watched her carefully, as if she were a wild animal that needed to be treated with caution.

Nico stood against the wall where we’d left him. He met my eyes with a pleased grin, the cheeky fucker, then strode forward, swiping a knife off the tray and flipping it in his hand.

He knelt in front of the man, slicing the knife through our prisoner’s pants. “Sofia,” he said softly. “Come here, baby.”

Our kitten sidled up to him, her brow furrowed, and I remembered she hadn’t witnessed the delight of watching Nico go absolutely feral over her yet.

Nico yanked out the knife from the man’s thigh and handed it back to her. “You have to be more careful. Look.”

Our prisoner whimpered and whined as Nico prodded at the wound. “You’re very close to the artery here. If he’d bled out, we’d have lost our shot at getting any information out of him at all.”

I walked around to the back of the room so I could see Sofia’s expression as Nico walked her through the points on a body that would do the least damage but cause the most pain.

Her eyes shone with love.

Fucker.

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