Page 33 of Checkmate

“What?” I ask.

Matteo laughs. “Yeah, Ratliff got me your gun, so the bullets belong to you. Congratulations, you’re a murderer! You two are a match made in heaven.”

I look at Ratliff. “What are you getting out of this?”

“Well, you know we make shit money on the force. I stumbled across Matteo while gambling at the casino. I was in debt big, so he took me to meet with Gio. Gio was looking for someone who would play a double agent. He offered to forgive my debt and add me to his payroll. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Ratliff has no remorse, it’s clear on his face. I trusted this man as if he was my own father and now I find out that I don’t even know him.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Vivianna asks.

“Well, you decided that Luca had to go so you shot him, but not before he managed to shoot you. You both die and we walk away scott-free. See, it’s a deal gone wrong,” Matteo explains.

Ratliff shakes his head. “Well not all of us are getting out free.” He moves the gun to Matteo and pulls the trigger without hesitation. Matteo grunts before collapsing on the ground behind me. This entire time I’ve been trying to get my hands free and I just about have it when Ratliff steps away from Vivianna and toward me. He almost looks sorry, but I know better. He walks to me and places the gun in the middle of my forehead. “I liked you, kid. You would have made a hell of a cop, but can’t have any of my dirty secrets getting aired out. You understand,” he tells me.

A shot rings out, it’s deafening. One of my hands pulls free from the rope and Ratliff hollers out in pain. He drops his gun. I look up and see he’s been shot in the shoulder. I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around his legs. He falls back and I scurry over him. I start to punch like he’s a punching bag. I hear the moans and grunts. I feel the blood, but I don’t stop until Vivianna grabs one of my arms and pulls me away. “He’s unconscious,” she tells me.

I sit back and she wraps her arms around me and presses a kiss to my temple. “Are you okay?” I ask.

“No, not even close but I will be,” she tells me. “We need to get you to the hospital. This gash on your head is bad.” I nod and reluctantly I let her go to get the landline phone in the other room of the pool house. I hear her talking and take in the scene around me. How did I miss what had been in front of me the whole time? I guess Ratliff was better at living double lives.

Vivianna appears in the doorway. “They’re on the way.”

I look at her and I know that she just saved my life. I never would have thought that this woman would have been my savior, but she is. She walks over and unties my feet. My eyes start to feel heavy and my head is dizzy. “Luca, stay with me,” she tells me, but it’s muffled. I guess the adrenaline was keeping me going and now I just want to sleep. “Just hold on,” is the last thing I hear before my world goes out.

Epilogue

Vivianna

My phone rings as I head out to my car. “Hello, Vivianna speaking,” I answer.

“Miss Giordano. This is Charlotte. I was just calling to let you know that the estate has been sold.”

Charlotte was the realtor that I hired to sell off my father’s assets once the case was done. It’s been a long year and a half. “That’s great. Thank you so much, Charlotte.”

“Anytime.”

I disconnect the call and tell Russell where I need to go next. Thankfully, my workday is done and I can’t wait to go home and lounge out. The New York traffic is congested as we make our way to the bistro for lunch. My mind goes over everything that has happened. I finally got the justice Leo deserved. Ratliff will rot behind bars for the part he played in Leo’s death and for Matteo’s murder. The Giordano Mafia is no more. The hotel and casino sold quickly and are being remodeled and rebranded. Its scheduled to open in a few months. Now that the estate has sold, I can finally cut ties with Las Vegas.

We pull up to the bistro and I climb out and into the waiting arms of Luca. He was awarded some medal and the Las Vegas Police Department offered him a raise and promotion if he stayed with them. In the end though he threw away everything attached to his double agent identity of Luca Lombardi and left Las Vegas.

Now, we live in New York City together. My event planning business is booming. I’ve doubled my staff and I couldn’t be more thankful for Beth. She keeps everything so organized. Luca is a full-time police officer on the local force and volunteers as a firefighter when he can.

We spend our time curled up on the couch watching Netflix and eating junk food. Next month I will officially give up the Giordano name in exchange for Healey and I can’t wait.

There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about Leo and everything that happened in Las Vegas. Most of the time it haunts me. Ghosts, whispers, and memories have become the constant in my life. I can’t escape the fact that I killed my father. Even though my therapist says it’ll take time, I’m not sure that any amount of time will allow me to come to terms with it. I got my answers and my justice, but it didn’t bring the comfort I had hoped. I guess time will have to heal the absence of Leo from my life.

Luca smiles at me. “Hello, Firecracker,” he tells me as he gives me a quick kiss.

“Hello, fiancé, how’s your day been so far?” I ask.

“You know the same old, same old, but still quieter than Las Vegas.” He takes my hand and leads me into the bistro. This is our favorite little spot to eat lunch. He rarely mentions Las Vegas and neither do I. It seems like neither of us wants to talk about it.

Losing Leo was the last thing I wanted, but it did give me something I never expected. It gave me life and love and Luca. Somehow, we managed to find the unexpected in the midst of the lies. I remember one night shortly after everything had happened, I asked him if he thought we could have a healthy relationship. He looked at me and said yes, of course, but I had my doubts, and Luca was able to tell that I was going to continue to worry about it. The next thing he said, I’ll never forget. “We may have found one another unexpectedly and in the midst of a mess, but they were true lies.”

“True lies?” I asked, confused.

He nodded. “Yeah, there was truth within each of the lies. True lies like my feelings of love for you in the midst of the blood and death.”

“True lies,” I murmur. “I like that.” I look down to the inside of my wrist and see the tiny words tattooed there. My daily dose of reality and a reminder of where I came from, what I faced, and how I will continue to prevail with Luca at my side.

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