AN: HERE IS CHAPTER XXXII! Anyways, I'm just going to give you guys a heads up in case I don't update for a couple of days, weeks or months. See, my mom is picking up my Report Card this Monday and I might have a failing grade or two so in that case, I might get grounded and I might not be able to update. Bad news aside, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed, favourited and followed!

CHAPTER XXXII:

VIVA LAS VEGAS

2 days after the assassination attempt on Celeste, they were already packing up to go to Nevada for the 3 stop race. Unfortunately, they had a problem; Celeste didn't have a hover cycle which, as they were told, was a requirement to participate. Usually, it was a normal motorcycle but apparently, the Nevada Track was modified for hover cycles this year. Damon assured Celeste that she would have her hover cycle when they got there. Levi and Petra weren't pleased when she said she would be participating but nevertheless, they didn't attempt to change her mind. Now, Celeste was in her car with her parents and Duncan this time.

"So, where are we going?" Petra asked curiously.

"Las Vegas, Nevada. That's 4 hours and 4 minutes from her. Say good bye to the ocean and say hello to the desert." Celeste answered as she pulled out of the driveway and followed the two cars in front of her.

"Okay, ground rules; under any circumstances, when we get to Vegas, DO NOT leave the house. At least, not without me." She instructed them. "Vegas ain't the most popular Sin City for nothing."

"Got it." Petra answered as she and Levi looked out the window to see the setting sun and the ocean one last time.

"I'm serious. The place is, like, the underground of Wall Sina of this time." Celeste said as she drove.

"Remember what happened when you were 14 and people let you in a casino because they were thrilled to have Cassandra Knight." Duncan said.

"Yes. I do. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, remember." She said through gritted teeth. That piqued Levi's curiosity.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Celeste got drunk."

"WHAT? AT 14?" Petra asked, half angry, half surprised.

"Oh! See what you did? Relax, I've been drinking since I was 12 but that was the first time I got drunk. And I'd rather you don't bring that up." Celeste said.

"So, you got roaring drunk, what's your point?" He replied.

"I don't think a 14 year old is supposed to get drunk so bad that she'd start a bar fight with a 25 year old guy." She answered.

"You started a bar fight?" Petra asked, surprised. Her daughter was so much like Levi. Hell, if she grew up in their time, she probably would've been a thug as well.

"Yes. Yes, I did." She admitted while she drove. Duncan lifted her shirt up and showed them a long scar on the right side of her back. They've never seen it before so they were surprised.

"DUNCAN, WHAT THE HELL?" Celeste yelled at him.

"You mean you've never showed them that?"

"No! I got glassed in the fight, alright." Celeste finally admitted. "Wasn't one of my proudest moments, I admit. I may have been a delinquent during my career back then. So much for 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'."

With that said, the three of them finally let it go. The drive the whole time was silent. Aside from the time that she and Duncan threw potato chips at each other. After 4 hours, they finally arrived in Vegas.

"Yo, Celeste, want to hit the casino?" Rex asked the through the Walkie Talkie. She immediately picked it up.

"Forget it. I don't want a repeat of 5 years ago." She answered. "Plus I really don't want to gamble."

With that, she hung up. Since it was 7 PM, Petra was amazed by the bright lights of the city. After a while, they got to the headquarters of Knight Industries in Vegas. They have a huge penthouse suite in the top floor that serves as their Vegas home. In all 50 states where they have a place to stay, 15 of those are penthouse suites. When they got to the suite, the kids immediately rushed in and lied on the couch to go on Virtual Reality.

"Try not to fry your brains while playing." Celeste warned them but too late; they already dived in. Shaking her head, she put her parents' things in the guest room.

"Maybe I should dive in with them. Or hit the gym. Eh, what's it matter; I can't do abdominal crunches anyways." She muttered to herself.

"Celeste, want to go get your hover cycle?" Uncle Damon asked.

"Alright! Sure! I'll be right out!" She answered before walking out of the room. When she got to living room after putting her stuff in her room, the adults were watching the news. It was about Gardener being given a lifetime ban from racing and their arrival in Vegas.

"News again? I don't see why you guys watch that crap." She said as she poured herself some scotch from the bar.

"Well, we have to keep ourselves informed and…OH MY GOD! YOU'RE DRINKING ALREADY? IT'S 7:30!" Aunt Natalie yelled.

"PM. Not AM. Scold me when I do this in the morning." She countered as she drank her Scotch.

"Okay, let's go. I have a feeling you'd love this hover cycle I ordered for you." Damon said as he grabbed her and took the glass form her before pushing her out the door. They headed downstairs to the parking lot of the building.

