Ray and I decided we would take our significant others out to dinner for our birthday. Matthew had surprised me earlier in the day with a ring. One I had been eyeing the last few times we went to the mall. He said it wasn't an engagement ring, it was just a gift...that he had been fitted for my ring finger. Either way I didn't mind since I liked the ring.
Victor had gotten Ray the smartwatch he had been talking about getting for about a month. I think he just wanted one of us to get it for him for his birthday, so he was holding off on getting it for himself.
From conversations with both Ray and Victor I could tell the two of them were falling pretty hard for each other. Neither of them really wanted to admit it, but I could see it, the two of them completed each other in a way I couldn't. I knew it would be a while before they could admit it to each other, but I knew it wouldn't be long and that they would be together for a long time. Looking at them always made me just a tiny bit happier.
That night in bed I wanted to make sure I double checked with Matthew on a few things.
"You still like me, right?" I whispered to him.
"Oh God, not this again." He mumbled.
"Hey, it is senior year, I want to make sure."
"Yes, Rita I still love you. Yes, I still want to be with you. No, I don't think I will leave you or that you will leave me. Yes, we can name our first son after your brother."
I nodded confirmation. "Okay, perfect."
He laughed at me and fell asleep within minutes. Every few weeks I liked to confirm Matthew's feeling for me. Not that he acted different towards me or treated me and particular way, I just felt he was too good to be true. Every night we went to bed I wondered how I had gotten so lucky to land someone as kind, sweet and caring as Matthew.
And hour after he fell asleep, I was still having trouble sleeping, because I had decided that I would ask my Dad about what I saw when he got home, which was supposed to be tonight. I didn't want to do it, but it was getting to me really bad now and I knew I had no other choice but to ask if I wanted to bring myself back to the way I should be.
Around midnight, I heard him come home. I snuck out of bed and down to his room where I saw him putting his clothes away.
I knocked to get his attention and he turned to look at me. "Hey Ritakins, what are you doing up?"
"Waiting for you." I said innocently.
"What's on your mind?" he said sweetly.
I walked into his room and closed the door behind me. "There is something we need to talk about."
I took a seat on the couch he had in the room and his look changed to concerned as he took a seat on his bed.
"Go on." he said.
I took a deep breath because this is the most courage I have had to build up in my entire life. I was going to accuse my father of something that I was one hundred percent certain about now. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Now, I just wanted him to know that I knew, which was the scariest part.
"A few days ago, I came across something. I didn't mean to find it, but I did. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what it meant and had I not found this one name, I wouldn't have been able to figure it out. I tried to tell myself, there was no way my Dad could do this, but then I thought some more about it, and I realized that I didn't really know my Dad. He could be capable of anything in the world. I wouldn't have known what these names meant, had you not been so proud about your hit on Uncle Brian." His face had lost all color and he was completely silent and still. "As I was thinking about these numbers that I saw, I wondered what these larger numbers could possibly mean. Ten thousand was a big number, but it was subtracted from Uncle Brian's name, which I took to mean that you paid someone ten thousand dollars to kill him." My Dad started to look uncomfortable as I stared at him. "Considering you seem to usually pay five thousand for hits, if I am correct, that is a pretty steep. But I know why you paid such a high price. So, if the minus was you paying someone, then the plus sign was someone paying you. My next thought was, what could they be paying you for? Obviously, the same thing you paid them for. That was when our lives started to click together. The long trips out of town all the time, you telling us we needed to prepare for if something were to happen to you. Something is happening and you are preparing to leave." I stared over at him blankly. I said a lot and I sat there for the seconds it took him to start crying, hoping I was wrong.
He took a deep breath and leaned his head into his hands. "I am almost glad you found out." he sniffled, "I didn't want to leave without telling you guys why I had to go."
"What am I supposed to do?" I cried to him, "Part of me says do the right thing and tell the police because this is all so wrong Dad. What you did is horrible and disgusting." I cried because I couldn't believe I was right. My father was a hitman. "But when I look at you, you are my father and I know you love me more than anything else in the world and I know I never want anything bad to happen to you. And I pray to God that anyone you murdered did horrible things in their life and you were simply ridding the world of them."
