The Stone Brothers
Michael Stone
9 years ago
There are many ways to explain how reacting to a circumstance out of your control is considered an emotional response to a serious problem hence why we have Law enforcement to enforce rules made for a reason if only those laws blurred into the 5th state. My father was a man of many talents but freedom was never a luxury.
Well, at least not for my family. We were born into a knight's tale, to serve a queen. None of us wanted it, I denied my position at first to pay more attention to the matters of the world. I wanted to create a livable environment using technological means.
But over the years more than a few times the Shadows' names, the unity amongst them drew me in.
They had the influence and skills I needed to accomplish a daunting task. I took the credit as one man but behind me, they always stood. It was a silent code, to protect our own.
We weren't all built to do the dirty work, my brother, and a few others handle the fighting, the hurting, and they enforced the law. I was the tech guy, the one with the smarts and fancy equipment, but over the last few years, I was also the one playing bodyguard to a girl named Dakota Larken, aka Diamond.
She was presumed crazy but she and I knew that it was just a bullshit hoax, a ploy to get people to leave her alone while she worked. In the space of nearly 2 years, she had managed to get everyone including her best friend my sister Kylie to distance herself.
She consumed herself in creating a drug that enhanced human capabilities. She was able to create a DNA altering serum and with my help and technological warfare, we perfected it. We created one sample, only one, and somehow people found out about it. They came after her with no luck. You can't find what isn't on the surface. Her boyfriend, now dead, stole what he thought was the sample. A dummy drug with similar capabilities, but its effects were still not known. We both knew that people were going to die. SO when we heard what happened at the Capello household we decided to both join, and see if we hear anything whispered out of the ordinary.
But when my sister's security on her car and phone went dead and my signals were jammed, including Aliyana's house, I knew the drug wasn't what these people wanted. They wanted something else. Someone. I knew who and I also knew why they wanted her. But what I couldn't understand is why Lucca would want to kill Aliyana, he only did things for gain. They wanted
I turn left onto Aliyana's street. It isn't difficult to find her house. The smoke still lingered in the air. I am not sure what kind of bomb was detonated tonight. But there were casualties.
'I wonder what bomb it was, I'm thinking I should get some samples and have it analyzed in the lab, it might help to pinpoint who it is we looking for."
They wanted the girl my sister took in.
I wasn't sure what part I was gonna play in all of it but what I knew was that I needed to be here looking for her. Kylie was always different from the rest of us, a bit harder on the inside, too normal on the outside. A softer inner core but one of her biggest downfalls was her need to protect everyone.
'Diamond, take my phone and dial the last number I called," I tell my ward since my family decided that her safest place was with me. It was.
We stop outside the Capello house, the gate is a breeze to get through since the police, fire brigades, Mafia, Shadows, forensic team, and who I presumed were the detectives were all still at the scene of the crime. I could imagine what these men are thinking just touching their feet on this part of the fence, and they didn't need a warrant.
Only I knew for a fact Aliyana's father kept his houses clean from anything that could harm his family. I see Aliyana standing with my brother David just as I jump out of the car, Leonardo Catelli faces me. I didn't like the man because he always seemed to have an ulterior motive. I smell the smoke, mixed with the distinctive scent of burning flesh. I didn't hear the whole story, but I knew that Aliyana lost her sister which was inconveniently Leonardo's wife.
Diamond is quiet as she follows behind me, but I can feel her excitement. It is contagious on a nuclear wavelength.
'Do you think they would let me gather some evidence?" she inquires breaking the silence as I look at the four guards posted around Aliyana.
I knew she liked to solve mysteries, and, at another time, I would be glad for it. but today was just not the day for that, I had an idea who did it, but one thing was for sure I didn't think it was Lucca Sanati there were just too many things pointing his way. It was too obvious and nothing this terrible would be so obvious. No sane man would want to kill a woman and an unborn child. No man would wanna kill someone as powerful as Aliyana Capello.
From what I did know about Lucca is that he was friends with Marco and whatever happened between Marco, Vincent, and Lucca of course. There was still something between them, but I don't think it was to the extent that he would kill someone they loved. One reason why I didn't believe he killed Marcus's brother either.
