Page 10 of Checkmate

I look over my shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s not a bad habit, it just makes me feel awkward,” I sigh, and turn back around to look out the window.

I hear Luca’s footsteps as he crosses the room. He comes to stand beside me and the spicy smell of his cologne hits my senses. I don’t know what it is about a guy and his cologne, but it can drive me bonkers sometimes, and Luca’s is definitely going to drive me crazy. He stands silently beside me as we watch the people out on the grounds of the estate file in. Everything is too far away to actually be able to see the people, but they’re there.

I sigh. “I hate these people being here. They aren’t friends of our family or Leo’s. They’re all here to try and put on an act. They want to come and act like they care because they want to know that they hurt Lorenzo Giordano and his empire. Leo was killed because someone wanted to make a move, start a war, and bring down my father, and he was the easiest way to do that.”

Luca is silent for a while. “I won’t tell you that you’re wrong.”

“It’s wrong for them to be here. They’ll be on our property, behind our gates of safety, and in our house, assessing everything they can. They’ll be learning everything they can. They’ll be looking for ways to get past everything, learn our weaknesses and secrets. This all feels like an invasion of privacy.”

“I understand you’re worried, but we have every guy on payroll here. They are guarding every way into the house,” Luca tells me calmly. I feel like he’s attempting to calm me, even though I’m not really showing any emotion right now.

I look at him. “And what if the person that shot Leo is on payroll?” I counter, raising my eyebrows in question. I’m fully facing him now.

Luca turns and meets my eyes, and despite the confident air surrounding him, I can tell the uncertainty hidden in the depths of his blue eyes. Finally, he shakes his head, dismissing the idea. “No, not possible. Everyone on payroll loved your brother.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “You might be new, but you’re not that new, Luca. Just because everyone on payroll acts like they love someone, doesn’t mean they do. Mafias are funny like that. Almost everyone has ulterior motives. They act one way to your face, but will pull the trigger on you the next. They don’t think twice, as long as it puts them in a better position. They’ll start a war by claiming a casualty like Leo.”

“Vivianna…” Luca says hesitantly. It’s the first time he said my name, and it makes my skin dance and my heart drop to my stomach.

“What, Luca?”

He shakes his head, scratching at his chin. “You really think everyone can flip on you?”

I nod my head. “Yes, I know they can. In this world you trust no one because you can’t trust any of them. It’s you against every other person, same mafia or not.” I look down and notice that more cars are arriving. “We should go,” I tell Luca, as I turn and head for the door.

Thirteen

Luca

Once I had fallen asleep last night, I had weird dreams of the night Leo was murdered. I don’t know if my subconscious was trying to piece together the mystery of his murder or what? What I do know is that every time I got to the end of the dream, I woke up because Vivianna was standing in the shadows of the alley, with questions in her eyes. Those eyes, a stormy gray, like a hurricane about to hit land. If Gio didn’t do something to avenge the murder of his son quickly, I had no doubt that Vivianna would take matters into her own hands. That both intrigued and scared me.

Vivianna was intriguing no matter how you looked at it. She was a force to be reckoned with. She was tiny but fierce, independent and a bit of a bad girl. Or maybe, she wasn’t a bad girl at all, maybe she was just so guarded from the life she had grown up in, that it made her seem that way. There were so many unanswered questions about Vivianna, and no way to get the answers, because she wasn’t about to give them.

She carried herself like a mafia princess would. Her attire expensive, and she walked as if she owned the room, which she basically did. It was easy to see that she didn’t take shit from anyone and that she will tell anyone exactly what she thinks. She’s intelligent and driven and despite being the mafia princess, she wants nothing to do with any of it.

The thing that scares me about Vivianna is that unconditional love that she so clearly holds for Leo. It’s evident that she believed he was the only person she had in this world, and with him gone, I worry she’ll lose her way. Right now, the Las Vegas underbelly ran by the mafias that call this city home are tittering on a line between war and peace. I think Vivianna might be the one to push them over into the bloodshed in a risk to avenge her brother. It scares me for her, because I don’t want her face to be yet another one on the casualty board in this war for power, but I’m also scared for her because she could be the one to set it all in motion.

