Chapter 26 Tamayo
TAMAYO
Last time I entered Saint Christopher’s, it was to hoodwink the Council into believing Zarina and I were engaged.
We walked down this aisle hand-in-hand as a handful of white men watched us, took our measure.
I stood beside her while she convinced the Council to support us rather than the Accardis and her own family.
I watched as she disappeared in their eyes the moment my claim was accepted.
Now, as I kneel before the crucifix and cross my heart, I’m alone. The candles are lit, and both Jimmy and David stand to the side, rather than sit in the pews. They’re still taking my measure. David’s face passing over the edge to sour. Jimmy’s impassive, hazel eyes taking in every detail.
I rise to my feet and slip my hands into my pockets as I slink into the shadows.
I don’t have a feral princess at my side, her waist waiting for the comforting weight of my hand.
Instead, she’s at home, preparing for the circus show scheduled for this evening.
The ceremony is meant to take place at the Gallo estate, kept small, and the reception held at the most expensive hotel in town.
Considering it’s owned by Alonso Accardi certainly cut down on costs.
Speak of the devil.
Alonso and Riccardo stride through the heavy double doors, thrown wide open.
G, Riccardo’s guard, swings them closed as his charge continues down the aisle toward us.
My stomach clinches tight with nerves. So much rides on this meeting, not least of which is the realization of a decade of my life’s work.
It hardly seems real. But I don’t have time to give the moment the veneration it deserves.
Not with Riccardo and Alonso kneeling at Jesus’s feet as Jimmy and David stand front and center while I lean against a column lining the nave.
Here we go.
Alonso rises from his knees first, face already wary and annoyed. “What is this? We haven’t called an emergency Council meeting in years.”
Jimmy lowers his chin in agreement, eyes on Riccardo’s carefully blank face. “Not since the Russos.”
“Let’s hope this meeting doesn’t echo that one.” David shifts his weight, already uncomfortable.
Riccardo’s gaze flicks between the North and the East, trying to decipher what’s going on. It’d be amusing if the stakes were lower, if his daughter’s life didn’t hang in the balance—both figuratively and literally. “That depends on what you’ve called us here to discuss.”
“You know, Riccardo, I always liked you.” Jimmy cocks his head, a hint of pity in his voice. Or maybe I’m putting it there. “You’ve been simple, straightforward. No schemes or aspirations for more.”
His blank face breaks into a glare. “Fuck off, Jimmy.”
“Come on, I’m being serious,” Jimmy continues. I hold my body tight, clinging to the shadows. “Alessandra is a snake in the grass, but you? You’re a raging grizzly. Running right at what you want, using brute force to obtain it.”
Riccardo levels an unimpressed look at Jimmy that reminds me so much of Zarina, I almost gasp at the sucker punch. But I don’t allow myself to twitch, unwilling to bring attention to my presence quite yet.
“And you’re a fox slipping into hen houses to slaughter the lot,” Riccardo snaps back. “Why are we here?”
“I wondered why you’d make this deal.” Jimmy might as well be villain-monologuing now, laying out all the twists and turns before getting to the point.
“Alonso had to have something over you, something that made you desperate. Why else would you agree to sell off your only daughter? And in a deal that meant the end of the Gallos.”
“This is not our end,” he denies.
Pity pinches Jimmy’s face and my own. “You’re smarter than that, Ricci.”
Alonso, whose face is always one snarky comment away from turning purple with offense, sports ruddy cheeks as he cuts in. “Get on with it, Jimmy.”
Jimmy rolls his eyes. “My point is, scheming’s not your forte, Ricci.”
“What are you going on about?” Alonso’s cheeks darken even further as he looks between Jimmy and David for some type of real explanation. But David just ducks his head and stuffs his hands in his pockets.
And Jimmy’s enjoying the show a bit too much. “When we came together after the Russos and decided to split this city into four to save our families from annihilation at each other’s hands, we created an agreement. We signed it, ratified it, and have spent more than twenty years enforcing it.”
Alonso waves his hand—this is history he already knows; he was there for it. “We are not in violation of it.”
Now that we’re arriving at the point, I allow myself to reanimate. I shake my head, a small snort leaving me. Alonso’s eyes snap to me, his cheeks immediately darkening and glare deepening. If he could cut me down with his gaze, he would. Riccardo, on the other hand, finds me and remains impassive.
