Page 23 of The Mafia’s Fiancee

Chapter 9

Luke

I tucked Emma againstmy chest, bundling her as close as possible as we rolled off this first part of the roof. We dropped fast, and I took the brunt of the hit onto the next level down. My back radiated with pain, but I grunted and toughed it out. I refused to loosen my arms. I would not let her go and let her be hurt any further.

The sight of her swollen face angered me. I’d never forget the experience of witnessing her in pain, of her being wounded by anyone.

I’d already failed her in letting her be hurt at all. Jimmy warned me that I’d be starting a war by insisting that I keep Emma in my life. She’d worried about the same, after the fact.

Letting anyone target her in this supposed war was not going to happen ever again. I wouldn’t let her down, because after seeing her taken away the way she was, I wasn’t sure I’d want her out of my sight.

Again, we dropped down onto another roof. Everything blurred. Details ceased to weigh on me as I held her tight to my chest. In the distance, I caught the sounds of men shouting and yelling.

But no gunshots.

They’d want me dead for spiriting her away. Yet, they wouldn’t fire on her, likely needing her alive to deliver her to Antonio as promised.

Not happening.

My side slammed into a steeper cut of a roof, and that stop was all I needed to gain purchase. On my feet, holding Emma securely, I leaped down to another shorter structure. From there, I let her sit so I could lower to the pavement. Hurrying to turn back and hold my arms up to her, I gave her the chance to drop into my embrace.

The second she took that leap, bold determination written on her face, I took pride in how she knew I’d catch her. I always would, and as soon as I got us to safety, I would make up for the mistake of not realizing how quickly this “war” could start.

We ran together to the car her friend had brought close, and once we were inside, I put my foot to the pedal and sped on it.

“The gates to the right. Go. They’re older and not as reinforced.”

I nodded, aiming that way and plowing straight through them. Now, they fired. Perhaps they hadn’t received direct word from the men inside yet. They patrolling men aimed. Bullets pinged off the driver door. Windows webbed from hits as well.

None of them succeeded. Emma and I weren’t struck with any ammo. And the SUV sped along as I needed.

“Are you okay?” I demanded. Sitting and no longer on the run or fighting, I stole the chance to finally catch my breath. I split my attention between the road and Emma, finding her crawling closer to me.

“I should be the one asking you that.” She pressed her cool, soft fingertips to my face. It seemed she wouldn’t be content with seeing that I lived, she had to feel me, almost like a reassurance that we were back together again. One whole day and most of the night had passed with us torn apart, and this moment was too sweet not to embrace it and cherish it.

“I’ll be fine,” I told her, then I quickly filled her in on what I’d gone through to get her back. Calling Jimmy, trespassing at the Rossini residence, and then later, the fight that Antonio had rigged against me.

“You saw Marlo?” she asked as I drove away, continuously checking in the mirrors for anyone who might be following. She looked as well.

“I did. Sack of skin and bones. He looked like he’d been in bed for a decade.”

She huffed. “That’s about as long that he’s been out of the public’s eye.”

I didn’t want to talk about him. “They tazed me after the fight and brought me to a warehouse. Antonio tried to talk shit, saying that you were promised to him. That was how I finally got my answer of where exactly, you were. That was when I pieced together the clue that your father was the one behind taking from you the Tropican.”

“Yeah. It was him. He heard the same rumors about us. People who saw us at that party must have spread word fast. Or, someone at the Tropican told him.”

I arched a brow, hating how much it hurt to move my face like that. “The staff?”

“The Tropican is my father’s resort. He ultimately owns it, but the deeds and documentation goes through layers of shell corps.”

All this time, I’d been working for her father and I never knew. Now that I had to kill him for ever raising a hand at her, it seemed ironic. Don’t bite the hand that feeds? I intended to bite it right off and watch the owner suffer.

No. No more killing. Not for tonight or anytime soon. I drove away, twisting and turning through the streets to better lose any trail. Having Emma seated beside me, gazing at me with worry about my injuries, I instantly felt calmer and more at peace. It lowered my guard with the more distance I put between us and the men who’d want us dead. And with that peaceful mood, I reflected on how many deaths I’d caused tonight.

The Marchese fighter in the ring. Probably one of the Marchese soldiers who’d come at me in the warehouse. I doubted I killed the man I hit to steal a car from in my efforts to follow Antonio to the Giordino estate. But then once I arrived and snuck through Emma’s home, I ended up killing that Giordino guard who’d wanted to whip her with that chain.

Too many deaths. Too many too soon. I didn’t regret ending their lives. They’d all posed a threat to me or Emma, and that wouldn’t be allowed. At the same time, this wasn’t who I was. Yes, I could kill people, but I tried my best not to become a vigilante or mass murderer without a cause. My kills had a just cause though, and with that reasoning, I shoved back the thoughts that could nag me later.