The New Barber

CHAPTER 32: Raiden

I was surprised at Frankie when she suggested us having a barbecue. But at the same time felt good that she was giving her family a chance. 

All of my guys and her family, we all hung out, drank, ate and had a real good time that I honestly was shocked happened. 

After it began getting dark, all of her family started to leave back to their hotels and would meet up tomorrow with us to get ready and meet up with Giovanni who I had already contacted earlier in meeting up with him. 

Once everybody was gone, I had noticed that Frankie was sitting on the couch and seemed to be upset. So I walked over and sat down next to her, put my arm around her and started to ask what was wrong. 

"I was really happy to see my family. Right away I was taken over by all these emotions and memories. Even ones with my dad." She began. 

"Aw babe." I try and comfort her. 

"I thought I could move on from everything.  From my father and the life he lived. Then my Aunt, she gave me something my father, apparently left for me in case anything were to happen to him." She says as she holds out one of her hands and I see it's a locket. 

"Wow! That looks really nice." I comment. 

"Open it up and remove both their photos." She tells me, which I thought was strange, but did it anyways. 

When I removed the photos, I had noticed behind each one were a set of five numbers. 

"What do these mean?" I ask her. 

"She told me that it is a code that contains information Giovanni has been trying to get his hands on for a long time." She says. 

"And she didn't tell you exactly what was on there?" I ask her. 

"No. She told me that the only people who know whats on there were my father and him. She had also told me that to see what was on it, I could find out but would need to make sure I was careful." She finishes. 

We both sit there for a moment not saying anything and I give her back the locket. 

"Well, it's up to you if whether or not you want to find out or not what's on there." I try and tell her so that she knows I support whatever she decides to do, despite my own personal curiosity.

"I want to see because I feel I need or at least have the right to know exactly what's on there." She states. 

"Okay. You can use my computer in the office then." I offer. 

"I want you to come with me." She says as she takes hold of my hand. 

"Alright." I smile at her as we get up and head towards the office and shut the door then lock it behind us. 

I next pull up a chair beside mine and give her mine then we log in using the username her Aunt told her to use then typed in the numbers as the password and the next thing that showed up after signing in were a bunch of folders on the desktop, most of them labeled 'Giovanni' while the rest were dates. 

While looking over each one, she stopped at one that was dated a week before he died. She seemed a little bit hesitant but then clicked and opened it up and next thing we saw was a 'Play' button. It was a video? She looked at me and then clicked 'play'. 

"Hey there Pumpkin!" Her dad was on the screen.

"Oh my God." She says under her breath as I could tell she began tearing up getting emotional. 

"If you are watching this then that means I am no longer alive and most likely you already know that. I don't have much time but I thought this would be the best way to let you know how honored I was to be your father. I know I wasn't perfect and you most likely already know that I was living another life and had tried to protect you from it. However, also by watching this, it would mean that you already know about the life I chose before you were born and was never able to get out of unfortunately." He says. 

"Despite the person I was outside from being your father, I want you to remember me as being your father. Because being your father, made me feel as though for once in my life, I was worthy of having something good in it - other than your mom. I hope nothing but the best for you in your life and know you will be a better person than I ever was." He paused for a moment before continuing. "In a couple days from today, I will be meeting with a man named Giovanni. He has had a hit on me for some time as I have on him and we had decided to meet up and try to make amends. However, at the same time, I do not trust him and must tell you that no matter what happens, just know that I am sorry for everything, including the fact that I couldn't be the father you deserved. But I always have loved you, ever since I first found out your mother was pregnant. You are my world." 

He paused for another moment trying to hold back tears we could tell he was trying to avoid from showing on camera before finishing.

"Anyways, before I go, I want let you know that I have money stored away for you that nobody else knows about and I don't want anybody to know about either. The set of numbers that are behind your mother's and my pictures in the locket is also the codes for accessing the account. I love you. I always have and always will. And one last thing, I need to tell you that some people that you have grown up to call your 'family' there are some that have been working for Giovanni behind my back and who I don't trust. I have my suspicions and...." He then stops as soon as there's a knock at his door and he looks back at the door then shouts out to whomever it is he needs another minute and then looks back at the camera. 

"There aren't many I can trust now and....." He suddenly gets cut off and the tape goes all black. 

"Dad?!" I hear her cry trying to see if there's more to the recording but can't find anything else. That was it. Why the hell was it cut off?!

"Is that it?" I asked her. 

"I-I guess so." She says through sniffles. 

We both sat there for a moment until finally deciding to look through the other files on the desktop and end up finding some interesting things such as Giovanni being the one who hired her father to kill me. 

Next chapter will be posted soon! :)