Does he know what’s coming? Did Zarina tell him her plans?
“Why are you even here?” Alonso snaps.
I let a sly, wolfish grin spread across my face.
Jimmy continues, ignoring the interruption, “In that agreement, we defined what it means to be a Cardinal Family. Do you remember?”
And it becomes immediately apparent that Riccardo had no idea of Zarina’s plans. That impassive mask falls so quickly, it shatters into oblivion. A cycle of realization, disbelief, and then wild fear overtakes his expression.
Alonso, however, is only confused.
David picks up the monologue, like they scripted this prior. “A Cardinal Family must own eighteen percent of Louredo, or they lose their seat on the Council. A new don may be inducted in their place if they meet the required percentage and if the majority of the Council approves their induction.”
“What have you done?” Riccardo stares at me, the terror in his face shoving me off-balance. Is he scared for himself? For his family? For Zarina?
In this moment, it can’t matter. The end is near, my queen checking his king.
There are no more moves Riccardo Gallo can make, no way he can save himself.
Ten years of working toward one goal—the ruin of the Gallo family—and it’s finally playing out before me.
I wish Alessandra was here. I wish I could know that no matter what happens next, Zarina will be safe.
But I can’t. And so this moment that should be as sweet as the ripest peach tastes rotten on my tongue.
It means nothing without her.
Despite my inner tumult, I have a role to play. I push off the column, stride forward into the light, and let my gaze drag up Riccardo’s body. Taking his measure. “I’d ask you the same thing. It’s a foolish move, risking the very thing that gives you power.”
“This is absurd!” Alonso yells.
Riccardo turns back to David and Jimmy, his body ramrod straight but his voice shaking. “Tell me you didn’t do it. Tell me you didn’t make her a don.”
“Riccardo Gallo,” David says his name like a proclamation, “you are hereby stripped of your status as a Cardinal Family. You are no longer recognized as part of this Council or as a don in Louredo. Consider all agreements null and void until renegotiated.”
I watch as the don of the family that betrayed me, that shattered my knee, that left me to die, breaks apart into a hundred emotions.
Fear, rejection, denial, anger, disbelief.
He cycles through them and more, hand landing on David’s elbow as if he can plead his case and stop what’s already happened.
And beside him, the devil that promised to save him in exchange for his soul rages. Alonso’s mouth is running so fast, I can’t understand a word he’s yelling. His face is red-purple as if each word costs more oxygen than he can inhale.
I only have ears for Riccardo.
“No,” he gasps. “This is impossible. There’s no way she owns enough property. I never sold to the same company thrice—”
“Don’t be dense, Ricci.” I study my nail beds.
“Don’t call me Ricci,” he snaps.
“What was the deal, Alonso?” Jimmy presses, the anvil already dropped and jumping atop it. “You must’ve known why Riccardo was so willing to sell off his daughter.”
“Fuck you, Jimmy. Fuck both of you,” Alonso spits. “You two sullied this Council. You’ve sullied this city!”
“No need to get so emotional, Alonso.” I shake my head, frowning in distaste.
Alonso whirls on me. “This is all your fault!”
“I capitalized on an opportunity.” I cock my head, condescending. “Speaking of—don’t you two have a wedding to prepare for?”
The quiet that greets my words is heavier than the cathedral we stand inside. I’m surprised the stones don’t crack with the weight of it, that the stained glass windows don’t fracture. Riccardo’s eyes flick to Alonso then to me then to the closed doors.
“Unless”—my voice is layered with faux concern—“the Gallo family’s demotion is a dealbreaker?”
At that, Alonso Accardi, don of the West and sixty-plus-year-old man, turns from the group and storms down the aisle with his hands fisted at his sides.
“Remember, Alonso,” Jimmy calls, his face finally breaking into the maniacal grin he wore in our last meeting—a fox in the henhouse indeed. “Any attack on a fellow don is considered an act of war! That includes the Tamayo family now!”
And excludes the Gallos.
“What have you done?” Riccardo’s face is near translucent as he rushes out after Alonso.
I can’t answer him. The consequences of this will reach much further than the unseating of the Gallo family. Zarina could still be doomed. Riccardo could still be held accountable to his agreement with the Accardis. All I do know is I’ve achieved the goal I spent a decade pursuing.
And now, I cannot fail in the next.