Page 2 of Checkmate

Vivianna

The world rotates on the idea of good and bad, right and wrong, and so forth. The funny thing is that the world is more than happy to pass judgment on whoever they want as they see fit, but they never once take the time to look in the mirror and see what kind of person they are. What are their morals? What are their values? Are they a good person or are they a bad person? Most of the world sees everything as black and white—but not me.

The world is full of good people who do bad things and bad people who do good things, but does that define them? Do we ever take the time tolookat what causes a person to make the decisions that they do? Would it even matter?

It seems that most of the world is so quick to judge a person based on their actions. If the person makes one bad decision, that’s all anyone ever sees. They never considered that maybe they were backed into a corner and forced to make a hard and rash decision. Maybe they were forced to side with the devil. Maybe, the devil was the lesser of two evils at play. We don’t know, yet we judge, we talk, and we decide whether they are worthy or not.

It’s this very idea that made me leave my family and the family business behind—without looking back. In my world, the devil is my father, Lorenzo “Gio” Giordano, and he is the king. Everyone answers to him, and everyone bows at his feet... except me. I hate my father and what he stands for. I hate the actions that he deems necessary. He’s the reason I left the only home I ever knew. He’s the reason I’m coming back now.

In my family I had two saving graces—my mother and my brother, Leo. My mother was “killed” in a car accident when I was ten and Leo was fifteen. I say killed with the quotations because, in my father’s line of work, it’s not shocking to have casualties of war. A war that is a constant in this life. That’s what my mother was. A casualty. Something that brought all the families together to mourn the loss, even though one of them ordered the hit on her. The moment she was laid in the ground the mob wars continued.

Now, Leo is a casualty. Taking out my mother was one way to hurt the king and the Giordano mob and put a chink in my dad’s armor, but it didn’t last. Actually, it did the opposite. My father came back with a vengeance. He tore apart two families until he found the one who had hired the hit.

However, taking out Leonardo “Leo” Giordano, the infamous son of Gio Giordano, the heir to his throne as king, is a way to take down the Giordano mob, once and for all. Like pulling a card from the house. It doesn’t just hurt—it destroys. It’s been two months and my brother hasn’t been avenged, justice has not been served, and it is overdue.

I’m going back home to Las Vegas and I’m avenging my brother. I’ll serve my own form of justice once I figure out who pulled the trigger that ended his life. I’ll face the devil himself and I will get justice for my brother.Everything in the place I call home is a battle of wills, a game of strategy, and I’m about to win.

Checkmate.

Two

Vivianna

The hustle and bustle of the city below is barely audible up here on the balcony of my penthouse apartment. I sigh as I take a sip of my latte. I love Manhattan in the early mornings. Watching the sun as it rises, peeking through the sky-high buildings as the day comes to life. This is how I try to always start my mornings. I breathe in the fresh air, and up here it’s almost as if I’m in the clouds. I have a safe and strict morning routine. My alarm goes off every morning at five; I get up and get dressed in my workout attire, and head down to my apartment building's gym. I spend forty dedicated minutes doing cardio before coming back upstairs, showering, and then heading out to my balcony with my indulgence of the day—a chocolate croissant and a latte for breakfast. While I go over my schedule for the day, owning and running a booming and highly demanded event planning company is no easy task and requires a large amount of dedication and organization. Yes, I have an assistant and she is a godsend, but I still don’t trust her the way I do myself. So, I always check my schedule first thing, make any notes that I may need for that day, before diving into whatever book I’m reading at the moment. After reading my two chapters, I head inside to get dressed for the day.

At seven on the dot, I head down to the sidewalk where my car and driver are waiting on me. Then I go into my office where I spend the day consulting with clients, bidding on upcoming events, and ordering an obscene amount of decorations.

My days are swamped, and my nights consist of me overseeing whatever parties and events I can while I check to make sure everything is going smoothly, before I head home and relax in front of my TV with Netflix and Chinese takeout.

If someone would have told me this would be my life when I left Las Vegas four years ago, I probably would have laughed in their face. I wouldn’t have believed that Vivianna Giordano, no Vivianna Bilotti (my mother’s maiden name), could have become the respected business woman that I am today. Bilotti Parties and Event Planning changed my life and I’m thankful that when I arrived in New York City I decided to drop my legal last name of Giordano. While Giordano is a well-known and feared name, it’s not the type of reputation I wanted to hold in the business world. Besides, naming my business Giordano Parties and Event Planning would have probably put a target on my back. As far as New York is concerned, I’m Vivianna Bilotti.

