Page 20 of Checkmate

Once we are inside the house, I hear her father beckon for me. “Good night, Handsome,” she tells me, before heading upstairs.

I turn and make my way down to Gio’s office. I have to admit the nerves in my stomach make me question if I’m really cut out for this job. I knock on the open door. Gio looks up. “Come in and shut the door.” I do as I’m told before making my way to stand in front of his desk. “I want to commend you for how you handled my daughter today, as well as thank you for keeping a cat fight between Lana and Vivianna from happening.”

I give him a nod. “Just doing my job, Sir.”

“I know that you understand how this business works, but I’m branching out and I think I could use loyalty like yours during this time,” Gio explains.

“Branching out?”

Gio nods. “Yes, I’ll no longer just be in the business of casinos, but I’ve aligned with the Colombos as of today. Over the next few months, we will be getting things ready to help them smuggle their drugs. We’ll use the casino and hotel as a front and as a safe passage. Leo trusted you and you have more than proven yourself to me, so I think you would be perfect to help handle this transition.”

My stomach churns at the thought of drugs. I despise them and he should too, but I guess when you’re a criminal and only after power, it doesn’t matter where it comes from. “I’m honored that you would trust me with so much responsibility. I won’t let you down, Sir.”

Gio gives me a tight-lipped nod. “I know you won’t. I assume my daughter will be gone soon, but until then, if you’ll continue to protect her.”

“Of course, Sir,” I tell him.

Gio nods. “Good. You are free to go.”

“Thank you and good night, Sir,” I tell him, before heading for the door.

My mind is running in every direction. I need to let Ratliff know about this new development soon. If we could bust Gio smuggling drugs and using his businesses as fronts, then we can shut down the entire Giordano mob. I open the door to the bedroom I’m currently using, when it dawns on me that Leo never mentioned anything about drugs. It’s an odd thing too because Leo, Matteo, and Luz are always the ones that knew everything going on. No matter if it was a done deal or just a possibility, but if Leo knew about this, I’m sure he would have told me. This is exactly the kind of thing we were looking for. He would have known that this would send the entire operation into the ground. I find it odd that in the midst of Leo’s murder, that Gio decides to go into an agreement with the Colombo mafia and smuggle drugs.

As I step into the room, I see something lying on the bed. I instantly place my hand on my gun and move toward the bed. Once I’m close enough, I reach out and turn on the bedside lamp. To my surprise, Vivianna is curled up in my bed, wet hair and all. I turn the light back off, not wanting to disturb her, and head for the bathroom so I can shower. Once I’m showered, I climb into bed next to Vivianna. She rolls over and places her head on my chest. My arm goes around her, pulling her as close as I can. She sighs and my entire body relaxes. I’m crossing every line that I’ve ever known, but I can’t find it in me to care.

Twenty-Two

Vivianna

I wake up feeling out of sorts. For a moment, I forget about everything going on in my life and just bask in the blissful oblivion that I currently feel. Memories from yesterday come back, flashes of moments spent with Luca and my skin starts to feel like it’s on fire again. I sit up slowly, careful not to wake him so I can watch him as he sleeps. Luca is the thing I fear most in this world. He’s dangerous without even knowing it and I can already feel myself getting lost in him. I can’t afford to have someone like him in my life, it makes me vulnerable.

I study his long eyelashes that I’m kind of jealous of, to be honest. His soft lips and that days’ worth of stubble that drove me insane last night. His hair is in disarray, yet it makes my fingers ache to reach out and run them through those thick sandy blonde locks, but it’s different with Luca. There’s his handsomely good looks that pull me in and that should have been my first clue to stay away.

I’m one of those people that gets what she wants. When I see something, I go after it until I get it. That’s what happened with Luca, but I was careless. I threw my rules to the wind and ignored the red flags that told me this was crossing the line, that this would be more than a random hook up.

The emotion is clogging my throat and my heart is pounding in my chest. What the hell is wrong with me? Quietly, I climb out of bed and leave his room. By the time I reach mine, the sweat is rolling off me and my air seems difficult to pull into my lungs. Is this a panic attack?

