Page 26 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

Sofia bent down to scoop up her daughter, disregarding the ache she must have felt in her arms. A week of malnutrition, beatings, and I didn’t know what else because she hadn’t breathed a goddamned word to me about her time in captivity yet. Briefly, I wondered if she’d opened up to Morelli. Unhelpful jealousy streaked through me, hot and poisonous.

She turned on her heel and walked toward the door. “No.”

“Stop,” Tony snapped.

“Mamma?” Lizzie whispered from her mother’s shaking arms. “Are we going home now?”

Sofia’s gaze collided with mine, taking me aback with the rage in her eyes. “No, sweetheart. We’re going to stay with?—.”

“You’ll be staying with me,” I said firmly, not interested in giving Sofia or anyone else an opportunity to argue.

“That house is in Triad territory—the Chinese won’t welcome a houseful of Italian mobsters,” Tony said. I should have known he was keeping tabs on my business activities.

“Adam Zhang is a friend,” Sofia protested.

That’s why I’d bought the house there, after all.

“Ana Costa is a friend too, and look how well that served you,” her father said condescendingly.

Sofia’s shoulders slumped for a second before she rallied, and my heart ached to take away her hurt.

“Luca, go get Lizzie’s car seat and put it in Dante’s vehicle,” she said, her voice firm despite her exhaustion.

Her brother looked between Sofia and their father before scrubbing his face with his hands. “Sofia, you can stay wherever you want. You’re a grown woman. But pleasestay for breakfast. We care about you, you’ve been through hell, and we all want to know you’re okay.”

She wasn’t okay.

Any fucking idiot could see that.

Tony narrowed his eyes at his only son but didn’t contradict him.

Sofia hadn’t said a damn word in the car. She’d stared out the window, motionless and inscrutable, jerking away when Nico tried to comfort her.

I stepped up behind her, careful to avoid an unwanted touch. I wouldn’t allow her to avoid me forever, but embarrassing my kitten in front of her family wouldn’t get me what I wanted. “Sofia, why don’t we stay for breakfast while José gets the house ready for Lizzie?” The house was ready, but the Russos didn’t need to know that.

Her short exhalation of relief was the only indication I’d done the right thing.

Sofia was so fucking strong all the fucking time, showing no weakness when I abused her, when I forced her to her knees and degraded her, not when she was negotiating with the Chinese for me, never. The house was fucking ready. It’d been ready. But if lying about it to smooth over a difficult moment with her family was what she needed, I’d do it a thousand times.

Then fucking Tony Russo opened his mouth again. “You can tell us what happened over coffee.”

The insensitive fucking bastard just did not know when to quit.

When Sofia just stared at her father, I stepped away from her, then cracked my neck. “Sofia will tell you what happened when she damn well pleases.”

Tony didn’t need to know that she hadn’t opened up to me either.

Patti Russo, bless her hospitable heart, stepped around her husband and took her daughter’s hand. “Why don’t you have coffee in your father’s study while I get breakfast ready?”

I couldn’t see Sofia’s expression, but I felt her soften, the hairsbreadth of air between us losing its tension.

“Nick and Lizzie can help me make it,” she continued.

Ginevra took Sofia’s other hand and tugged gently. “Come on, baby sister.”

Ginevra’s husbands waited for us in Tony’s study, standing as we entered. Sofia gasped softly, a quiet intake of breath I wasn’t sure anyone else heard.

No, Rian had. His eyes met mine, bright blue and bleak. Instead of hugging his sister-in-law, he gently kissed her cheeks, maintaining a polite distance between them. The other men took his lead, and never had I been more grateful.

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