Page 6 of Checkmate

The room falls completely silent as the two stand-off against one another. Gio towers over his daughter and I actually fear for her well-being. Matteo steps forward. “Look, I understand that both of you are hurting deeply right now. We all are. Leo was a brother to all of us in this room and son to you, Mr. Giordano, so let’s try to remember him and honor him by setting our differences aside.”

I watch as both Gio and Vivianna give Matteo a side look. Vivianna gives in first with a sharp nod, before turning and leaving us all standing in the foyer while she disappears into the large formal dining room.

Gio clears his throat. “If you will join us, we have much to discuss in preparation for tomorrow,” he tells us, as he motions for us to follow Vivianna. We file into the dining room, surrounding the large, ornate table. Vivianna is already sitting, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes, but I can see by her rigid posture she’s barely holding it together. You get good at reading people when you’re in my line of work. Gio enters and stands at the head of the table. Vivianna is to the left of him and of course, Matteo has weaseled his way beside her. I am across the table a few chairs down. Gio scans the table. Luz, who will be sitting to the left of Gio looks up. “Trade seats with Luca.”

I’m surprised by his request and by the fact that no one in the room so much as gasped at the thought. Technically, in the way of the mafia, Luz is my elder and has a higher position. He should be the one to take Leo’s seat, but Gio is requesting me. Despite knowing all this, Luz and I exchange positions without argument, because you don’t argue with Gio. I nod my head in appreciation toward Gio. “Let’s all be seated now.”

We all take our seats and Gio claps his hands. A few servers come out and fill the glasses sitting next to the plates with wine and then the empty plate is whisked away and a plate full of food is placed in front of us. Saltimbocca is sitting directly in front of me. Before being immersed into the Italian mob world, my food only got as Italian as spaghetti or lasagna, but now I have a whole new appreciation for their cuisine. Saltimbocca is a true Italian dish that consists of veal wrapped in prosciutto and sage marinated in wine or oil. Giordano must like his to marinate in wine, because every time I’ve had this dish it’s been in his presence, and it’s always been marinated in wine.

I have to bite back the laugh when I look up and notice the scrunched-up nose on Vivianna’s face. Clearly, she doesn’t care for this dish as much as her father does. Her reaction is kind of adorable. She looks up and her eyes meet mine. Vivianna holds my stare, and for a moment, I see a bit of laughter in her eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it appears.

Eight

Vivianna

I had wanted to tell my father exactly what I thought of him and his lifestyle that was costing this family more in blood than anything else, but I had listened to Matteo, just this once, and it hadn’t been easy. I walked back into the formal dining room that held so many memories. For a moment, my chest ached so badly that I thought I might stop breathing. Somehow, I managed to pull myself together and get to the seat that had been mine, once upon a time. I waited as the guys filed in. I refused to look up and meet any of their eyes. In my mind, they were just another reason my brother was dead. If my dad didn’t have these men standing beside him and doing his dirty work, he’d have no mafia and Leo would be alive. I blamed each of them and, yes, it was probably wrong, but I didn’t give a damn.

Matteo, of course, grabbed the chair next to mine. He really couldn’t take a hint. If I had wanted his company, then I probably would have kept in touch over these years that I was away. I didn’t, because nothing that we had shared was ever real. It was fabricated for my father and probably by him, so he could gain more power in Vegas.

My father speaks and I bite my tongue, but the shock goes through my body when he asks Luz to exchange seats with Luca. Luz has been part of my father’s extended family, as he often referred to his mafia, for as long as I can remember. Asking Luz to move should be a crime against the mafia itself, considering that in most of these men’s eyes, he has earned his spot next to my father. But when my father asks for something you do it, before he has to ask a second time.

