Page 36 of The Mafia’s Fiancee

“Who did this?” she asked. “Giordinos or the Marcheses?”

“Marchese.” Jimmy exhaled a long, hard breath as I helped him to sit up more. He wasn’t fully upright, and she continued to compress his wounds. His arm didn’t seem to move too well, but he looked like he’d live.

“Vincent and Antonio found out about you, Lucas,” Jimmy said. “I don’t know how. Maybe they just saw you and then looked at me and realized we might be family.”

“But I’ve fought for years and no one thought twice.”

“Well, they did now. You got their attention by fighting Orsen. Then you really got their attention being seen with her.” Jimmy frowned at Emma. “And then killing their fighter in the ring. I don’t know how they figured it out. They did.”

She shared a worried look with me. This would up the stakes even higher.

“They showed up here—”

“Vincent and Antonio?” she asked.

“Just Antonio. He was furious that I’d hid the fact that Marlo had a bastard son all this time. They’re mad that Marlo has any child at all.”

“Because the Rossini power would go to the heir,” I reasoned.

Jimmy nodded. “Or a sibling.” He shook his head, grimacing. “I see she’s giving you a lesson on how this works. “But it’s more than that. Vincent planned to have Antonio marry you,” he said, looking at her, “to unite the families. Then once Marlo was died, they’d carry out a hit on me and eliminate me. That was the original plan. The Marcheses would rule in Miami, even further beyond.”

“That’s what we’ve pieced together,” I said, checking how the bleeding was stopping from where I compressed it.

“They came here, Antonio and a couple others, to beat me into telling them where you were. They showed up so suddenly, Sean only had enough time to run up and guard Marlo’s room.”

I winced, realizing how easily Antonio could have tried to set his master plan into action immediately by taking out the sickly Rossini boss.

“But I wouldn’t say a fucking thing. I spent thirty years hiding you, Lucas, and if need be, I’ll spend another thirty years hiding you some more.”

Would you want that?

I glanced at Emma, wishing I could get her opinion on this. Once more I wondered if I’d want out of this mafia world and remain ignorant in bliss, like an ordinary civilian. Or should I embrace my role and accept this power after Marlo was gone?

Either way, I would stand by Emma. It didn’t matter to me if she preferred for me to stay out from this dramatic lifestyle laden with violence and hardships.

“They left me alive because they realize they need me to find you.” Jimmy frowned, almost glaring at me “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I’m not hiding forever,” I argued.

“You need to. Antonio wants to kill you. And you dumbass”—he shoved his foot at me—“you started talking with Ben and spreading rumors that you want to fight Ferris at the end of the summer.”

“Fuck that.” I scoffed. “I’m not fighting in any match anytime soon.”

“Too bad. You started stirring shit, and that turned into a challenge. Ferris isn’t someone you can back down from, and now with they way you killed Antonio’s other fighter, you’re getting all the damn attention you don’t need!”

Emma frowned at me, seeming glad that Jimmy’s bleeding was slowing. “Who’s Ferris?”

“The Marcheses’ famous fighter,” Jimmy answered over me.

“I wanted to get a bigger fight to make money faster,” I explained. “He normally arranges my fights.” I tipped my chin at Jimmy. “But he kept saying I wasn’t ready yet.”

“As in not ready to get all that attention! I was trying to keep you in small fights so you wouldn’t attract too much attention from the men who’d get suspicious about you. The men who’d want to put a hit on you.”

“I didn’t know the ramifications of getting Ben to put my name in for a fight with Ferris. Then again, had my mother and uncle told me who my father was... I might not have!”

Jimmy hung his head and shook it slightly. “I spent all these years doing my best to hide you. I didn’t want you to be killed.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Was that the only reason?”