"Uncle, what are we doing here?" She asked.

"We are here so you can see this." He answered as he pulled the tarpaulin covered object. It was a sleek black hover cycle made by Knight Industries. Her eyes widened and her face lit up like a kid on Christmas before running towards it.

"AWESOME! This is what I'll be using?" She asked in amazement.

"Yep. It has lasers, missiles and a sweet machine gun." Damon answered as he showed her each feature. Though impressed, Celeste raised an eyebrow; why would she need weapons? It was a 3 stop race, not a death race.

"Okay, why?" She asked.

"The rules of 3 stop has changed for the past 4 years you were gone. You can now take racers out when necessary." Damon answered.

"Seriously? Damn. Things have really changed when I was gone, wasn't I?"

"It has. Take it out for a spin in the strip tomorrow if you want." He said as he handed her the keys.

"Sure. I'll do that before heading to the gym." She answered as she took the keys.

"No crunches, alright." He warned her as they headed back upstairs.

"Sure.

When they got upstairs, Petra and Natalie were making dinner while Rex and Duncan were playing video games and Levi was looking out the balcony. Celeste wasted no time in making a racket with the boys. And by racket, it means playing Rock Band in full volume. That resulted in Celeste getting hit in the head with her own drumsticks because she ignored her mother.

"What?" She asked as Rex paused their game.

"There's a package for you and dinner's ready. Go wake the kids up." Petra ordered her.

"Damn it. Can it wait? Both dinner and the package?" She requested.

"Go get your damn package, Celeste and last time, we allowed you not to have dinner with us, you never ate." Aunt Natalie said. Groaning, she walked up to the door and opened it. A mailman was there.

"Package for Cassandra Knight." He stated as he held out both the package and the clipboard.

"I can see that." She muttered as she signed for the package and took it before closing the door. Walking up to the coffee table, she put the package down as the kids took their VR helmets off.

"What's that?" Andrea asked.

"Not a bomb that's for sure." She answered.

"Did you check the return address?" Duncan asked as he sat beside her. Celeste grabbed it and checked the return address as everyone gathered around her.

"Oh, it's from the chief of the Las Vegas Police Department." She said. Opening it, her eyes widened.

"Whoa, Viva Las Vegas." Celeste said as she pulled out a shiny Colt Python from the box. There was also a case of ammo in it.

"There's a letter." Petra said. Celeste picked it up and opened it.

Dear Cassandra,

I heard about what happened in California. I remember that rape-murder case you helped us out with when you were 13 and it hit me that we didn't get you anything as thanks so for your protection and to show our gratitude, the LVPD gives you this. Just remember to use it ONLY for self-defence. I'd hate to arrest you or hear about it someday. Also, I heard about you finding your real parents. Good for you. Good luck on your next race and keep it up. We'll be rooting for you.

Sincerely,

William Rogers, Chief of the Las Vegas Police Department

When Celeste was finished reading it, Petra and Levi were looking expectantly at her.

"I'll tell you guys later. I'm starving." She said. That was a teenage moment she'd rather not delve back in to so she'd try to avoid it as long as possible. Dinner was a quiet affair except for the time that Andrew and Andrea had a petty argument because apparently, Andrea left him to die in game. It was an argument that Celeste diffused immediately with her award winning glare. Now, Celeste was putting the kids to bed. As usual, they shared the same room because Janine doesn't sleep well without Andrew and Andrea or anyone she's familiar with.

"Traitor." Andrew told Andrea as Celeste put Janine to bed. Kid was tuckered out almost immediately.

"Hey, that's enough out of you two." She scolded them as she put Andrew to bed. She noticed that Andrea had a sad look on her face. She then realized something.

"This isn't about the game is it? When has this started? You guys are a pair of 13 year old twins, so I'm guessing this happened shortly after I left the first time. So what's wrong?" She asked them. Andrew and Andrea were born on an April. April 5 to be exact. And that was tomorrow.

"It started when we were 12. Mom's death anniversary and our birthdays are tomorrow. Whenever it's our birthday, we get cranky." Andrew admitted.

"Because of your mother?" She asked and they nodded.

"Dad's always gone when it's our birthdays ever since we turned 12 and everyone's trying to sugarcoat it by not reminding us that mom died when we were born. I think Dad blames us for mom's death." Andrea said.

