Chapter Four
Nothing was making any sense to Dmitriy.
He opened up his cell phone and spotted three men entering his property. All of them were wearing black and held machine guns. They were moving with purpose which told him they were trained men.
There was no way anyone could have found him. This had to have come from Gnesin, and it made no fucking sense. Unless, of course, he knew about Anastasia, which just wasn’t fucking possible.
He grabbed Anastasia, and he always had an exit plan.
She didn’t fight him as he moved her toward the back door, and then entered the cabin, setting up the explosives and the trigger.
Once that was done, he left out the back with his guns strapped to his body, and he grabbed Anastasia’s hand, moving toward the woods.
She didn’t say a word, and kept up with him. If needed, he would carry her.
They were a few feet away when the ground shook as his home exploded.
“What the fuck?” Anastasia asked.
He rarely heard her curse, and it made him smile. There was no time to stop, and he continued to walk, making her follow behind him as they kept moving.
“Did you just blow up the cabin?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that? Isn’t that insane?”
“The location has been compromised.” But he always had a backup plan. He hadn’t gotten this far in life without being prepared.
They continued to walk, and he knew no one was following them. The men would have been killed in the blast. They walked for over a mile, to where he kept a car. Pulling out the spare keys from behind the tire, he unlocked the car and helped her inside.
She didn’t say a word as he turned over the ignition and the car came to life with a nice purr. He loved the purr of an engine. Pulling out of his hiding spot, he got onto the main road within less than ten minutes and was heading toward another location.
Anastasia didn’t speak, but she did keep looking back. Dmitriy pulled out his cell phone, and saw there was nothing from Gnesin.
“You don’t need to keep looking back. We’re not being followed,” he said, putting his cell phone away.
“Are you insane? You just blew up your cabin, and ... what the hell is going on?”
“Men had come to kill me,” he said.
“What? Why were they coming to kill you?” Anastasia still kept looking behind and all around them. “Is it because of me?”
“I have no idea. Either Gnesin knows you’re alive, or someone wants me to not know what is going on with Gnesin.”
“Clearly, you pissed off the head Bratva dude.” She leaned back in her seat. “I think I am going to be sick.”
Dmitriy pulled up against the side of the road. “Don’t do it in the car. It will stink.”
She opened the door and leaned out, taking deep breaths. He reached out and started to rub her back.
“It’s okay,” he said.
“I’m fine. I think I’m fine.” Several seconds passed, Anastasia wasn’t sick, and she closed the door. He pulled away from the curb and continued driving. “How are you not panicking?”
“It’s not the first time I’ve had people after me.”
“But you’re the Gnesin Bratva ... killer, right? They call you the ghost devil,” she said.
This made him laugh. “You think I’m a ghost devil?”
“I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you.”
“You have?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know if any of them are true.”
“Don’t believe every rumor you hear.”
“What rumor would you like me to believe?” she asked.
“None of them.”
Some of the rumors were true. He had killed people with his bare hands.
He could hunt and find anyone that was a target.
The rumor that was not true, he hadn’t sold his soul to the devil to get where he was today.
Everything had been achieved with hard work.
He had not stopped until he was the best at everything he did.
They drove for two hours, until he came to a small building lot. The gates were electric, and he entered the code, getting the gates to open which would allow him to pass. Anastasia was quiet as he drove in. The gates closed, and he drove around the back, parking in the garage, and sealing it up.
To the outside world, there was no one here. Once inside, it was a safe house that took him underground to the basement, designed to be secure.
“Wow,” Anastasia said. “This is like some kind of secret spy stuff. How did you do this?”
“I had an idea and worked to see it through.” He wasn’t about to tell her that the people who worked on this place were all dead.
This was the most secure location he had, even more so than the cabin. He would have brought Anastasia here first, but he wanted her to enjoy the outside world. The cabin was not known, and he had no idea who had leaked the location, but he was going to find out.
He turned off his cell phone, then smashed it open to make sure there was no tracker inside.
“What the hell? What are you doing?”
“Someone knew how to trace me to the cabin.” His cell phone was clean. “I’m not taking any chances.” Next, he checked over his bag and every other item in his possession. Nothing.
