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But I have no choice.
I need Tamayo. And she knows it. My teeth grind, jaw pulsing with the ache, and that stupid, sexy grin on Tamayo’s face grows wider and wider. She waits, tongue-in-cheek, as I swallow down the pride, the shame, the outrage crawling over my skin and up my throat. I straighten my back, tuck my dress tight to my thighs.
And I kneel.
Pat starts forward with a growl, and I throw up my hand to stop them without looking away from Tamayo. She doesn’t mind them. As if she’s confident in my submission. I bite my tongue harder while Pat curses under their breath.
Tamayo nods for me to speak, and it colors my vision red. Like I need her permission. My hands shake at the hem of my skirt. I suck in a deep inhale, compelling my jaw to relax enough to form the words.
“Andrea Tamayo”—her name is acid in my mouth—“will you marry me?”
TAMAYO
Idon’t think I’ll ever feel more powerful than I do in this moment. Zarina Gallo is on her knees before me, begging. Her life, her freedom, rests in the palm of my hand, and I could crush it in my fist as easily as a freshly bloomed flower. I could call the Accardis or any of the Cardinal Families, and return her in exchange for a favor, more territory, a sweet deal. I could leave her broken in an alley like I was so many years ago. Tit for tat.
But that wouldn’t quench the inferno of rage inside me.
The Gallos deserve worse than they gave me. They deserve to be ruined, their name laid to waste. And here their daughter sits, pretty on her knees, asking me to save her, because she has nowhere else to go. Because her parents pushed her directly into my open arms. The opportunity is too sweet to pass up. Zarina said it herself—she’s the sole heir of the Southern Districts, raised by one of the most powerful families in Louredo. She has information, secrets, access that I can only dream of. And if I tie myself to her, all that becomes mine, too.
Plus, I get to ruin the Gallos’s only daughter.
I tongue my cheek, raising my glass to my lips, and stare ather on the floor. Her spine is straight, jaw clenched, eyes burning. I sip my drink and set it beside hers, leaning forward to offer my hand. She grimaces at it, as if my fingers are covered in the same filth I wiped off my boot earlier.
“Pat,” she says.
They stride forward without looking at me and help Zarina to her feet. Her orange dress rides up her thighs slightly before she tugs it back down.
I drop my proffered hand and sit back in my chair, taking up the whole of it. “What are your terms?”
She snatches her drink off the table and downs the rest of it, like she’s washing a bad taste out of her mouth. Pat takes the glass when she’s finished, and Zarina dabs the liquor from her lips. “A public claim before the Council and a three-month cap on the engagement before weverypublicly breakup, during which you will protect me as if I’m your…fiancée.”
A fake engagement, then. “What do I get?”
“You get the clout of a Gallo engagement,” she says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s not a secret what you’re working toward, Tamayo. You want a seat with the Council, to replace the Russos, but there’s no way they’ll ever recognize you as a family, as a don, as athreat, without some credibility.”
Her words are too honest, the reality of them raking harshly over my chest. I clink my rings against my glass. “That’s not enough.”
She forces a calming breath through her nose. “It’s all I have.”
“You want me to endanger myself and my people for a fake engagement andtemporaryclout?” My voice rises at the end, incredulous despite the offer being everything I need. It’s better than Antoni could give me, better than I could get myself if I betrayed Zarina tonight. But she doesn’t need to know that.
“They won’t be in danger.” She waves my concerns away.
“Don’t be coy, princess, it discredits you,” I parrot her words back at her, coated with candied acid.
“They won’t beopenlyin danger,” she corrects.
I rub my finger over my lips, studying her. She stands tall, fully embodying Zarina Gallo, princess and heir to the Gallo crime family, rulers of the Southern Districts. She has had anything she could ever want laid at her feet. Except power over her own future.
I drop my hand to the arm of my chair. “I want thirty percent of your territory.”
She reels back. “Excuse me?”
“Ten percent for each month of this farce.” I raise my glass in a sardonic cheers.
“That’s outrageous, Tamayo.” Zarina shakes her head, arms crossed and eyes rolling. “And not only that, but I don’thaveit.”
“You will, though, won’t you?”