But he did kidnap my sister and I do think he was capable of killing her? Yes. Very capable of raping? Yes. But I knew there was another player in town and I was here to find out who.
I walked toward Aliyana and stopped in front of her.
'David, so the politician has arrived," I say to my brother it was very surprising to see him here.
'Well brother, sorry to disappoint your idea of me, but you are not the only one loyal to the course."I snort at his choice of words as he sneers at Diamond.
'What are you ALL doing here? How are a tech guy and crazy woman going to help?" he questions as he shoves his hands in his corduroy jacket, who wore corduroy these days?
'We were called just like you, so we came." I choose my words carefully.
'Y'all?" he clarifies.
'Yes," I say to him
'Do you have a problem with Diamond, David?"I query. My brother didn't need to answer that question of course he had a problem with Diamond. She didn't take his shit.
She didn't believe his lies and not for one second did she tolerate anything that came out of his mouth. The girl was young but she was not stupid. David couldn't handle that she saw right through his facade and all the stories he conjured up to get people to believe a story. He was a politician after all and with politicians came a bag of worms.
'Now is not the time for brother bickering," Aliyana warns and I can see her try hard not to look at the man across from us standing by the open door.
'You guys are here because somebody tried to kill me tonight and somebody kidnapped Kylie and Amariya. Time is ticking, so we have to find them fast. Vincent is on his way and so is Killer. I will wait for the others. Unfortunately, Leonardo and Marco will not be joining us tonight. It seemed like they had suffered not one death, but three. My sister, her baby, and their father."Aliyana's voice is devoid of emotion.
A part of me wants to blame it on the fact that her sister just got blown up, but I knew that wasn't it. From what I gathered, she was ordering it used to kill Marcello Catelli because they were helping somebody else. They didn't know who they were helping but the person rumored to become Capo Dei Capi was seemingly going to be better and help solve the issues in the 5th state. But before that occurred, they needed a better Capo in the Catelli Famiglia, which meant Deno had to take his father's place.
And Deno wouldn't kill his father.
So Aliyana decided that she would do it for him unfortunately for her she wanted to take the long way of doing things kidnapping first and then eventually figure out how she was gonna kill him but she needed Marcello to confess to killing his son. Trickery NEVER faired well. I don't know if he did do it but a lot of the signs were there.
'Let's get some seats, I want to know all the details. If I am going to be helping, tell me what happened to the wolves?"
'They were poisoned."
'I thought you were the only one who fed them?"
'I wasn't always here so I made the guards put the food out before opening the den."
'Did you smell anything after the bomb went off, maybe sour almonds?"
'I have no idea what sour almonds smell like."
'Like a graveyard!"
'No."
Dexter walks toward us, he is still the same boy, minus the limp, I still can't understand what happened between Kylie and him apart from the fact my sister certainly had no taste in the male species. But in the past when I mentioned it, she always reminded me of my singular status.
Aliyana is rather comfortable when he wraps her in his arms. I take the moment to look at Leonardo who has since moved. He looked like he was ready to leave and so was the police and fire department.
'What did I miss?"
'We were discussing chemical bombs and sour almonds."David chips.
'It wasn't a chemical bomb, the explosive was loud, short and its impact short-ranged. So I am taking it as gunpowder. Home-made. Maybe a bit of skill to set the detonator, but nothing that pinpoints a professional."
Dexter Kent's observation is spot on, if he weren't with my father tonight, I would have considered him a suspect but then again, he had nothing to gain by the death of Aliyana and everything to gain from her survival.
She was the one person who could conceivably get his family out of a treaty they signed centuries ago. The Kent family was in a service debt with the Delroy family. Both were powerful in their own right, but none willing to do what needed to be done and let the past stay lost in the past.
I didn't fault him for his choices.
'How is it touching her so much about bombs?" I ask him. His knowledge about the dark is out of this world and has always boggled my mind, considering he was a fraction of my age.
