Page 107 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Papà wants Sofia to walk across that stage this morning like nothing’s happened.

DidSofiawant to walk across the stage like nothing happened? She looked over her shoulder, as if she could sense the question in my gaze. The foot soldiers loaded the women into cars, taking them to hospitals, friends’, anywhere they wanted, really.

Nick’s face was pale, haunted, as he leaned against the frame of our borrowed SUV, draping his arm over Sofia’s shoulder and drawing her against his side. “This dude’s a real asshole.”

She checked her phone again. “I need to be there just before ten. That’s in four hours. No word from Sergio?”

“Has he reached out to you?”

She shook her head, a swift denial. Dante looked at her with narrowed eyes, but otherwise said nothing. Either we trusted her, or we didn’t, and I’d already made my position clear. I was all in on Team Sofia.

43

SOFIA

I knewwhat I had to do.

Sergio had been sending me messages all night, and the price for releasing Lizzie and Mamma was clear. He wanted me—willing, eager, and publicly rebuking my lovers in favor of him.

If I told my men, they’d stop me. Instead, I smiled weakly as we climbed into the SUV and decamped back to the Russo compound so that I could shower and get ready for a graduation ceremony I no longer gave a single fuck about. My daughter had been missing for seven hours. My only comfort was the pictures Sergio sent me of her sleeping quietly, curled up around her favorite stuffed animal, looking no worse for the wear.

Dante studied me through the mirror of the SUV, as if he knew I held a secret crushed in the palms of my clenched fists, that I’d kept part of my soul safe from him, from the overwhelming force of his need to break me. I curled up to Nick, tangling my fingers in his, burying my intentions deep in my soul. I’d savor these last minutes with my men, who’dfailed me time after time, even after they wormed their way deep into the tangles of my heart.

When we arrived, Papà sat in an armchair, his face in his hands. My heart broke for him. As much as he’d abused me, he’d also raised me, given me a spine of fucking steel, and taught me the ruthlessness that would allow me to survive what I had to do next.

I passed through the crowd of men planning raids and hits on the Costas to kneel in front of him, taking his hands in my own.

“Papà,” I whispered, leaning my head against his.

“Piccolina,” he whispered back, an endearment I hadn’t heard since my childhood. “They’re gone, and we can’t find them.”

Rian set a heavy hand on my shoulder. “We haven’t had any luck figuring out where they are.”

“We will find them, Papà. We’ll get them back, and they’re going to be fine.”

Guilt streaked through me. If I told them that Sergio had written to me, could that information help? Would they find Lizzie and my mother before I had time to do what I needed to do?

No fucking way.

We’d spent the last five hours setting what was left of the Costa territory on fire, and we were no fucking closer to finding them.

We’d failed, and now my daughter and my mother were missing. The only person I could rely on to get them back was myself.

“We’re going to get them back,” I repeated.

Something in my voice caught his attention because he lifted his red rimmed eyes to mine.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

I shoved down the pity I felt for him. Four years ago, what happened to Ginevra almost broke him, but losing his wife?

Luca’s hand fell heavily on my shoulder, squeezing tight. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to comfort me or comfort himself. It didn’t matter. We were hurting. Ginevra knelt beside me, wrapping her arms around Papà and me.

Heedless of our audience, of the room full of men working hard to get our family back, we mourned together, scared and desperate, none of us sure how to express our emotions, all of us still trapped by this fucking world.

Each time one of us thought we’d gotten out, it dragged us back in. Even Ginevra. Even Nick. Was there any hope of escaping it?

When I stood up, I was certain I’d made the right decision. I was going to get Lizzie and Mamma back, no matter what it took.

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