Page 7 of The Mafia’s Fiancee

I reconsidered leaving that guard beaten back there. Maybe he’d have answers for me. But maybe not. I hadn’t killed him, though, and I didn’t doubt that he’d be back up and rushing after me with how he’d tried to get me to stop at the side entrance. I’d surprised him, but that element of surprise was now spent.

He knew I was here. He was guarding something. And I’d be stupid to assume that I was free to snoop for long.

“Jimmy? Where the fuck are you?” I yelled it as I ran up one half of a double grand staircase. Taking the steps two at a time, I listened for any reaction beyond the echo of my shouts.

No one replied, and I again worried that I was wasting my time. Looking for my uncle had to be the first part in finding Emma, but I was losing hope that I would find anyone here. I grew more frustrated, too, that I had no knowledge of where Jimmy lived. I’d never known how to get ahold of him, only having his phone number and meeting him in places in the city. I’d never known what he did for a living, either.

Mom might.

I was hit with the frustration that they’d both kept so much from me.

On the second floor, I ran past empty rooms. Each door opened to reveal more of the same general abandonment. Until the last one.

I pushed the door open and stopped before stepping in.

This one had an occupant.

One lonely, sickly man lay in a bed, hooked up to tubes and wires. Medical equipment was stationed near the curtained windows. They hummed and hissed quietly, lit up with different status blinkers as they seemed to keep the man alive. Liquid dripped down from an IV bag, and that seemed to be the only active movement.

I didn’t speak, staring at the man sleeping.

And I knew.

I just knew.

His facial features were too similar. Gaunt and thin, he looked ill and one inch from death, but I still saw the resemblance. The same cheekbone and chin structure that I saw in the mirror. The same shape of nose. Even his hair, black like mine but graying.

I’d come here looking for answers to find my fiancée.

Instead, I’d stumbled upon my father. The one I never had and never wanted. The one I still didn’t wish to know right now. Emma came first, but as I stared at this stranger, I knew without a doubt it was way too fucking late to meet him. It was pointless after a lifetime of never being acknowledged.

I was thrown off, shocked at seeing him. Especially like this. I was so locked in surprise that I wasn’t prepared for that guard to return. He hadn’t rushed upstairs the same way I’d come. He didn’t stalk toward me, limping, from behind me, but through another door at the other side of the sick man’s room.

He pressed a finger to his lips in a universal sign for quiet.

I frowned, confused that he didn’t look mad that I’d beaten him. He only seemed worried about waking the man, the old waste of space that I figured was my father.

Backing up, I let him guide me out of the room. And that was where I found my uncle. Jimmy jogged up the steps, sporting that same expression of stark concern.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.

“Sean,” Jimmy said, not even acknowledging me, “did he see him?”

Sean? I thought back to how Ben and his friends mentioned a man by that name at the club. Then I was hit with more memories of where I’d seen this man before. He wasn’t present in the fighting circuit anymore, but that was the connection. This older, burly man used to stand in the background during my trainings.

“No.” Sean shook his head.

“I didn’t see that old sack of bones?” I taunted, looking between both of them. “Yes, I did. Is that my father?” I spat that last question at my uncle.

“Marlo doesn’t know about you.” Jimmy straightened, glaring at me. “And it should stay that way.”

“Then who the fuck is this?” I pointed at Sean. “He seems to know me.”

“Sean is a capo. I’ve trusted him, and only him, with the knowledge that you’re Marlo’s son.”

Between both of them, I was guided back down the steps.

I couldn’t hep but glance up again, in the direction of where my father lay in bed, near death’s door. I had so many questions. I had yet to let it sink in that I actually saw my father. But now wasn’t the time. I had to prioritize Emma.