I wiped my face, trying to control myself. He came to me and kneeled down in front of me. "Honey, I can't tell you who any of these people were, but I can promise you they were all very bad people."
"I'm not even sure that matters." I cried, "It is still wrong."
"I know," he placed his shaking hand on my cheek, "I didn't mean for you or anyone to find out. This doesn't reflect me as your father. I still love you and would do anything in the world to protect you and your brother." His face was so red and he cried so hard, I didn't know how not to love him.
"I know you would." I whispered. "I'm just not sure how much I'd be willing to do to protect you right now."
He sniffled and wiped his face. "Baby, I need you to listen to me. I am going to give you information, but I can only give it to you once. You cannot write it down or tell anyone, not even Raymond."
I gave him a nod.
"The storage unit down on twenty-fifth street, unit number seventy-one. I need you to remember that. The little key that hangs in the kitchen unlocks that unit. When I leave, you must change the lock. The name on the unit is under is Jack Ricter. You cannot forget that name, it will keep you alive. That is where all the money is. It must stay there. You take what you need little by little. Not too much at a time. You don't have to move it, it will be moved for you every year or two. Once it has been moved, the manager will leave you a key for unit seventy-one. When you go to the unit, inside you will obtain the information for where your money has been moved to." He wiped his face and nose again. "I cannot tell you anything because if they come to you, then I want you to be able to say you don't know anything and be telling the truth."
"Okay." I took a deep breath and repeated the information he gave me in my head.
"When I go, this will all belong to you and Ray, the names will be changed over on everything. The house, the cars, the bills, everything will belong to you and Ray. And my last piece of information for you is," He took a deep breath and held it in for a moment, "your real last name is Carter. I gave us all fake last names years ago. We moved here from Pennsylvania, the name was too well known there, so I changed it. We have been Allen for the last eleven years. But if anyone at the storage unit asks your name, it is Rita Carter."
My head hurt so bad. I leaned over putting my head into my own lap. I did my best not to let this information overwhelm me, but holy shit it was a lot. I wanted to reject everything and just tell myself it was not true. But I knew it was. I knew everything I had pieced together was correct. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he didn't deny it. And I was sure he did a lot more than what was written in that book.
"Were you waiting for us to turn eighteen?" I said.
"No, not at first. At first, I just did what I did. But now people are snooping around, the federal kind. My last two trips have been to make sure everything is in place for me to leave after you guys were of age."
"Which is today." He nodded, "When do you leave?"
"I don't know yet. But please let me enjoy this time, because I can't come back. I know they are close. If they find you guys, they will be watching for me to come visit, so I can't."
"Is it just the feds looking for you. Be honest."
He hung his head, "I don't think so."
"Who else do you think is looking for you?"
"Mob boss, I am not sure though, because he would have found me by now, I am sure of it. But if he is looking for me, and finds me here, it won't be just me he takes out."
As much as it hurt to think of, I needed to make the decision for him and for the rest of us.
I sighed, deeply. "One-week Dad. Please have everything done in one week. You are endangering all of us right now. I love you and I really don't want you to go, but I can lose you to save the other three people in this house that are completely innocent."
"I know, honey, and you are right. I will get it taken care of."
When I woke up the next morning, I forgot about the talk with my Dad for five minutes, then it all came crashing back down. I kept repeating the information to myself over and over. I was able to keep myself from falling into a depression, I think I was just shocked. I always believed my dad was kind and sweet and unable to hurt a fly, but I was wrong. I may not know who he killed, but he killed a lot of people in his lifetime. Everything inside of me said to go to the cops, give him in, they are probably looking for him. But then I looked at him and he was my Dad, he loved us and cared about us and accepted us. After my mom left, he made sure we felt his presence and love. He sat at the table eating breakfast with us laughing at Ray trying to work his new smartwatch. I couldn't turn him in, I wanted him for this last week, not just for me, but for us.