'Living on the offside teaches you a thing or two," he says with a tolt of his lips.
'Do you think it was Lucca?"
'Who it was I don't know. But what I do know is the one responsible needs to get caught and brought to justice."
'The only justice they gonna have is at the end of my gun. I am going to kill whoever it was that killed my sister."Aliyana promises this, and in another setting, I wouldn't have believed it. But today I can see the death in her eyes. And I know that whoever it is will have their lives in our hands very soon. After all, she had an arsenal of killers waiting to follow orders. But my brother, Killer being one of them ADD in my sister missing, I didn't think it would need much convincing.
There was always a gray line between the Shadows and what they did. Marcus Bray would say that as long as we understood the reasoning the how became irrelevant.
'I think we should focus on the people that we can save and not so much on the people that are gone," Aliyana suggests as she takes a step back from Dexter.
'How is it that you make such a call at a time like this surely you want to revenge your sister. She just died, a baby just passed away, and your house was just blown up. Why do you want to focus on them when you should be worried about yourself. You are allowed to be selfish Aliyana."Xander exclaims
I stare at the boy I've seen a few times around Liston Hills, the town where we grew up. He went to school with my sister's cousin Sienna Bray. I didn't know much about him but what I did know was that he worked for Marco Catelli he was part of his Guard which automatically meant since Marco was guarding Aliyana Xander was guarding Aliyana. Did I trust him? No, of course, I didn't trust him.
Someone had to have access to this house. Someone had to have access to the kitchen. Someone had to have access to the wolves that were now dead. I know the young boy was naive enough to take a bribe and stupid enough to play a part. And no one would even think for a second that he was the main suspect.
But I was always a patient man. if you looked at the details long enough and you focused on all the small things most people would ignore, then you would understand that that whole scene told the story. And in this story, there were two important players. And one of them was lying.
So it isn't a chore when I hold my tongue and look at Xander carefully with no word or comment, no emotion or telltale sign to say I thought anything.
The wind whispers across my face and with that the scent of death that still lingers in the air. I cant even think about imagining how it is or how it will feel to lose a sibling. And I have five of them.
I would like to think that I loved all my siblings and was close to all of them, but like every human, with human emotion, I too had a favorite. One was the girl that was missing. The other was the brother that stood quietly next to me, looking as though he would prefer to be anywhere else besides here. But here he was, not because he liked Aliyana, or because she stood for everything that he was against.
It was because of my sister Kylie. My sister Kylie was the one person in his life that managed to soften up the Ass hole.
She touched his soft side. From the day she came into our lives. However her mother, Hunter Orniel was forever and will be forever, the most hated one on my brothers' list. I didn't fault him for his choices. I didn't worry too much about it. But what I did do was keep a close eye on him because my brother was capable of many bad things. And sometimes those bad things could bleed into our personal lives. And that could harm our family.
Did he have something to do with the disappearance of Kylie? No. But I knew who would, Vincent stone. My other brother. The half-brother. My father's stray from the bad side. My father, like most men, went through a stage, where he too felt the pull of the Mafia. He wanted to also live on the dangerous side. At that stage he was single. I don't think he and Hunter knew what they wanted at that stage. I think she was confused.
I don't think Hunter and my dad would have been together, if not for the death of my mother. But then again, my father never knew the idea or the concept of being a faithful man.
'Can we go somewhere and talk? Sitting ducks at a crime scene never work."
'We can't talk here anyway. There are too many ears listening in to our conversation."
Aliyana looks around as she says this
'I know a place where we can talk," Xander exclaims as he takes a step closer to Aliyana. I'm not sure what I think about it, but I choose to say nothing. From what I did understand about their relationship was that it was meant to be platonic. He was a guard and she was a queen.
'You mean you'll as in not you?" David says staring into Xander's eyes. I turn around for a second to look at Diamond. She became very quiet and seeing that she's gone, I wanna roll my eyes but I don't. I knew she would not be able to handle herself and be on her best behavior when she heard that there was a fire and that Kylie was missing. I wanted to believe that Diamond felt something more than just what she understood as a friendship between her and Kylie but I knew that was not true.
