Page 38 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

“Let’s go find your mother,” I said, my previous ire fading as Lizzie played with my hair.

“Mamma!” Lizzie shrieked, squirming in my arms until I let her down. Nico scooped Lizzie up and set her on the stool beside Sofia. Unable to tear my eyes from the two of them, Sofia with her spine of steel, blonde and icy, and Lizzie, giggling and full of cheer with dark-brown curls that bounced with every movement.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Lorenzo asked, bumping me with his hip. I wasn’t ready for a heart-to-heart with this fucker, but I wasn’t looking for a fight either. “Worth fighting for,” he continued.

I looked at Lorenzo sharply. What was he implying?

“She needs you.”

“She needs my money and my guns,” I answered.

“Dante Oscuro, for someone who’s built their entire reputation on being a goddamned boogeyman, you sure are a fucking idiot.”

I let the silence draw out. When he didn’t answer, I had to ask. “How so?”

“You and Nico are the only men she’s allowed to get close enough to take care of her,” Lorenzo continued. “Yeah, she needs you to be her army, but she also needsyou.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” I found myself saying as I watched Sofia tease her daughter, pretending a bite full of pancakes was an airplane. “You’re the man she ran to when she needed a place to hide.”

The bitter envy I felt about her trust in Lorenzo threatened to spill over.

“And you’re the man who convinced her to let Nico examine her, the man she knelt beside last night when she needed reassurance that she’s still loved.”

My heart stopped with a heavy thump, then started back up again.

Fuck.

Fury ragedthrough me when the head of the Irish mob flirted with Sofia after her classes. I tamped down on it. Declan Flanagan knew better than to fuck with another man’s woman, and if he were doing it, he’d have good reason.

Sofia had demanded security on the house, security on her daughter, but refused more than a single bodyguard for herself. I’d overridden her wishes, calling in a favor with the Irish. She knew Declan through her sister—he’d taken over the Irish gangs when Ginevra’s husbands had gotten out of the business—and I thought she’d be more comfortable with Declan and his men than my own.

When I strode closer, I saw Sofia’s back stiff and straight, as the other students gave her a wide berth. Someone who didn’t know her well might mistake her icy demeanor for haughtiness. I knew it was to hide whatever turmoil was raging inside of her.

“Oscuro,” Declan said, nodding his head. “Shame her family won’t do the right thing and provide protection.”

Sofia smiled her best fake-for-company smile. “Thank you, Declan, for playing babysitter today.”

“Ginevra’s like family,” he said. “Legal, upstandingfamily that likes to pretend they were never in the life, but family nevertheless. And fuck the Russos for not doing the right thing.” He turned toward me. “We’ve got eyes on her 24/7, as you requested.”

I inhaled sharply, about to respond, then thought about Morelli’s words from the day before, about being what she needed.

“Is that what I asked for?” Sofia responded.

Declan raised an eyebrow, then cut his eyes toward Sofia, who’d tilted her head thoughtfully as she watched the two of us. “Oscuro said you needed an army to keep you safe?—”

Sofia turned toward me, her lips pursed with contempt. “What did I ask for?”

“Kitten, I don’t give a fuck what you asked for. I’m not leaving you alone where Accardi can snatch you away from me again.”

Her eyes widened at my phrasing before she schooled her face into iciness.

“I’min charge, Dante,” she snarled. “Stop giving orders about me without checking in with me first.”

We stared each other down, and that increasingly familiar tendril of guilt wove its way through the bones and sinew in my chest.

“A queen commands her generals,” I said, no less dangerous because I spoke softly. “But also trusts her generals to do their fucking jobs.”

She blinked and gave me a sharp nod, fierce and once again under control. So fucking resilient, I couldn’t help the warmth of my gaze as I admired her at the same time I thanked the fucking Lord she was listening and letting me protect her.

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