Anastasia just stood there.
“So, you believe this order has come from Gnesin?” Anastasia asked.
“There is no one higher that could do this,” he said.
“You’ve made a lot of enemies?”
“Most of my enemies are dead, and those that aren’t would not be stupid enough to go through with it.” He opened the box on the wall and typed in the necessary security codes that would keep them safe.
“What’s going to happen now?”
“I need to figure out what Gnesin’s end goal is,” Dmitriy said.
“How are you going to do that?” Anastasia asked.
“Start from the beginning. Your parents’ house was not burnt. It is still standing, which now that you point it out, seems odd to me.”
He made his way across the hallway and pointed out each room to her. “Kitchen, dining room, bedrooms.”
“Is that it?”
“I also have a weapons room.” This is why he didn’t want to bring her to this house, as there was nothing for her to do.
“A weapons room?” Anastasia asked.
She rubbed at her temples, and he knew she was struggling with what had just happened.
“There’s food in the fridge. I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” Dmitriy said. He had to figure out what shit was going down.
“Are you insane?” Anastasia asked, and for the first time since their true acquaintance six months ago, she reached out and touched him.
That touch alone was like a spark. Magical, instant, and it went straight to his dick.
He looked at her, and Anastasia was staring at where she had grabbed his arm, and it was like for a second she didn’t know what she was doing. He waited. Watched. Wondering what move she would make next.
She licked her lips, then took a deep breath. “You’re not leaving me here.”
“I am not taking you with me.”
“Seriously? I could live on my own, and I can scratch and fight like a mean girl, but I am no match for men or women that are coming to kill you. I have never fired a gun. I wanted my dad to train me, but he refused. He said a woman’s place was not behind a gun.
Even my brothers wouldn’t disobey him. You didn’t kill me and now you’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not. I am coming with you.”
He wanted to argue with her, but there was this look in her eye.
“And let’s face it, if you’re going to my parents’ house, it is not like you’re going to know what you’re looking for. You’re going to need me to show you around the house.”
Dmitriy gritted his teeth. He worked alone. However, she made some valid points, and if they were able to find the cabin, he had a feeling those that hunted him would be able to find this safe house.
“Fine, follow me, but shut the fuck up,” he said.
He needed to think, and whenever Anastasia talked, he struggled to think. He liked listening to her talk. It calmed him.
He had to protect her. And to do that, he had to keep his head in the game.
****
Anastasia couldn’t believe she had demanded to come with Dmitriy, and that he had said yes. That was insane. Completely, one hundred percent crazy.
And yet, she was in the car, and they were on the street where she had grown up. She had been quiet during the entire drive here. Dmitriy had demanded that she not talk, so silence was the only answer.
Silence, and being left alone with her thoughts of coming back home to a house she had not seen in four years. The last time she had been here, her mother had cried, her brothers wouldn’t look at her, and her father kicked her out.
She had gone, and been happier for it. Even when her father visited her at work, he never bridged that gap. He was always cold. Never one to give anything away.
Seeing her old home, she felt pain. It was a shock to the system, and she wasn’t prepared for it.
This was home, and she’d been told to never come back.
There had been no doubt in her mind about the decision she had made.
Being forced to marry a man who was evil, she just couldn’t do it. It had been the final straw.
“Are you okay?” Dmitriy asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Is this where ... you ... you know?” She took a deep breath.
“Let’s go.”
Of course he wouldn’t answer that. What sane person would?
The street was quiet, but then she couldn’t recall ever seeing or hearing kids playing in the street.
It had always been quiet. The noise of kids hadn’t been appreciated.
Even her own father had been pissed when she’d been out in the backyard, making noise.
He would tell her to shut the fuck up. He was a good and a bad father.
Dmitriy grabbed her hand, and together they walked toward her front door.
Right before her eyes, each moment she walked toward his front door flashed through her mind.
Her mother’s laughter, along with her father’s.
The anger. Sometimes the hatred of this house.
It was a family home of mixed emotions, but she figured most families had the same experience.