Luz moves and Luca comes to stand behind the chair that faces mine. My body becomes hyper aware of him. Why? I don’t know, but this is the most alive I’ve felt in a long time, definitely since I heard the news about Leo. Finally, my father allows them to sit, and the food is served. I bite back the groan that threatens to escape. Saltimbocca again! I should have known this would be on my father’s menu tonight, it’s his favorite dish and the one I hate the most, so win-win for him.

I can feel his eyes on me, but my mind is thinking of ways that I can just get some pizza in this dining room. I mean, I know we are Italian, but do we have to be this Italian? Internally, I laugh at my own joke and when I look up, I catch the sapphire blue eyes of Luca. The laugh bouncing around in my head falls and it’s almost as if everyone else disappears.

Luca is ridiculously handsome, but he’s clearly not full-blooded Italian. I’d had that thought when I first laid eyes on him, but now I know for sure, which makes me curious as to how he became part of my father’s mafia. Normally, he wouldn’t allow anything less than a “pure blood” as he often refers to them, to be this high up in the ranks. Clearly, something has changed in my absence.

“Do you not like your food, Vivianna?” my father asks, once he’s consumed his plate.

I roll my eyes. “No, but then again, I’m sure you remember that.”

“Forgive me. I forgot about your distaste for true Italian cuisine like Saltimbocca.” His eyes blaze with challenge.

I smirk at him as I set my fork down, lean back in the chair, and cross my arms over my chest. “Well, clearly not everything true Italian is worth having.”

My father’s back stiffens and his jaw clinches. After a minute, he squares his shoulders. “Vivianna, obviously while you are here you will need a protection detail.”

“Seriously?”

His hard, cold eyes meet mine. “I’m burying my son tomorrow and would prefer for you not to join him.” I scoff and shake my head. “As I was saying, you will have protection with you at all times. Matteo,” he says, as he nods toward him.

That’s it! I will not have this be forced upon me. I stand up, my anger getting the best of me. “Really, father? Matteo? This isn’t about protection at all.You’re still trying to tie a knot between the two of us. So you can get more power. I will not have it. This is my life, and I will not have Matteo as my protection.” For a moment, I expect my father to show his anger in violence by the look on his face. I’ve never seen my father actually hit anyone, but there’s a first time for everything.

“You will have protection, Vivianna, but you can pick; Matteo or Luca,” he tells me.

My eyes spring up to meet the newbie’s. I’ll give him credit, he looks just as shocked by this ultimatum as I feel. I look back at my father. “Why Luca? I don’t even know him. He’s some newbie and he’s not even a pure blood,” I snarl the last word at him.

My father looks at me with exasperation. “Luca is one of the best and he was your brother’s right-hand man. He’s earned his spot and proved to me that not everything true Italian is worth having. I would have missed out on his loyalty based on his lineage, but your brother believed differently. So, Vivianna, it is your decision.”

His confession knocks the air right out of my angry rant. Luca was close to Leo? I try to wrack my memories from the times I talked to Leo, but I can’t remember him ever mentioning a Luca. Knowing nothing about Luca makes me curious. Questions about his supposed loyalty plague my mind, so I answer my father’s ultimatum. “Luca,” I tell him coldly, before I turn on my heels and storm out of the dining room. Coming down here had been a mistake. Trying to sit down with my father is impossible and I knew it. As I reach the stairs, I hear my father apologize for my behavior and someone else tells Luca, good luck.

I go up the grand staircase, but I don’t end up in my room. The moment I open the door, his scent hits me full force and my knees buckle from the loss of him immediately. Leo’s room could hold all the secrets about his murder, but right now, I just want to crawl up on his bed and pretend he’s not gone.

Nine

Vivianna

Being in Leo’s room surrounded by his scent almost breaks me, but I know that I can’t. I have to be strong, because someone has to get him justice and I know my father. He’s already writing this off as a casualty of war between the mafias. He never got justice for my mother, and I refuse to let that be the story for Leo. I turn on the lights and see that not much has changed in Leo’s room since I left. It still looks like the room I remember as a teen, actually.

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