Hated (15 page)

After supper when everyone was heading to bed I went downstairs and brought the book and the box back out and started to go through it. It took me most of the night to
get the first couple of pages done. I didn’t finish it in one night and most of it still didn’t make any sense. It took me about five days to decode it but another day to go back over it and make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I was so shocked by what was in the book that I had to reread it a couple times for it to sink in.
These were our parent’s notes from their work and from their undercover operations. But the thing that bugged me the most was the pages that were about Antonio, his mother and his
real
father.

Antonio wasn’t born into the Mafia
?! It was just because his mother married a Mafia leader. I don’t think anybody else knows about this or remembers it for that matter. I read the entire book but at the end there was a note to me from my mother and one from my father.

The one from my mother read:

Believe the boy, he will be the few people you can trust.

Give him the ring. It was your father’s but we know that we won’t be with you for long. I’m sorry that we can’t be there for you but please try and be there for Tony. I know you might hold a grudge and I hope this book helps you to change your mind. I love you forever my baby.

Love Momma

I felt tears start to well up in my eyes and I turned my atte
ntion to the note from my father. His note was much more surprising and unexpected.

If you’ve found this book and have decoded it then I’m very proud of you but there is much I need to tell you. The other ring in there was your mother’s now it belongs to you. I know this sounds crazy but I’m sorry I had to fake my death. I promised your mother before she died that I had to leave you guys alone.
But I will tell you one thing, I’ve been working as a doctor for the Mafia and I’ve helped gain some knowledge about how to take it down. I love you and I hope to see you soon.

Love Papa

I was so stunned that I didn’t know what to say or do. I just sat there staring at the page. My mother made my father promise to stay away from me and the boys? But why would she do that? I guess mother was in deeper than father had first thought. She was the only one in the car, father wasn’t with her. Then where had he been?

A few of my questions were answered
but I still had so many more. What did they find out that got my mother killed? How was my father still alive? All these questions and more bounced around inside my head. The book was supposed to help me with all of my questions. It looks like I’m going to have read the book over a couple times to find all of the answers. But I will find the answers one way or another.

Chapter 20

Antonio Caine

Boston 12:15 pm Wednesday April 25
th
2029

I’ve tried to stay in on the conversations but sometimes they make me so angry that I have to leave. My father has taken me to several tailors to get a tuxedo for the wedding that’s in a little less than two months away. I don’t want to go through with it but my father is giving me no choice. And the only other way out that I can see is to either kill myself or kill Hayley.

But I can’t kill Hayley because she is never around and my dad has people watching me day and night so I can’t kill myself.
Stephanie is actually starting to talk to me which was making me feel a little better. Hayley leaves me alone at school ever since the incident that had happened after school. It’s a good thing she did too, or else she wouldn’t be alive right now.

Earlier today Stephanie had asked me to meet her out by the bleachers for lunch.
She had said that she had something to tell me, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was. It had bugged me all morning. I was outside waiting, in the spot that she had told me to wait in, for her to show up.

As I waited I thought about the incident with Hayley.
She had been annoying me for a very long time and I had just about had enough of her. She hadn’t bugged me much that day so I thought that she was finally starting to back off. But as soon as I thought that my day was going to get better it got worse.

I was sitting outside on my bike in the school parking lot. I liked to watch Stephanie as she left because it always made me feel better, but at the same time it also made me feel sad.
Anyway I was sitting out there on my bike when Hayley walked up to me. At first I didn’t think much of it but then I noticed that she was walking directly towards me.

Hayley stopped right
in front of me and she did not look happy. She glared up at me and put her hands on her hips. Her mouth was turned down in a pout which kind of suited her more than her smile.

“Okay what is up with you?”
Hayley snapped at me. At first I wasn’t sure that I had heard her right but she was still standing there with that pouty look on her face. I had no idea what she was talking about but she was starting to really get on my nerves. I stopped leaning on my bike and stood up to my full height. I towered over her easily and Hayley took a step back.

“What are you talking about?” I asked coldly. I watched as she started to lose her composure from under my eyelashes. But then she seemed to remember what she wanted to do because she straightened up and regained her composure.
However she didn’t look me in the eyes again.

