His Caged Dove -Mafia Romance (BOOK ONE)

Twenty: Gedeon

Twenty:

Gedeon

There were only three times I've found a challenge when playing against another player.

The first two times was when I was a child, only starting to learn how to play.

The third time was right now, with just a narrow victory on my part. The way she plays, the way she thinks was nothing I thought someone like her was able to do. She continues to break my expectation with ease. In fact, it was the most fun I had playing with anyone in a while. Her skills of being able to predict and then strategize was a wonder, yet she still couldn't beat me. Taking her King piece, I held it out in front of her. "Checkmate, sweetheart. Though, you were close."

"Very much so," she mumbled, finally leaning back into her chair. I swore she was pouting like a child as her lips were screwed together into a thin line. "If you didn't move your Bishop g—"

"But I did," I cocky admitted as I basked in my winning. Though, a small frown made its way to my face when I realized she knew her chess terminology. "Then mated you with knight and bishop combination after making it go to C4. How did you know about the Sicilian Defense? I presume that was what you were trying to go for to try defending a checkmate."

"The what?" she frowned deeply and cocked her head to the side. "Sicilian Defense...? C4?"

"You...don't know your chess terminology and names of the moves you just played?"

"I just play...how I was taught," she said, running her hand through her dress as she played with the fabric. I was surprise by her confession. It must be her Mother, much like how mine taught me. No one else in that whole estate seemed to know how to play, or even have the brains to do so either. Though the way she played told me she's been taught young and had been perfecting it in her own head without playing even after years. "But I was close."

I smiled smugly back. "You know, I've only lost once since I started to play competitively." I was impressed and amazed by it, though I refused to let her know. Slowly placing the pieces back to their proper place, I stared across at her. "But feel free to entertain me and challenge me again at any time though."

That caught her interest as she stared at me. "Really?"

"If you win, yes, I promise my side of the bargain. You'll be free."

"Right now?"

I chuckled at her question and shook my head. "No, maybe twice a week."

Meeting my eyes, she mumbled, "I guess I'll be here a little bit longer and find something to entertain myself with since you play like a pro."

The comment made me only grin in response. Moving all the pieces back to their proper place on the board with much disinterest, I didn't look at her as I asked, "Don't you get tired of reading the same book?"

"Not in particular," she replied, her eyes diverging away.

"Have you ever read anything else besides Little Women?" I questioned. There was no doubt she was bored, seeing how she usually either stayed in her room, or when Anastasia wasn't busy baking. In her room, she only read the same book, looked out the window, or would take to attending the rabbit. "Have you read other classics before? Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, or even fairy tales for that matter."

She shook her head. "No."

"Why?"

"I didn't really have a library when I lived at Father's estate," she replied. "And on the rare occasion that...he did bring me a book; I chose not to read it. To not let him know he won, even if I was bored."