Page 33 of Rubies and Revenge

“Darius,” I mimic his serious tone.

He groans, falling back further in his chair. “How does this bring us closer to the goal? The fake engagement, the fucking, the stupid business deal—it’s all window-dressing.”

“I’m not explaining it again,” I sigh. “You were there.”

“And I still don’t get it.” He spreads his arms as if to encompass the lack of logic filling the room, his navy suit stretched to its limit across his chest and arms. “Get the princess out of town and take the meeting with Falcone.”

I set my glass down too hard. Despite being mostly empty save for the ball of ice and the orange twist, liquid spatters over the desk. “Do you think we’d have this invitation without her? Do you think Jimmy Falcone would evenspeakto me if I wasn’t engaged to Zarina fucking Gallo?” I rein in the glare I want to aim at Darius—this isn’t about him. It’s about the futility of years of plotting and battling my way to this exact moment, only to have the daughter of the family I swore to tear asunder, brick by brick, be the reason I finally achieve it. And worse, it’s about the way that same woman has sunk into my skin like a goddamn perfume, no soap strong enough to erase her.

I scrape my hands over my face and let them drop to the arm rests. “Don’t be purposefully dense. Zarina was right—her family name, as much as I fucking hate it, brings us respect. The most we could have expected from Antoni’s idiocy was a meeting with another capo, not with the don.”

Darius wrinkles his nose. “You don’t know that.”

“It’s what I would have done.” I slump back and stare at the ice melting in my tumbler, wishing it was full again so I could gulp it down. I push out of my chair and grab the belt and waistcoat I hung up earlier, unwilling to be so restricted while I pouted into my drink.

Darius crosses his arms. “There’s nothing keeping her here or from crossing us.”

I yank on the deep-violet waistcoat over my collared shirt. “Except the threat of a forced marriage to a savage prick?”

He scoffs like that’s not so big a deal as to make Zarina run away from home and strike a deal with a gangster she’d never met. I want to smack him upside the head. But he speaks before I can reach him. “And after all this is over?”

He means after Zarina is gone.

I clamp my mouth shut, eyes on my fingers buttoning my waistcoat. When the Accardis and their cruel son are no longer a threat, Zarina will leave. With less territory and more information on the Tamayo Family. Which means Darius isn’t wrong—she has no reason to stay, to keep our secrets—and that’s infuriating. Even more so because I don’t have a back-pocket solution that will solve this problem. And that’s unacceptable.

I push it down into the well of my brain where it can steep longer in the muck until a solution will rise fully formed. “A lot can happen between now and then.”

“That’s what worries me,” he sighs.

I button my cuffs. “Not much we can do about it now.”

“You could not fuck her and make her hate you?” he snaps.

My hands pause, and I turn to study him fully. He fidgets with the ring on his right pointer, twirling the diamond around and around. He watches his fingers, eyes unfocused and brows furrowed.

I speak softly. “Not all relationships end in heartbreak, Darius.”

His shoulders bunch as if bracing for impact. He forciblyrelaxes them, his hands falling to his lap and his face fumbling for unaffected nonchalance. “So it’s a relationship now?”

I let him change the subject and pull my jacket off its hanger. “Didn’t you hear? She’s my fiancée.”

He groans, his head rolling back on his chair. “You know what I mean!”

“You’re a worrywart,” I tease as if I’m not at all.

“Yeah, I’m fucking worried!” He shoves to standing and crowds in front of me. “I’m worried Zarina will fuck us over, and I’m worried your need for revenge will push this too far, and I’m really fucking worried that you’re not worried at all!”

I stuff my hands in my pockets and stare at him with all the anger of a woman willing to murder and steal and deal her way from broken in a back alley to the inner sanctum of Louredo’s crime families. I didn’t get here by being an idiot, by miscalculating. Darius knows that. He’s been with me since before the beginning. My best friend, my right hand.

And sometimes he thinks that allows him certain privileges. Like insulting me.

“It sounds like”—my voice rumbles through my chest—“you think I’m being careless and stupid.”

Darius has the good sense to back the fuck up. “Andy?—”

“The goal is the same as it’s always been, Darius.” I prowl forward as he stands completely still, muscles tense. “Whatever it takes to become a don, to become a family with a seat at the goddamn table, to protect our people and give them a piece of the pie. We will use Zarina Gallo as a stepping stone to more territory, more power, more respect.” I roll my shoulders back, breathing through my nose and dialing down the simmering boil in my gut. “We’re already set to make good on respect, now it’s about garnering the other two. I can’t do it alone—I need Zarina.”

Darius takes my jacket from where it’s tucked between my arm and hip, shaking it out and holding it open for me. An olivebranch, which I accept. I thread my arms through, and he smooths down the sleeves as I adjust my wrist cuffs.

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