“I’m talking about how you’ve been acting around me lately,” Hayley explained aggravated. “You’ve been avoiding me and acting cruel towards me. You don’t need her besides she dumped you. Now smarten up and let’s have some fun tonight at your house. I’ve already made arrangements.”

That was when I snapped. I didn’t even know what had happened until I saw her lying on the ground in front of me. My hand stung a bit from slapping her but she had been asking for it all day.

“It’s going to be a whole lot worse than this later on,” I snapped at her and then I smiled as an idea came to me. My dad likes to punish the maids in the basement if they do something wrong, he even showed me how to do it a couple of times. I smiled at Hayley and I could see her gulp. I leaned down and whispered, “Meet me at the basement door.”

Than I got on my bike and rode off to my house. I wasn’t going to touch her but I had a friend who wouldn’t mind doing it for me. As long as I paid him enough, I called him as soon as I got home. He gladly agreed to do what I asked of him and he didn’t mind me watching him do it.

My friend
, Riley, had gotten to my house a little bit before Hayley did. So he went and prepared for Hayley’s arrival and I brought her downstairs when she got to the house. I watched from the side and helped out when he asked me to, but other than that I sat back and watched. Riley enjoyed punishing Hayley and I enjoyed watching. Hayley, after a little bit, started to really enjoy it and she was begging Riley by the end.

It was a weir
d night and she hasn’t bugged me since. She even left Stephanie alone today too. Wait Hayley avoiding her was probably what she wanted to talk to me about. She is probably wondering why Hayley was avoiding her. I groaned. How was I supposed to explain that to her? Just as I was trying to think of a way to explain it I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I whipped around and found Stephanie behind me
, perched on the edge of the bleachers. Her hair still looked as beautiful as I remembered it, even if it was a bit windblown. She was wearing a bright green long sleeve shirt that clung to her figure, and a pair of jeans that I don’t think was supposed to be ripped. She had a cup of some sort of hot drink I think it was hot chocolate, in her hands. She smiled and my heart started to beat faster, she really had me wrapped around her little finger.

I came out of my surprised state and Stephanie patted the bench in front of her. She must be pretty serious if she wants me to sit down with her
. I would’ve thought that she would’ve just said what she needed to and then left. I was both excited and slightly scared to have some time with her. I didn’t know what she wanted to say to me and since she hasn’t talked to me in a couple of months it could be about pretty much anything.

I climbed up to the spot in front of her and sat down as she took a sip of her drink. I clasped my hands in front of me and waited for her to start. She took another sip and then set the cup down beside her.

“Okay, I’m just going to skip the pleasantries and go right to what I want to talk to you about,” Stephanie said after a minute of silence. I looked at her in the face and saw that she was a bit nervous but she was trying to be very serious. I nodded and waited for her to continue.

Stephanie hesitated as if she wasn’t sure if she should share it. But I could tell when she had made up her mind that she was going to tell me.

“I found something that my parents had left for us a while back but I didn’t know what any of it meant until a couple of days ago,” Stephanie continued carefully watching me, although I don’t know why. “I found out some things that I didn’t know before and some things that I’m pretty sure you don’t know about either.”

Stephanie bit her lip watching me carefully. She was thinking about something, something that involved me in some way. She reached down into a bag that I hadn’t even noticed was there and pulled out what looked to be a fairly big notebook.
Stephanie flipped through the book, then stopped and turned the book around to me.

“Read this,” Stephanie said and pointed to a paragraph in the middle of the page.
I looked at Stephanie confused. But she just pointed down at the page again. I sighed and looked down at the page. The page read:

You must tell the boy the truth about where he came from. Tell him that his real father was killed in action and tell him that the death of his mother was no accident. You are the only one who can tell him about how his mother took the biggest risk in the world marrying into the Mafia and that they found out about her. The guy she married found out that she was working with the police and they killed her and her
real husband. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell him, but I’m being watched. I love you my dear, Stephanie.

I just stared at the page. I could barely register the words. My mouth had dropped open and I kept reading the page over and over.
My father wasn’t my father and my mother was an undercover cop that had apparently worked with these people.

“On New Years Eve your dad had come to warn your mom that the Mafia had found out about her but he wound up dead with her,” Stephanie commented looking off into the distance. “My mother was killed in an intentional car crash on Christmas Eve and my father went missing the same day.”

