Page 69 of The Mafia’s Girlfriend

“How did you find out?”

I narrowed my eyes. Like that mattered. I knew and that was enough. “Jimmy. And I want to know how my manager and my mom got into fucking cahoots to lie to me all my life. Thirty years, Mom. You could have told me at any time, dammit.”

“Jimmy’s not only your manager.” She cleared her throat, seeming to struggle with breathing steadily as I put her on the spot like this. It was hard for her. I knew it had to be, but this wasn’t a walk in the picnic for me, either.

“He’s Marlo’s brother. Jimmy Rossini. He helped me look out for you the best he could, from a distance.”

The hits just kept on coming. I had to learn that I had a father and uncle in the same day. And I’d proposed. Before, it was just me and mom. Now my family had doubled in size.

“Why—”

“I was just so worried. About what to tell you. What not to tell you.”

“Did Marlo expect you to raise me on your own?” My hatred for this man I never met deepened. “Did he even know about me?”

She shook her head. “No. He didn’t know about you. When I realized who he was, how powerful he was, things got complicated. I felt it would be safer to raise you on my own, with no involvement from the Rossini family at all.”

I could almost understand that. Distance seemed wise from these powerful men and their fucked-up policies about arranged marriages.

“But I did have involvement. Jimmy’s been training me to fight since I was young.”

She nodded, furrowing her wrinkly brow. “I know. He and I agreed that making sure you had street smarts would be best.”

I grunted a single laugh. “Street smarts?” The man tapped my rage and darkness to mold me into an elite killer and fighter.

“As you got older, there was no easy way to tell you. It became a matter of worrying that you’d find out from someone else.”

“I can’t believe you’d lie. For so long. That hurts, Mom.”

“I’m sorry, Lucas, but I truly thought—and hoped—it would never be an issue.”

I scoffed. “What, that I’d grow old without ever knowing at all?”

She nodded. “Sometimes, ignorance is really bliss.”

I glanced at my phone as it buzzed.

Randy: Dude, where are you? I’m covering for you but Tim’s asking when you’re clocking back in.

“Can we talk about this more later?” I asked her.

“Yes, honey. I really am sorry. I kept this from you thinking it would be best.”

Too bad for her, I’d never really agreed with the concept that ignorance could be bliss. I was a believer in knowledge being power.

“I’ll stop in later,” I said as I stood to leave.

Even though everything was being turned upside down in my life, I couldn’t slack with work. I couldn’t forsake all my obligations.

As I walked back in the drizzle that followed the rain, I let the mist rising from the pavement swirl around me.

My mother had a lot more explaining to do. Jimmy as well. They owed me answers for why they kept this from me. They had to tell me what motivated them to hide who my father was.

Until I had answers, my mind ran off with worst-case scenarios.

Was my mom threatened? Maybe Marlo was in one of these stupid arranged marriages with someone other than my mom when I was conceived?

Was she paid off to stay away? Coerced?