I scan my room trying to figure out what brought this on when it dawns on me. Leo was the one thing in this world that made me vulnerable because I loved him. I cared about him. With him gone, Iwasa mask of invincibility. But what I already feel for Luca… well it makes me vulnerable again and I don’t want that. I can’t go through something like this again. I sit on my bed and put my head between my knees and attempt to take deep breaths, until I feel my heart start to return to normal.

I look around my room and I know what I have to do. I grab my phone and book my plane ticket, then I start to throw everything into my suitcases with no care for organization. I just have to get out of here, and fast. I slip on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with some boots. I order an Uber and grab my bag before slipping out of my room, down the stairs, disarming the alarm, and then out of the house. I walk down the drive toward the gate with my heart in my throat. I know this is a mistake. I know I’m running and being a coward, but I can’t stop myself, so I just keep moving forward. When I reach the gates, one of my father’s guys steps out from the trees. “I need to get out so will you open the gate?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Giordano but I can’t do that. We have specific orders to keep you within the safety of the estate,” he tells me.

“The hell you will,” I tell him. I step forward and get into his face. He doesn’t back down, but then again, I didn’t bet on that. I did bet on him being curious about my tactics, which means his guard is down. If there’s one thing that’s true for every guy, it’s that they are all suckers for a pretty face, big boobs, and batting eyelashes. It doesn’t matter who they are, what they do, or who they work for. They can be easily distracted with the right tactics. Like now, as I bat my eyelashes at this big, macho guy I distract him from the placement of his gun. He doesn’t even realize that I’m not actually flirting, because I left most of my heart in the bed back at the house. He thinks since my nails run up and down his forearm that he might get lucky. He might have actually got my attention. He doesn’t notice that every time I trace down his arm, I proceed to go lower and lower which leads me to my destination, his gun.

I watch as he stares at me in fascination. I bite my bottom lip, cock my head to the side, and give him my best puppy dog eyes. As my hand goes farther down, I notice his nostrils flare and his eyes dilate. Thank you for being into women, I think. This could have gotten really messed up otherwise. I grab hold of his loosely held gun before slamming my foot down on his foot, scratching the Italian leather loafers he’s wearing, before lifting my knee up to hit exactly between his legs. He falls to the ground, moaning in pain. I quickly turn facing the security system on the wall beside the gate. Just like I’ve done a thousand times before, I aim, I fire, and I hit the bullseye. Thankfully, he already had a silencer on the end of his gun. I drop the gun beside him. “I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not. You shouldn’t let yourself become distracted by a pretty face and a set of boobs. It’s bad protocol.”

I turn to walk over to the gate as my Uber car pulls up. I look back over where the guy is still lying on the ground. I know there are more on the grounds, probably watching this whole scene unfold, so I need to be quick. I push the gate open and holler out to whoever can hear me. “For the record, no one tells me what to do.” I walk out the gate and climb into the Uber. I give the estate one last look as we pull away and pray that Luca won’t hate me.

Twenty-Three

Luca

There’s banging at my door and I jump up in my bed. Shit! Is my only thought as I look around for Vivianna. She’s not here and for a moment I breathe a sigh of relief. I highly doubt her father would be okay with whatever it is we were doing at the moment. I wonder if she got tipped off and ran back to her room. Then I think maybe she’s in the bathroom, so I jump up and rush toward it, but its empty too. The banging comes again. I jog over and open the door to see some of the guys, Dewayne, Charlie, and Jonathan standing in the hallway with Gio. “Is everything okay?” I ask them.

Gio looks frustrated to say the least. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Vivianna fled. Apparently, she attacked Marco, took his gun, shot out the security system that keeps the gate locked, and left.”

For a moment, I have to fight back the laugh that threatens to escape at the thought of Vivianna attacking Marco. It’s kind of priceless actually, but then I remember that other part he said. She left. That makes my heart stop because there’s no way he’s correct. She wouldn’t just leave, would she? I mean, without even saying goodbye. “I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t know she had left or even had plans to leave. I can go and try to track her down if you’d like.”

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