I barely heard her over my own thoughts. My mother and my real father were undercover cops. They were trying to take down the Mafia. Stephanie carefully took the book out of my hands and flipped through it some more. She turned it back to me and there were pictures on both sides of the pages. I immediately recognized some of the people in the pictures, but I had to look at a couple of them a little longer to recognize the people in them.

“We knew each other?” I asked very confused but at the same
time I could feel the pieces start to fit into place. Stephanie nodded and watched me carefully like she thought I was going to freak out or blow my top or something. I was freaking out but on the inside, I don’t think I could express it well enough on the outside even if I tried. I had so many questions but I couldn’t figure out which one I should ask first.

“Your mom was the one who gave my mom the necklace to give to me,” it wasn’t really a question but it kind of came out like one.
Stephanie nodded and then looked off into the distance again. We both sat in silence for a few minutes stuck in our own thoughts. I didn’t know what she was thinking but if it was half of what I was thinking than that was a lot of stuff to have on her mind.

We were both interrupted by the sound of the bell in the background. Stephanie sighed and got up to leave.
I didn’t want her to leave yet I still had so many questions that were unanswered. I acted on impulse and grabbed her wrist as I stood up. Stephanie turned around and I did something completely stupid and probably unforgiveable. I pulled Stephanie close to me and kissed her.

She didn’t do anything at first and then she pulled away and my face started stinging. Stephanie had slapped me and I guess I kind of deserved it.
She grabbed her stuff without saying a word and walked away in a huff. I slumped down on the bench and put my head on my hands. How could I have been so stupid and inconsiderate? Damn it, I may have just lost her forever. I don’t think I can stand it if I did lose her.

I have to think of someway to make it up to her.
But how was I going to do that? I skipped my last two periods and went to the cliff where I like to sit and think things through. I sat up there and stared down at the city below. It was a beautiful view. Wait, maybe just maybe I could make it up to her. Okay than I need a couple of construction contractors, a picnic basket and a whole lot of luck.

Chapter 21

Stephanie Wilson

Boston 9
:38 pm Friday May 18
th
2029

The park street lights were so brighter at this time of night; I could barely see the stars. I could hear the honking of the car horns and screeching of car tires from where I sat in the park. The park had been rebuilt a little while ago but I don’t know who funded it and no one has come forward. I’ve been thinking a lot about what was going on and what had happened in the past couple of weeks, this was just one of them. I had so many things to think about it drove me crazy trying to put my thoughts inline.

I was in the midst of thinking about Antonio kissing me
at the bleachers when I saw a shadow coming from behind me. I jumped up and turned around, ready to fight if I had to, which most of the time I did. But when I turned around Antonio was standing behind me with his hands up in surrender. Whoa, scary coincidence much. I didn’t even hear him approach.

“What are you doing here?” I asked trying to muster up some anger but it was difficult
. I was actually more startled and surprised than anything.

“I came to find you,” he said holding out his hand towards me.
The park bench gave us a little bit of space so that I had some time to deliberate. A part of me wanted to take that hand, but I knew better then to trust him. I pushed away my feelings and stood my ground waiting for an explanation. He must’ve figured that out because he continued talking and explaining.

“I would like to show you something, something t
hat I haven’t showed anyone,” Antonio explained walking around the bench and held out his hand again. My instincts told me to walk away, but my curiosity told me to find out what it was that made him who he was at times, sensitive and compassionate.

Hesitantly I took his hand and he took me to his
motorcycle which was parked around the corner from the park. I put on the helmet that Antonio had handed to me and got on the bike behind him, wary of everything that he was doing. Antonio put his helmet on and started up the bike. We sped off down the highway, racing past cars and screeching around corners. I was forced to hold on to Antonio so that I wouldn’t fall off the bike as he whipped around corners. I wanted to know where we were going but at the same time I didn’t want to know, let it be a surprise. I needed something to get me out of this funk anyway.