I sit up on the side of my bed and rub my hands through my hair. I can feel the guilt of Leo’s murder sitting in my gut; churning the way the water does on a stormy night. I can feel the scales of Vegas tipping toward the end of the town as we know it. The streets will flood with blood and so much will be lost. Then there’s this unexplainable draw I have toward Vivianna who could very well be the queen of undoing the city I know. She could be the one to shed the blood and I don’t know how that would faze me. It scares me to think that just one evening with her and I’m already willing to set aside my moral compass and my beliefs to keep her safe.

Am I compromised? Is this what it feels like? I mean, really though. I’ve heard the whispered conversations between the other undercover agents when one of us comes back as “compromised”. I know the looks and hostility that comes along with it. But if they felt like this, then I don’t think they could help it.

I lie back on the bed and try to find sleep again, but it doesn’t work out in my favor, so I get up and head downstairs to get me a drink of water. It might help, who knows? As I pass by Vivianna’s door, I can’t help but notice that all her lights are out. A part of me wants to march over there and peek inside the door, but I know that’s wrong. It’s crossing a line. Notjust because of my job, but because that’s her personal space. Then I laugh to myself, personal space? It’s not like personal space mattered much to Vivianna in my apartment tonight. I mean, she made herself right at home, walking around, studying everything, and questioning me. I had admitted things to her that I had never admitted to anyone else. It seems silly now.

I head downstairs, grab a drink, and head back up. I lay back in bed and close my eyes, but all I can see is her. I don’t know when I fell back asleep, but I wake with the sun streaming in through the blinds of the guestroom. I stand up and stretch, deciding to get ready for today. Today makes everything real, but it’s also a day that everyone of us will be on high alert. So many of the Giordano family’s enemies will be just within feet or inches of them today. My job is to protect Vivianna while trying to bring her father down. Yeah, that’s easy.

Once I’m showered, dressed, and ready for the funeral, I decide to run out and grab coffee really quick. I remember Leo always grabbing coffee from Yellow Brix, a local coffee shop, instead of the Starbucks. I had wondered why, and he finally told me it’s because Yellow Brix reminded him of his sister. Apparently, it had always been her favorite. As I’m heading downstairs, I see Gio sitting at the table, his face solemn as always. I head over and clear my throat once I reach the entry of the dining room. Gio looks up. “Good morning, Luca. Please, come in.”

“Good morning, Sir. Vivianna is still asleep, so I was planning on going out for a coffee run if you felt she’d be safe in my absence.” It’s probably a good thing he was sitting here about to have breakfast, because otherwise, I probably would have left to grab coffee, leaving Vivianna unattended and that could have been bad.

Gio nods. “Yes, that should be fine. Grab me the biggest, strongest cup they make.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll be right back. If you need me sooner just let me know.” I turn around and head out the door and around to the side of the house where my car is parked. I slide inside and turn on the radio. Morgan Wallen comes on and instantly I’m in a slightly better mood. I really enjoy his music. I make my way around town and back to the house in record time. I drop off Gio’s coffee in the dining room before heading upstairs. Gina stops and tells me to see if Vivianna wants something for breakfast. I knock on Vivianna’s door.

When she opens the door, I’m speechless for a moment and I feel the heat take over my body. She’s gorgeous, breathtakingly so. Her hair is messy and her face is bare, but I honestly don’t think she’s looked better. I give her the coffee and at first she seems shocked that I know her favorite, then a look of knowing crosses her features. She knows it’s because of Leo.

After she closes herself up in her room to get ready, I take a seat in the sitting area upstairs. This house was built for everything. There’s a small sitting area with a large saltwater fish tank and leather furniture that overlooks into the downstairs foyer. I’m sitting there, sipping on my coffee, when the memory pops into my mind.

“Yo, Luca, do you want to go grab some coffee?” Leo asks, coming into the office in the back of the casino.

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