Page 17 of Checkmate

I look over my shoulder and glare at him. Luca doesn’t remove his arms as he ushers me away from Lana and her clones. “What, are you afraid I’ll hurt your girlfriend?” I sneer.

He shakes his head before stepping in front of me, so that I can get a clear view of his face. “Lana Colombo is not my girlfriend. I don’t have a girlfriend. If I did, then we wouldn’t have been going at each other in your father’s office. I’m a lot of things, Vivianna, but a cheater isn’t one of them.”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Sure, famous words from every man on the face of the earth, most of which are cheaters.”

“Wow.” He looks at me with sad eyes while scratching at the stubble coating his strong jaw line. “You’re even more jaded than Leo said. Not every guy in this world is a scumbag, Vivianna, just like not every woman is a saint.”

His words hit me because they are true and I know it, but this life that I grew up in, that I’m unable to fully escape from, can really mess with a person’s head. I sigh heavily. “I never said they were.”

For a moment, we stand there in silence just staring at each other. “I have to admit, that seeing you put Lana in her place was priceless though.”

I groan, feeling a tinge of embarrassment. “Oh my god, how much of that did you hear?”

Luca chuckles. “All of it.”

“Seriously?” I ask him. He chuckles again while nodding his head. “This world always brings out the best in me,” I say sarcastically, while giving him my biggest, cheesiest smile.

“It wasn’t that bad. If more people were honest with her like that she might not be such an attention grabbing, gold digger.”

I laugh, a real laugh, for the first time since I got the news about Leo. “Now that’s hitting the nail on the head.”

We share a laugh before my mood falls back to somber. “You doing okay?”

I shrug. “Honestly, no. This whole situation sucks. I mean, it’s bad enough that Leo is gone, but my father has made a mockery out of his so-called funeral. This isn’t what Leo would have wanted.”

“I know,” his tone is serious, and there’s some unread emotion in his eyes. “You want to get out of here?”

“You want to ditch my father’s event?” I ask, with raised eyebrows.

He shrugs. “Isn’t that kind of your thing?”

“Touché.” I scan the crowd and know that whether I’m in this room surrounded by fake people and enemies or doing something that Leo would have wanted, that I’m not going to find answers that I desperately want. I’m not going to solve Leo’s murder today and that’s something I have to come to terms with. “Let’s get out of here,” I tell him.

Luca gives me a smile and motions toward the front door. “After you.”

Nineteen

Luca

We’re almost to the car when Vivianna stops me. “Oh, I forgot. I’ll meet you at the car,” she tells me, before darting back inside the house. I round the mansion and find my car safely tucked away. I climb inside and start it while waiting for Vivianna. She finally appears with two bottles of either wine or champagne in her hands and a bag of chips. I have to laugh, because that combination seems ridiculous, yet fitting for her. I watch as she makes her way toward me, the sway of her curvy hips, the shine of her chestnut-colored hair. She’s so damn beautiful that it hurts to look at her. Vivianna makes her way to my door and I roll down my window, giving her a puzzled look. “Something wrong?”

“I’m driving,” she states, like it’s a fact.

I’m sure my eyebrows disappear into my hair. “What?”

“Did I stutter?” she asks, with a smile on her face.

“Okay, Firecracker. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you driving my car,” I tell her.

She laughs. “Okay, first of all you don’t even know where we're going. Second of all, I can just hotwire one of my father’s babies if you’d rather.” My mouth falls open with that admission. How and why in the hell does she know how to hotwire a vehicle? Vivianna reaches forward with one of her soft, delicate hands and pushes my chin back up into place. “Don’t look so shocked, Luca. I did just pick a lock to get into my father’s office, do you really think I’m above hot wiring a car to get the hell away from here?”

I shake my head. I’m kind of in awe of her in this moment. When you see, Vivianna, you assume she’s going to be weak, but she is so far from it. “No, I wouldn’t put it past you, although I may be curious as to how you have this certain skill set.”

She smirks and shrugs. “A girl’s gotta do what a girls gotta do. Now, get out.”

I laugh and open the door. “Can you drive a standard?”

Vivianna rolls her eyes. “Oh please. I promise I won’t hurt your baby.” I get out of the car and she shoves the bottles and a bag of chips in my hands as she slides into the driver’s seat. I send up a quick prayer. “You know you’ve got to get in the car, Handsome.”

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