I’m on my way down the elevator when my phone starts to ring with an unknown number. I swipe my finger across the screen and put it to my ear. “Good morning, Vivianna Bilotti,” I answer.

“Vivianna,” the voice that I’d recognize anywhere comes through my line, but instead of the over-the-top confidence I was once used to, the voice sounds hesitant and laced with a tinge of distraught. Matteo Gigante, my now ex-boyfriend, even though if you ask him he’ll say I’m his ex-fiancé—despite the fact that we were never actually engaged, just promised to be by our families consent for power.

“Matteo,” I reply curtly. I’m unsure of why he’s calling me or how he even got my number. But considering only my brother, Leo, has my phone number, I’m guessing he got it from him. Which means, I’ll have to kill my brother. I ignore the congested sidewalk and head straight for my car, the back door opened and waiting with Russell standing beside it. He tips his head in acknowledgement. Acknowledging him, I give him a little wave and smile back. I slide into the back seat. “Look, while I’m super excited to catch up, I’m kind of busy at the moment, you know not murdering people for money or power. Although when you see my brother, you can tell him I’m going to kill him for giving my number out.”

“Vivianna,” Matteo says, his tone clogged with emotion. It causes me to halt the next snarky comment on the tip of my tongue. I sigh heavily. “This is about Leo.”

Those four words make my stomach flip upside down and dread fills my body with my next breath. I know that line. I know what it means when your family is part of the Italian mafia. “What?” I manage to croak out. My voice is barely a whisper.

“There was a situation… last night.” I shake my head, even though I know that Matteo can’t see me. The tears are already building in my eyes and the emotion is in my throat. He’s telling me everything I need to know, without actually saying the words. I know the mob lingo that runs in our family business. I’ve heard my dad say this same thing more than once, but I need Matteo to actually say the words.

“Just spit it out,” I tell him harshly. I know it’s not his fault, but this is one of those moments where I want to kill the messenger, no matter who is at fault.

I hear him sigh on the other end of the line. “Vivianna, I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “Leo was shot and killed last night.”

There it is, the harsh reality check of the life I’ve tried to run from. This is why I left everything I had ever known. The death, revenge, carnage, and bloody life of being part of the mafia. That constant target on your back and the need to always look over your shoulder. Always wondering if the people you meet are your friends or your enemies, are they there because they want to be, or because they need information? This is why I left and its why Leo is dead now.

Three

Luca

The clouds above are angry. Ash gray, an eerie, ominous feeling. They shake with anger as the thunder roars within the city, silencing the normal hustle and bustle heard on the streets. Lightning rages across the sky. An empty promise of rain on the horizon. It’s a cloudy, dreary day in Las Vegas. It’s actually pretty fitting considering the events that will transpire later on today. I shake my head in disbelief, still unable to fully believe or process the fact that Leonardo Giordano, the infamous son of Lorenzo “Gio” Giordano, the king of the Giordano mafia, the king of Las Vegas itself, had been killed in cold blood. I feel responsible. That sinking, nagging feeling that settles in my gut, pulling me under with the weight is something I can’t seem to shake. I guess it makes sense though.

Leo was a good guy. He had quickly made it clear that he didn’t approve of his father’s actions, and he wanted a change. He wanted to rid Las Vegas of any and all mob influence for good. Throughout the years, many have tried but none have succeeded. Leo believed that it was the reason his mother had been killed. An innocent bystander whose life was taken too soon. Once he found out that I was actually an undercover detective with that exact job, he quickly became my best friend. When I asked why he wanted to take down his own father, his reply was simple: “to get my sister back home.” I could see that undeniable look of love in his eyes.

Vivianna Giordano was a force to be reckoned with from what I knew of her, but Leo was loyal to a fault. If there was anything I had learned about him, it was that he loved wholeheartedly and protected those he loved with an unmatched ferocity. Somehow, despite the whispers that Leo should not be crossed, I found myself believing that might be more true when it comes to Vivianna.

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