To Diamond, Kylie was a best friend and she loved her in her own way but not more than she loved solving a case and in a way that wasn't a bad thing because we needed Diamond's expertise to solve this case because one thing was for sure, I didn't think Lucca was able to kidnap Kylie and plant a bomb in Aliyana's house and still kill Marcello Catelli. There was more to the story.
Xander frowns as he takes in what my brother just said. I do well to just shove my hands in my pocket and remain silent.
And know that David will handle this the way he sees fit. There were some things that my brother did that I agreed upon, and there were others that I didn't. And one of those things was that he would handle the uncomfortable situation. In other words, we wanted him gone because we didn't trust him. My brother will make sure that happened because where I was a more subtle person in getting my way. My brother took the bull by the horns and we both got the job done, no matter who we crossed. We pissed many people off in the end which is why we have created so many enemies along the way.
The distinctive sound of my brother's motorbike is heard from the distance. I did not like the fact that my younger brother was so involved in this stuff all the time, but Kevin Stone was never an ordinary boy.
He was endless in his wanting need to protect and save the world. My brother suffered from a rare case of Alexithymia. It is not a disorder or even psychological. It's a personality trait with a sign of autism. Obviously, I never explained this to his proud mother, Hunter Orniel.
My father's wife, and for all purposes my stepmother. The woman could not handle the day-to-day activities of raising Kevin, how was she supposed to handle that bit of information? But my father, as well as Marcus Bray, my sister's father, knew and understood that my brother's emotionless soul was a deep lock he kept inside. He must have suffered trauma at birth.
How and where no one knew. But the answer lay in wait with his mother, and she knew there was a reason David never liked her. It was that Hunter was blinded and where she could help Killer she chose to just let him be.
She was blinded by her idea of what a child was, failing to see what they actually are. But where my brother found fault in Hunter Orniel. I, on the contrary, found it quite pleasing. He was extremely logical and knew how to get a job done without getting his hands dirty. I found certain of his specific skills quite well worth my time.
'Killer, I was wondering when you were going to come, it has been a while brother," David says in greeting as Killer, which they now call my brother Kevin Stone, jumps off his bike and removes his helmet.
As he swings his leg over the bike, he didn't look happy to see anyone. But this was not the time to be happy. His sister, our sister, was now missing, and to top it off so was the girl who had him so worked up, to begin with, she called herself Beggar, but her name was Amariya Demarco and she was a stone blooded killer.
My brother doesn't look anything like us. He was a spitting image of his mother, apart from one distinctive feature which was my father's square jaw. If you were Victor Stones' children, you had this great jaw. It's a distinctive feature that all my brothers and I shared. This made all his children look alike but it didn't matter about that. What mattered was the fact that we were all Stones and the sons of Victor Stone. While Kevin and Jace my youngest brother took after their mother mostly there was a resemblance there.
'It hasn't been long enough," Killer says as he walks closer to us with his helmet in his hand. His obvious discontent expression, which I completely understand, considering the circumstances. I wonder if he was here for a while, or did he fly out, it wasn't my jet that they were flying though. But it was interesting nonetheless that he was so quick to get here.
'Well," Aliyana claps her hands together, 'Now they were all here"
'Let's leave this place."She says. We split our time between two cars and we drive to a small bar. Less than 20 kilometers away from the house. Aliyana comes with me and she's very quiet in the car. She doesn't mention a single word. I can only imagine. What's going through her mind? Just yesterday. She was excited about her 21st birthday today.
Today she is faced with dead people, it's another funeral. Will she ever taste the simplicity of just living? Was this her penance, the path she was chosen for? Surely there was more.
The bar was relatively empty apart from the small group of old men drinking by the bar area.
Xander attempts to come into the bar, but I stop him by placing my hand on his chest. I am 6ft8 I giant compared to most people.