"Hey, hey, that's not true. Your dad is…he's just…trying his best to provide for this family. I'm sure he'll make up for it. Go to sleep. Don't worry about it. Just remember; your dad loves you both. So did your mom. I know. I watched her carry the two of you for 9 months." Celeste told them as she pulled the covers on top of them. She knew they doubted her. She pulled her wallet out and pulled a photo.

"Here. I took this the moment your mother was well enough to hold you both. Andrew, I want you to make a copy of it and give it to your sister. It's the only photo of the three of you. You both didn't kill your mother; her fever did. Her body was too frail to keep up with the strain and she got a fever. That's what killed her, not you." She said before kissing their foreheads.

"You look a lot like her, Andrea. Good night." She said as she turned the lights off and left the room. The adults were watching TV in the living room.

"How are they?" Duncan asked. Celeste responded with grabbing the phone and dialling Uncle Federico's hotel number in Italy. It should be Morning (1) there so he should be up. An Italian woman picked up the phone and thankfully, Celeste is fluent in Italian.

"Ciao, sono alla ricerca di Federico Knight. E 'ancora li? Si prega di dirgli che e sua nipote, Cassandra Knight (2)." She requested. The woman on the other line responded positively and said that she'd connect her to him.

"Certo, grazie (3)." She responded. Placing the phone to her chest, she smiled at her mother, who looked at her in amazement.

"It's Italian." She said before pressing the phone back to her ear.

"Hello, Uncle Federico. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I'm aware it's very early in the morning where you are. You are aware it's your twin children's birthday tomorrow right?" She asked.

"Yes, Celeste, I am aware of that."

"So…you think you can pop by tomorrow and surprise them? They're really down. I mean who wouldn't be? They share their birthday on their mom's death anniversary. But it would mean a lot to them if you were here." She said. Uncle Federico sighed before answering.

"I'll try. No promises."

"Uh-huh. Alright. Bye." She replied before hanging up.

"Does that answer your question?" Celeste told Duncan before walking up to the bar and grabbing a glass of scotch. Eventually, almost everyone turned in except for Levi and Petra. They approached Celeste who was drinking Scotch as she leaned on the balcony.

"Alright, spill." Petra said.

"Spill? This is a good 150 year old scotch. Expensive too." Celeste replied as she drank.

"Not your booze, Celeste. The rape-murder case." Levi said bluntly.

"That's classified information, Dad. It's a depth I'd rather not delve back into." She answered as she refilled her drink.

"Screw classified information. Tell us." He said. Since they weren't going to let it go, she gave up easily. They all leaned on the balcony while Celeste told the story.

"Fine. There's a reason why I train so hard. This happened when I was 13. I was jogging the strip late at night. I get to one turn. I keep running, I turn into an alleyway, I saw a man. It seemed like he just finished raping someone. After that, he pulls his gun out and shoots at someone while I stood there and called 911 because I was too scared to act on my own. When he was gone, I ran up to the scene and saw a woman, lying in a pool of her own blood. Violated in every way possible. I tried to revive her but I was too late. Too weak. LVPD took me home and the next day, I decided that I had to help them. So I did. Anything to make up for being unable to save her. That woman had a mother, a little sister and a 4 year old daughter. They depended on her to keep them alive because her husband was dead and her boyfriend just takes her away from them all because she didn't want to do it with him. I was a witness who testified against him. I helped in every way I could to ensure that he wouldn't get out of jail. I resorted to digging up everything I could on the guy and I hit a gold mine. He had 5 counts of abuse against women. 3 of them died. He was just too good to get away with murder but when I witnessed everything, I took that skill away from him. The same way he took that woman away from her family. I hate a lot of things in life; spiders, roaches, losing races, people who tease me for being adopted but the things that trump that list are rapists and cheaters. I never met the family; I was too ashamed to talk to them. How was I going to face them and tell them I saw their loved one die before my very eyes and I did nothing to stop it?"

After that, she drank her scotch while Petra wrapped an arm around her and kissed her cheek. She knew that no amount of words would comfort Celeste on the horror that she witnessed.

"Go to bed, Celeste. Don't stay up too late drinking." Levi said as he kissed her good night before walking back inside.

"Good Night." Petra said before following him. Celeste drank the last of her scotch before looking at the lights of Las Vegas one last time.

"Viva Las Vegas." She muttered before heading inside.

AN: Aaand that is Chapter XXXII! Now here is the meaning of the numbers;

1 – I have no idea how big the time zone difference is between America and Italy.

2 – Translation: Hello, I am looking for Federico Knight. Is he still there? Please tell him that his niece, Cassandra Knight.

3 – Translation: Sure, thank you.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Thanks to those who will review, favourite and follow!