Page 58 of The Mafia’s Fiancee

Chapter 21

Luke

“Can we track the car?” I asked Sean.

It sounded like Jimmy was getting up in his room, but I couldn’t focus on that. Keeping my voice low so it wouldn’t carry to Marlo upstairs, I paced and spoke with Sean. In this huge foyer, with the domed glass ceiling overheard, I felt like I was a feral, rabid animal pushed to his limits, trapped in a cage.

The longer Emma went missing, the harder it was to breathe. I’d already lost her once. Her father had her kidnapped. But this time, I didn’t know if she was taken or if she’d just...left.

“We can, but—”

He didn’t finish as she came inside the front door. A couple of guards assisted her at the entrance. No, not her. They helped her bring my mother in.

“Mom?” My eyes bugged out, but I didn’t care about the details. I couldn’t. Seeing Emma alive and well made my heart sing. Relief swept through me, almost dizzying me with the force of it. My mom was all right too, not looking any worse for the wear but alarmed.

“Emma.” I ran up to her, catching her close. She didn’t look harmed. If any, a little pale, but intact and not wounded.

That was until she turned to look at Sean. Red marks lined her neck. I furrowed my brow, studying her. “Are you hurt?”

The tendons in her neck flexed as she forced a swallow. Then she shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”

“Lucas,” Mom said, staggering toward the nearest chair with the help of a guard. “What on earth is going on?”

Emma cleared her throat. “I was promised to marry Antonio Marchese before I met Luke and fell in love with him. Then we found out he’s Marlo’s son. And now...” She lifted her hand in a vague gesture. “Now this is our life.”

I held Emma’s hand, feeling the ring on her finger and knowing what it symbolized. Her love for me. My love for her. And the fact that I would get to the bottom of why she was acting so distant.

“Wait. Where did—” I shook my head, lost. “I left with Jimmy to find her. We were stopped on the way by Giordino guards who challenged me. I came home to find you missing and now—” I volleyed my stare from her to my mom.

“Antonio found Krista. He had her beat and used her phone to contact me with a message. I was supposed to go to him and leave you to save her. I went, planning to get her out.”

I gripped my hair with my free hand, furious that she’d risk her life like that.

She pointed at me, warning me not to lash out about that very point. “No. You’re not the only one who can care about your loved ones. You ran out to get Nina back. That was a trap. A bait to pull you out of hiding. Same for her. You can’t be mad at me for going to help her when you did the same thing for your mom.”

I hung my head and shook her. Dammit. I couldn’t argue her logic when she worded it like that. “But I had backup. I took Jimmy with me.”

“And I found backup there. The Marchese guard, Justin, saved her and took off to hide. When I was there, though, I found her”—she pointed at my mom—“and we got away.”

“Just like that?” I snapped my fingers. “You managed to slip past all of the Marchese forces without notice while helping a slower woman along?” I didn’t word it nastily to show my disbelief, but it did seem like a stretch.

“Not...just like that.” Emma lowered her gaze and furrowed her brow, worrying me more.

“She was a brave woman, risking herself to get me free,” my mom said. She seemed to breathe easier, sitting down, but as soon as Jimmy came out of the room, she perked up. “Jim.”

“Nina?” Jimmy walked closer, still sore from being hurt, but steadfast to reach her. On the way toward her, he glanced up in the direction of the stairs that led to Marlo’s wing. “What on earth— How did you get here?”

As Emma repeated what she said, I watched her closely, concerned about why she was acting so different. Something had to have happened to make her close off like this, talking monotone and not clearly with that intelligence she never tried to hide or squash.

“Let me get you settled. We’ll find you a room, Nina.” Again Jimmy glanced up in the direction of his brother’s wing upstairs.

I dragged my hand over my face. “For fuck’s sake, Jimmy. Marlo is two inches from death. You can’t seriously think he can hear us down here, through a closed door, do you?”

Jimmy glared at me. “You don’t understand.”

“No. I fucking don’t. So fill me in. Why are you so worried about her being near Marlo?”

Nina patted Jimmy’s hand. He’d sat down next to her after dragging a chair closer to hers. “Haven’t you explained anything?”