Page 32 of Checkmate

“Am I?” he asks, the challenge clear in both his look and voice.

“Yes! Now answer the damn question! Why did you put the hit on Leo?”

My father scratches at his beard. “I’m surprised you haven’t already pieced that together, or maybe you have, but you don’t want to admit it to yourself.” The silence falls between us. My phone vibrates in my purse, but I can’t be distracted by it right now, even if it’s concerning Luca. “Leo became an enemy to me, this family, and my business. The moment that he found out that Luca Lombardi was in fact, Luca Healey. The moment he found out that he was an undercover agent and didn’t put a bullet in his head. The moment he agreed to work with him to take me down was the moment that Leo ended his own damn life!”

My head becomes dizzy with his confession. It’s what I wanted. It’s what I already knew, but somehow hearing it rips my soul apart. It’s been admitted and it’s now inescapable. “You’re a sorry excuse for a human being.”

“You think your words hurt me? Your words mean nothing. You mean nothing. You disgraced this family years ago.”

“Yes, yes, I know because I didn’t abide by your rules, because I didn’t marry Matteo like a good little mafia princess. I ran and fought and found my own damn life. Well, news flash, Father, you mean nothing to me. What little bit of care I had left for you is gone. Now tell me where in the hell is Luca?” I ask, my teeth clenched to keep from sobbing.

My father chuckles and the sound crawls over my skin, igniting my burning anger and a hate toward him so strong, that I can barely remain standing. “If he’s not already dead, he’ll be in the pool house, but if you go then you’ll simply being signing your own death certificate.”

He shrugs and walks back toward his desk. My mother, my brother, Luz, Luca. No one matters to this man. Life means nothing. He ends a life without a care while he continues to live his. He’s cold and doesn’t deserve his life. He’s taken so much from me. He’s taken lives and choices from everyone, and I hate him for it. When he reaches the desk, he opens a drawer and I see the silver glint of his infamous handgun and in a rash decision I decide to allow myself to be just like him. I aim, pull the trigger, and listen to the gunshot as it explodes throughout the silent room. My target, the heart, is hit. My father’s eyes go wide, he grasps at the hole in his chest. The blood coating his fingers and staining his perfectly ironed shirt. He falls back into his chair. “That’s for Leo and mom and Luz…” I can’t bring myself to say Luca’s name, because he can’t be dead.

I turn and run out of the door, digging for my phone as I do. Ratliff has called. I dial him back and the minute he answers I tell him where I am and where to find Luca and me before hanging up. I can’t believe I actually just killed my father and despite feeling justified, I know it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I reach the back porch and run for the pool house, hoping and praying that Luca is there and alive.

As I round the corner of the house to head down the back yard, I’m captured around the waist by someone I least expect. I thought I could trust him, but I was wrong, so very wrong. The moment he takes my purse and the gun in my hand, tossing it into the flower garden beyond my reach I know my mistake. “I’ve got to give you credit little princess. I didn’t think you had it in you to kill your father. You just made my job so much easier though, so thank you for that.” His mouth is on my ear, my skin crawls and it takes everything in me not to fight back, but when a gun is pressed against your head you learn to have a little patience.

Thirty-Two

Luca

My body jostles up, slamming into something before going back down and hitting something else. My head pounds and I’m pretty sure I feel sticky blood on the back. I can’t see anything. My hands and feet are bound, and something is covering my head. I try to remember, but I can’t. The only thing I remember is meeting with Luz and his face was solemn. I had stepped through the back door of the casino, the door where Leo had been found dead. The door shut, but then I felt the hard hit on the back of my head. I fell to my knees, the sharp pains from where they met the hard tiled floor barely registered when another blow came to the back of my head. I fell forward, laying on the floor. It was cold and my vision began to get black spots.

A voice I recognize joins the ones I hear from the hallway. The voice of someone I hate. Matteo. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t listen. My brain was foggy and slow. Someone, Luz I’m thinking, took my feet and tied them together. Matteo was only in my view for a second before he placed the black bag over my head. My consciousness was going but I vaguely remember my hands being bound together.