'Xander, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude. But you need to keep the fuck out of here. Go home, or back to Marco. Worried about Aliyana? She's fine. I can keep her safe," Killer tells him but my brother has a way of getting his point across and leaving zero room for negotiation. There was a lethal edge to Killer that I couldn't place, he was loyal to a course he understood for now, but I knew the moment things got too complicated he would question it. He knew he was a killer, and the one who controlled him was the most dangerous person in any room.
We walk to the end table of the bar on the Left. There's nothing memorable about the place. It is full of alcohol signs. Commercial branded. Bullshit on the walls and the tables. The place reeks of cigarettes and booze.
Nothing about it screams warm and welcoming. Besides they have an open set of chairs and a table. But what surprises me is that David orders a beer.
Killer gets a double whiskey on the rocks. I take a bottle of water and so does Aliyana. And it's not for the first time I realize besides my brothers, we're the only ones that have come.
I knew Marcus wanted to come, but now with the paparazzi on him. He didn't want anyone to know about Kylie getting kidnapped especially not the reporters. That would be BAD publicity for anyone. Especially for a Bray.
Diamond decided to stay back and see what she could find, to make sense of everything. I didn't say a word when I left.
'Let's first talk about what happened. What do you remember?"David asks.
'I don't remember too much," Aliyana says. 'But I do remember I walked into the house and Lucca phoned me.
'Where were Salvatore and Xander when this happened?"Leonardo? Filippo? I think quietly.
The question is relative because where were they? Her house was being attacked, she was almost killed. Surely they should have been there?
'I'm surprised that you ask because Leonardo was supposed to be around, but he wasn't. I didn't get a chance to talk to him, but from what I gathered he was busy."
'Then we start there."
Killer resumes asking the questions and it is another hour before we are done. As I take Aliyana to the hotel, I am intrigued by how everybody that was supposed to be watching her or around her was busy. Something wasn't adding up.
My phone rings shaking me out of my reverie
'Diamond, I forgot about her," I say with a chuckle.
Aliyana must be deep in her head because she doesn't say a thing. The girl is young and has an entire nation on her shoulders. I pity her to an extent where most people would envy so much power for a young girl.
'I'm taking it you and old Master Kent found something?"
'Well, it is more of a who than a what. Seems like the neighbor decided to do a bit of snooping before the bomb, but you won't believe who it is."
'Come on kid. Stop keeping me waiting."
'The snow brother, Dallion Snow, was in the area when he saw a man in an unknown Toyota Corolla park just around the corner from his house.
Apparently, the man jumped over the wall, so Dallion decided he'd snoop around a bit. But get this, he called a lady, and they were fighting about a kid, a girl, guess who?"
'Mischa."
'Exactly, Dexter also found a small piece of green wire, sticking out from the end of the fridge. It looks like whoever planted the bomb did so using the fridge as a detonator. Not too impressive if you ask me. But it did do damage. However, due to the injuries of the dead victim which we should talk about, the bomb only went off after exactly 10.8. If it was 11 seconds she'd be alive but do not mention that to Aliyana."
'So the bomber was faulty in his execution, and who exactly are you saying did this"
'Someone close to home. I would say one of the guards. But you already know the answer to that, don't you Mister Stone?."
'Yes, Diamond, we'll meet you two at the Hyatt At Olive 8."
'Aren't we going to your hotel?"
'No, my parents are there by now, once they see Aliyana I doubt things would go smooth."
'True. But maybe going to Kylie's place would serve as a better option."
'Not tonight."
I put the phone down and we head in silence to the Hyatt. It was comfortable but unassuming, yet not too much so that someone would want to finish the job.
'Was that Diamond? I expected her to focus her efforts on looking for Kylie yet she's searching for my killer."
'Our first line of business is to identify the link. Only after doing that will we be able to determine whether the two are linked or not. Any word from Marco?"I change the subject.
'No, and I am glad for the reprieve, you wouldn't understand but I think it is his fault."She is soft in her confession and I haven't paid too much attention to the issue but I hear the distinctive note in her voice, she reminds me of myself.
'He is consuming, dangerous, a bit eccentric in his approach? I think I know a thing or two."
'I like you Michael Stone, and to think we hardly spoke."
I smile as I turn the corner, 'We had nothing really in common then."