We drove up to a scenic cliff site
that I’d visited a couple times before but tonight it seemed different. Antonio parked just off to the side of the road and motioned for me to go ahead of him. As wary as I was I went ahead. It was a beautiful sight, the sky was so clear and the stars were so bright. You would think that there would be other people up here, but there was no else for as far as the eye could see. It was so peaceful. I could even hear some of the birds singing their soft and stunning songs. I haven’t felt this much at home in a long time.

I felt tears prick at the corner of my eyes and I hastily wiped them away. I could feel Antonio watching me from behind. I didn’t know what to say or what to do, so I just stood there and stared out to the horizon. I didn’t hear him come up to me and was
startled when he put his arms around me. But he was trying not to frighten me, I could tell that much. He held me close and rested his chin on my head.

I let my l
ips quirk up into a small smile. I guess he could be a real gentleman when he wanted to be. I relaxed into his embrace and sighed in contentment. I missed these kinds of moments with him. But I felt something in the back of my mind; a question that kept bubbling to the surface no matter how hard I pushed it away it always came back. And I didn’t think that I’d ever get an opportunity like this again.

“Who are you, Antonio?” I asked turning my head to the side to see his face, but all that I saw was clothing. I forgot how tall he was for a second. I craned my neck to look at his face.
Antonio looked down at me confused for a second before he seemed to get what I was talking about. I could see him think about it but he just seemed to be getting more confused. He looked back down at me and I could see that he was like a lost puppy.

“I don’t know,”
Antonio said at last his voice cracking with emotion. “Who am I? Where am I from really? Who were my parents really? I have so many questions that I don’t have answers to and so many things that I don’t understand…I just feel so overwhelmed at times. Like my life is moving so fast that I don’t get to make any of the choices until it’s almost too late. Have you ever felt like…?”

“Your whole life is planned out and you have no say, ya I have,” I finished for him. I knew exactly how he felt. I’ve been there so many times in these past couple of weeks it wasn’t funny.
He leaned down and rested his forehead on my own, closing his eyes. He held me tighter and I could see that he was very distressed. I sighed and gave in to my feelings.

“
Would you like to stay a little while at my house?” I asked. “So that I can explain things and you can get some answers. Also so that you can relax a little and think about some things before you go through with them.”

Antonio pulled back a bit so that he could see my face.
I watched his eyes flick over my face and I waited. He sighed and smiled his cute crooked smile.

“What about Alexander and your siblings?” Antonio asked and then his face changed to one of slight fear. “What about your mothers?”

I started laughing. The fact that he was scared of my mothers was actually quite funny. But at times they could be rather scary. I stopped laughing and looked up at Antonio.

“Alexander is gone, my brothers still like you and I can deal with my mothers,” I replied smiling. I hadn’t realized that I’d felt stressed trying to hide my emotions, until I stopped hiding them from myself and everyone else. Antonio smiled my favourite crooked again.

“You know you ruined my plans to try to win you back,” Antonio replied motioning for me to stay where I was. He walked over to his bike, flipped up the seat and pulled something out. When he turned around he was carrying a rather large picnic basket. I started laughing again and I could hear Antonio chuckle too.

“I know it’s a bit old fashioned but I thought that you would like it,” Antonio explained and
I could see him blush a little. “After all a picnic in a romantic location while I explained my stupidity is pretty romantic, and I had a last resort just in case you wouldn’t listen.”

I cocked my head to the side not sure what he was talking about. He placed the basket on the ground and lifted up the lid. Up from the basket popped a little head of a husky puppy.
He yipped from the basket and wiggled around excitedly.

“Awwww he’s so cute,” I commented as Antonio picked him up from the basket. I walke
d closer to get a better look. The puppy was mostly white but he had a large grey patch on his back, kind of like a grey mask on his face and it looked like someone dipped his tail in grey paint. He had one brown eye and one blue eye that just made him look cuter.

“Well I’m glad you think so because I
’d gotten him for you,” Antonio commented holding the puppy out to me. I was stunned. I didn’t know whether to be offended or to be super happy. I took the puppy and stopped being offended. I mean how could I be? He had gotten me a dog and I haven’t had a dog since the one that I had during the tornado in Alberta with my grandparents.

The
dog began licking my face and I couldn’t help but start laughing. I looked up and Antonio was smiling shyly at me. Kind of like he knew that he had done something wrong but that he wasn’t ashamed of it. I shook my head but continued to smile.

