Page 71 of Sapphires and Snakes
His back is turned, and I take the opportunity to wipe Father’s hair from his brow, swipe my thumb across his cheek in the smallest gesture of comfort.
“Zarina and I will marry in an hour,” Marcus continues. “Ricci will walk her down the aisle?—”
“You stabbed him,” I snap.
He ignores me, standing before my wedding dress hung in the window. “And the Gallo family will hold up their end of the fucking deal. You will give us the territory you promised.”
“We don’t have it,” Father gasps.
I drop my hand to my lap, my robe parted around my knees. Danny sidles over, like he doesn’t want to be left out of thefun, and plops down on the arm of Father’s chair. I glower at him. He ignores me, that grin curling over the edge to sinister.
Marcus stalks from the windows, snow still falling in fat chunks, and back toward us. For the rest of Louredo, this is an idyllic Christmas Day. For us, it’s a nightmare come to life. “Then you’ll spend the rest of your pathetic life obtaining it. And if you don’t, if you refuse, or worse—if you fail—I’ll take what’s owed from your daughter’s flesh.”
My fist clenches over my thigh. Around the hilt of my knife.
He sips his amber drink. “At least you keep good scotch,” he muses.
Danny reaches out and wiggles the knife in Father’s gut. Father cries out, pain breaking his voice into shattered pieces.
“Fuck off.” I smack his hand away, but he snatches my wrist, yanking me to my feet.
Everything happens so fast, it seems like it’s all at once. My free hand clears my knife of its thigh sheath. As Danny pulls me to my feet, I shove the blade into the space between his jaw and Adam’s apple. Blood spurts out of his mouth. Across my face.
And somewhere else in the house, gunfire ricochets.
TAMAYO
Snow packs the roads, slowing us down. My knee jiggles as Darius navigates the car without the sense of urgency that has me in a tight grip. I want to slam my foot down on his and accelerate into the near-blizzard around us, but I don’t. Instead, I glance to the street sign, to Darius, to the speedometer, back out the window. We’ll be there in moments.
Zarina will be okay.
She has to be. Because if she’s not, it means I couldn’t protect her from Marcus, from her parents, fromme. I will have failed. No matter if I’m a don, it will have been at the expense of her life, and I cannot accept that. That can’t be our end. I refuse it. So she has to be okay.
She has to be.
Darius turns into the gated drive of the Gallo estate. Snow piles up along the top of the wrought iron fence surrounding it, the trees along it weighed down. I’ve never been past these walls. Not even when I was a kid working for the Gallos. A don’s estate is a fortress, meant to protect and intimidate. Only the most loyal are allowed inside. Soldiers and drug runners don’t often make the cut.
A man jumps out of the small guard house beside the gate. He’s wearing a puffed coat and fur hat pulled down low over his brow, rubbing his gloved hands together against the cold. I feel the weight of my gun on my hip as he approaches the driver’s side window. Darius rolls it down a few inches.
“Name and purpose?” the guard asks.
Cold wind blows into the car. Darius answers, “Andrea Tamayo visiting Zarina Gallo.”
The man’s hand immediately goes to his hip, and his voice hardens. “You’re not allowed on the property.”
I lean over until the man’s gaze flicks to me. “Is Marcus Accardi here?”
His eyes shift to the gate, the house out of sight beyond it, and back to me. A blatantyes.
“If you don’t want your boss to die,” I say, “I suggest you let us in.”
He shakes his head, hand not leaving his hip. “I have explicit instructions from Mrs. Gallo.”
I know if I push harder, he’ll draw that gun he’s palming. I know if we don’t get past him and into the house, Zarina and her family may not make it back out. Marcus is here. There’s no way we’re leaving.
I glance to Darius, exchanging far more than a look. “Fine, we’ll go.”
The guard nods, backing up a few paces to allow the car room to maneuver.