Now, I don’t know where I am, but I do know one thing. I’m being taken somewhere to be executed. I feel around trying to piece things together. By the sound of things, I’d say I’m inside a trunk. It’s a good thing I don’t suffer from claustrophobia because if I did, I'd be dead before they reached their destination.

I thought I was going to make it out of this. I thought I could have a future with Vivianna. That’s the thought that plagues my mind currently. I’m thankful we had what little time we had together, but it hurts to know it’s going to be over so soon. I had been too hopeful. I put too much faith into Ratliff and the plan that I had been told by Gio concerning Humberto. I let myself get played because I had been distracted. I just hope that Vivianna figures out that something is wrong and gets the hell out of Las Vegas before it’s too late for her. I wouldn’t put it past Gio or Matteo to kill her just out of spite, especially since she’s known the truth about me. Maybe Ratliff will be able to help her if it comes down to it.

The car comes to a stop, and I hear the doors open and shut. It’s quiet, with only the sound of my breathing. Finally, the trunk opens. The black bag is yanked away from my head and Matteo looms over me, an evil smirk on his face. “Well, well, what do we have here?” He leans forward and pulls my legs out of the trunk first before grabbing my shoulders and yanking me up. I meet his glare.

I scan the area and realize we are at the Giordano estate, by the pool house to be exact. This is the last place I expected to be. I try to figure out what the angle is, but I can’t come up with one. Matteo nudges me forward and I fall to the ground, hitting hard, knocking the air from my lungs.

Matteo growls in frustration before I feel him grabbing my feet and dragging me toward the pool house. I bite my tongue to keep from making a sound. I won’t give him the pleasure. As he pulls my body over the gravel then the grass before reaching the scratchy pool deck, my shirt rips and everything bites into my skin. I feel the blood trickling, the burning sensations from the multiple scratches and gashes I’m receiving. He drops my feet and I hear the door open before he yanks my feet again and pulls me inside the pool house.

He positions me facing the door on my knees. “Now let the fun begin,” he tells me, as he draws his gun.

I don’t know how long we stay like this. I don’t give him the satisfaction of talking to him. The silence goes on forever until we finally hear footsteps outside the door. I hold my breath because I know that this is the end. The door opens and Vivianna appears. My heart stops before kicking in full force. What the hell is she doing here? The moment her eyes land on mine, I see the fear in hers. Her face is tearstained, and her eyes are puffy. She’s been crying and I want nothing more than to get up and go to her. She was supposed to be at home safe and sound. I watch as she barely shakes her head, almost as if telling me there is no hope.

I scan the area for something to help us, so I miss when someone walks in behind Vivianna. When my eyes return to her it’s impossible to miss Ratliff standing behind her. There’s a moment where I think we’re saved. Everything will work out, but it’s fleeting because it only takes a second before I realize he’s got a gun pointed directly at Vivianna’s back. “Ratliff, so good of you to join us. You’re always missing all the action,” Matteo says.

“Yeah, living double lives is no easy task, isn’t that right, Luca?” he asks me.

Every fiber of my being wants to beat that condescending smirk off his damn face. I trusted him! He gave me this damn case. I gave him all my information. He knew the moment that Leo agreed to help me take down Gio. That thought pieces the puzzle together. “You killed Leo,” I tell him through clenched teeth.

Ratliff shrugs, but before he can answer Vivianna speaks. “Actually, Matteo did the hit that my father set up and paid him for with an off-shore account under my name. I’m guessing Ratliff is the reason the case was swept under the rug.”

“Oh, I forgot how smart you can be, Vivianna,” Matteo tells her, and I watch as her eyes flare with that fire within her veins.

Vivianna shrugs. “She made my job easier. She killed Gio,” Ratliff tells Matteo.

I see the shudder that goes through Vivianna’s body. Matteo lets out a low whistle. “Damn girl, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Vivianna glares at him.

“So, why set the account up in my name?” she asks.

Matteo shrugs. “So, it could never be traced back to us. You paid Luca to kill Leo.”

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