“So what do you want to name him?” Antonio asked to change the silent subject. I looked to the husky puppy in my arms. He was wiggling around trying to settle down I guess.

“I think I’ll call him Tornado,” I replied looking back to Antonio who had picked up the basket and started to bring out the rest of its contents. There were some sandwiches, a bottle of red wine and a couple types of cookies. He had even set out a blanket for us to sit on.

“That’s a very interesting
name,” Antonio commented as he sat down on the blanket and began to pour the wine. “Any specific reason for the choosing that name?”

“I don’t know I guess
it kind of reminds me of the day everything changed, and besides he’s all jumpy,” I replied smiling down at the dog in my arms. I walked over and joined Antonio on the blanket after Tornado had calmed down a little. He had poured me a glass of what looked to be some fairly expensive Cabernet wine. I didn’t normally drink unless it was a special occasion but I guess this was kind of a special occasion.

So we sat and had a couple of drinks and some of the sandwiches. Tornado had fallen asleep in my lap after I gave
him some meat to chew on. Antonio and I were lying on our backs looking up at the starry sky and pointing out constellations. We were laughing as we tried to beat each other at finding the stars and connecting them together. I caught a glimpse of my watch as I was trying to find one of the stars in Orion’s belt and sat up quickly.

It was really late. I was supposed to be home a long time ago. M
y mothers were going to kill me and so was Kevin. Antonio sat up too and grabbed Tornado so that he wouldn’t run away.

“I’m very, very late,” I told Antonio as I got up. “I was supposed to be home almost an hour ago.”

I heard Antonio curse under his breath and he got up too. We packed away the blanket and the left over food and wine. Antonio handed Tornado over to me and packed away the basket under his bike seat. We threw on our helmets and got on the bike. I held Tornado with one hand and grabbed Antonio with the other. We sped off towards my house. I barely held on but I was able to stay on the bike without burning myself or losing the dog, which had fallen asleep in my arms again. We made it to my house in record timing. Antonio parked the bike and we got off. I took off my helmet as I walked to the door and handed it back to Antonio, who was still standing at his bike, so that I would have a free hand to knock on the door.

But I didn’t have to because as soon as I got to the door it swung open.
I had to jump back so that I wouldn’t get hit by the angry swing of the door. Standing in the doorway were my mothers Jean and Betty, and my brother Kevin. They all looked very, very angry. Oh I was in for it this time and I highly doubted that they would let me explain or let me get a word in edge wise.

I was considering my options when I felt someone come up behind me. I didn’t have to look to know it was Antonio. It was very brave for him to come forward, especially since I could see the bulge of a gun on Kevin and on my trigger happy Momma Jean.
My Momma Betty didn’t like using guns and she didn’t like violence all that much, she prefers to solve things peacefully. Everyone looked very surprised to see him, with me, at such a late hour.

“I’m sorry for keeping her out so late but I had to explain a couple of things,” Antonio apologized and bowed his head slightly forward in respect.
I could tell that my mothers were moved by this and Kevin was a little bit impressed. As for myself I was really confused as to what was going on. I looked to Kevin for help but he just gave me the “I’ll tell you later” look.

“Well I guess we can look past it just this once,” Momma Betty replied smiling, and then she turned her attention to me
confused. “Stephanie, what are you carrying?”

I looked down at my arms and saw Tornado. I had almost completely forgotten that he was there. He had been so quite and he hadn’t moved.

“Oh, this is Tornado,” I replied and tilted my arm down so that they could see. Tornado yawned and opened his eyes a little bit. He made a noise and he started to wag his tail a little.

“Is that a-a dog
?!” Momma Jean asked surprised. Then she smiled and walked over to me. Momma Jean scratched the little puppy on the head and under the chin. Tornado yipped at her playfully and wagged his tail faster.

“Can I hold him?” Momma Jean asked reaching for Tornado. I nodded an
d held him out to her. Jean took him and cuddled him close. Tornado licked her face and chewed on her fingers with his dull teeth. Momma Jean started laughing and tucked him to her side.

“Why are we still outside, it’s chill
y,” Momma Jean commented, then smiled brightly. “Come on inside and I’ll make some hot chocolate to warm you up.”