'Now we do,"
'I supposed so. Diamond has a different way of handling different situations, so don't mistake her lack of empathy for my sisters and Amariya's disappearance for anything besides what it is, lack of empathy. Because if anyone would find the answers we need, it will be he and begrudgingly Master Kent."
'Why do you call him that? Do you have an issue with Dexter?"
'Yes, he didn't fight for my sister, and she fell into an unrequited love fest with my brother. My reasoning states that Dexter would be the perfect match for Kylie. Yet he walked away."
'She knocked him,"
'Yes, but he wouldn't have had the chance to be a famous footballer even if he wanted to."
She is confused. I leave the statement in the air as I drive around the side and enter the hotel's parking lot. I didn't like people driving my car. It made me antsy. Especially in my line of work.
'Was he a …." She begins but must think better of completing her sentence.
'No, the Delroy family has prior arrangements, only his comes with a bit more strings attached and a bigger life insurance policy with it."
She frowns but doesn't say anything else on the subject.
'We're here. We going to wait for Killer and David, they going to check out some stuff at Kylie's place and Diamond and…." I PAUSE, 'Kent, are on their way, but Aliyana I have a word of advice,"
Her eyes are exotics, and her blonde hair is almost golden as she looks at me, I can see the appeal, if only she was a bit older, I didn't dabble in young fledglings, it got messy. But even I had to admit the Queen of Shadows would make for a golden prize indeed.
'My father once said that honesty is a perception of one's remembrance and ability to face up to consequence. But if you wish to know an answer to anything you will find it if you searched long or hard enough. Truth is a conception, the birth of what actually happened. Those words have kept me going since I was in high school. It was my driving force in achieving what I have today. My need for the truth.
Aliyana, I have listened to your story and I have heard Xander's story, including what Diamond has told me. While I am not someone you should trust with anything, you should trust me with this. My sister is out there and maybe, just maybe these two are not linked but I have a feeling it is all linked. The reason is because of Marco Catelli.
Now normally, I would be the level-headed one and tell you to trust your shadows but apart from Diamond, David, Dexter, Killer, and myself, I say trust no one. Whether you choose to listen or not that is on you. But your life affects millions and many of those people out there will never understand what you are or who you are. You make a massive difference and your safety, your survival, your time making those choices, you keep those innocent people naïve and that is something to think about."
She frowns but listens to me, not turning her head or looking away. When I would give Kylie lectures she always looked away, guilty of something. I smile slightly at the thought of her and say a silent prayer that she survives stronger than she was.
'What do I do when they want to know something? What about Marcus? And Xander? Marco? He will not just sit and listen to me, he'll know."
'Marcus can't be trusted because if Kylie's life is on the line and he has to choose, he will choose my sister every time. Xander likes you, he will believe whatever you tell him. Marco is Marco. If you tell him or you won't tell him, he'll figure it out on his own. Whether you choose to lie to him that is your choice."
'But won't you choose your sister?"
I jump out of the car and she does the same, I say nothing as I round my car.
Aliyana walks toward the elevator but I grab her arm, she is short, more so barefoot, in a t-shirt and jeans.
'What Michael?"
'I have more than one sister. The only difference between Marcus and I is I don't forget the other one on the other side of the room."
'Thank you for telling me that. I haven't had time to digest everything, it all happened so fast. Do I need to book a room?"
'No, my secretary handled it. We'll all be staying on the top floor, together. Whoever did this will try again of that I am certain. It wasn't a warning hit, this was murder. You do understand what I am telling you Aliyana."Wait till she digests what it is I am saying.
'Yes, this means war."I smile but there is nothing laughable about this. I never wanted this life but this is what my ancestors thought would be the price of our success and our legacy. A hidden shadow, deep in the night, looking out for all the people, who couldn't understand the world was not only white picket fences but an ongoing war of power.
We head upstairs and Aliyana walks ahead of me, as I spot the three men hired by David, to watch this place.
I am not certain when I breathe with ease, the moment we make it to the top floor or the second Killer and David walk in side by side.