after two years of living in america, marco has been working as a labourer and decides to borrow money off a loan shark, as he concludes that the only way to make real money is to be your own boss. after, he buys a horse and cart, being a delivery driver in direct competition with casey o'donnell, he crashes and destroys his cart. when he is unable to repay the loan shark, marco is tortured. desperate, marco discovers that maude charteris is in new york performing a play. he goes to see her and she agrees to give him the money to buy a truck, clean clothes, and somewhere decent to live. in return, he is to become her lover, despite there being a large age difference between them. one day out on deliveries, marco meets georgiana, who has now gone blind. they start going on regular dates. georgiana and bridget's aunt however, disapproves and asks casey to sort the issue, which he interprets as him using his influence to get marco deported. after some counterfeit money is planted on his truck, marco is taken to ellis island, to await a ship to take him back to italy. a fellow inmate at the ellis island prison block tells marco that he can help him escape. that night they break out and swim through new york harbor. marco stays in a hotel in new jersey and asks jacob to tell georgiana that he will be gone for a while but he will return to her. when his relationship with georgiana becomes serious, he goes to maude to stop their affair. maude also wants to stop as she is now engaged to senator phipps ogden. hoping that maude could do him a favour, marco travels to long island, in the hope that maude and the senator will help solve his problem.