Chapter Seven
After taking a shower together, Dmitriy had left Anastasia at the motel room, as he went and got them some fresh clothes. He paid cash and offered a smile. Playing the part of hopeless tourist. Arriving back at the motel, he knew there was no way he could take the car they had arrived in.
Anastasia didn’t ask any questions as she changed into the jeans and flannel shirt he had gotten her. She was also wearing a baseball cap. He returned the keys to the new manager that was onsite, and they walked out of the motel.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“For now, we walk.”
“Is this ideal? Not that I have a problem with walking, I happen to really like walking, but anyone could see us and pull a gun, or run us down.”
“You’ve got to have a little faith. So long as we’re surrounded by people, we should be fine. Just don’t keep looking behind you, or like you’re searching for someone.” He couldn’t help but smile at how cute she was being.
She stopped and looked at him. “Sorry.”
He cupped her cheek. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You do this all the time, don’t you? You blend in.”
“Yeah.”
“How? I mean, look at you. You’re not exactly the blend-in kind of guy.”
“A lot of people go to the gym now, have dozens of ink. Trust me, I’m not a stand-out kind of guy.” He held her hand and checked up and down the street. They were still in Gnesin territory, and for now he had a feeling they were safe.
But he needed to get to his safe place, and it was in plain sight. One of his many hideouts was in one of the casinos Gnesin owned. It was under an alias name.
They walked through the city, taking the time to get closer to the casino.
They stopped for coffee and a sandwich, and Anastasia had stopped asking questions.
They crossed over into a park, and he slowed down the pace, as across from the park, he saw the sign for The Casino.
That was what Gnesin had called it—The Casino.
It wasn’t exactly very original, but he liked to mix originality and mystery with other businesses.
“What’s going on?” Anastasia asked.
“My safe house that has my guns, some money, and car keys, are in that casino,” he said.
“What?” Anastasia asked. “Are you insane?”
“They’re the closest things we have right now.”
“You’re going to get us killed.”
“Only if we get caught and if Gambino is in charge here.” He held her hand. “Do you trust me?”
“I trust you, but it is those people I don’t trust.” She nibbled her lip and took a deep breath. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. Come on, we can do this.”
He smirked as her hand tightened within his. He was not going to let anything happen to her. With him, she was safe.
They left the park, made their way toward the casino, and even though it was still daylight, people were coming and going.
It was easy getting inside. No one paid them any attention, but Dmitriy was on guard. Every person he looked at, he checked for the snake tattoo on the neck.
He didn’t opt for the elevators. That was too risky. Instead, he got Anastasia to take the stairs with him, and she didn’t complain. Even though after the first ten or so flights of stairs, she was starting to sound a little out of breath.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’m guessing people are not stupid and often take the elevators, which is why the stairwells are always empty,” she said. “Did you have to have a spare room so high?”
He liked heights. He liked being able to look over everything.
“We’re here,” he said, stepping into the main hallway and making his way to his room. He had his key card and his code, letting himself into the room.
Nothing was out of place, and he closed the door, locking it, going straight to the bedroom. He had let go of Anastasia’s hand, and she followed him to the room.
“Wow, this is nice,” she said, moving toward the bedroom window. “You can see the whole city from this view.”
He grabbed a couple of duffel bags and started to load up his weapons.
“Do you think Gnesin is working for the Gambinos, or do you think it is the other way?” Anastasia asked.
Dmitriy paused and looked toward Anastasia. “I honestly don’t know.”
“You were known to be his favorite weapon. How can you not know?”
“The last time I wanted to meet in person, he sent a bunch of men to kill me at the cabin.”
Anastasia frowned. “Okay, so what if Gnesin is not working for the Gambinos? What if Gambino has somehow gotten to Gnesin, and he is, like, trapped?”
Dmitriy looked toward her.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know it sounds far-fetched, and I’ve probably watched too many movies.”
“No, it doesn’t sound far-fetched at all. It actually sounds spot on.”
She frowned. “Okay, you’re going to need to fill in those blanks for me, because they are popping right on up.” She offered him a smile.
“Think about it, your family, along with the few others I was asked to take out. They all have close ties to Gnesin. Your family home is secluded, nowhere near any other Bratva member. It is a place where people can conduct their own business without anyone else stepping on their toes.”
He hadn’t thought about this. When he got the message to take out Babkin, he had figured they had been caught doing some kind of deal with the law.
They always had the law breathing down their neck, and it was always a risk.
Now he had to wonder if someone let the Gambinos in, and Gnesin wasn’t running the shots anymore.
“It’s how they were able to set up all of those security cameras,” Anastasia said. “What if they are trying to infiltrate all of Gnesin’s businesses but with minimal bloodshed?”
“The Gambinos cannot win an outright war.”
“However, they can turn the whole Gnesin Bratva against itself without anyone even knowing,” Anastasia said.
“Gnesin could be dead,” Dmitriy said.
He didn’t like that.
“There has to be a way we can find out.”
“There is, but there is also a risk of dying by doing it.”
****
They were able to leave the casino without a single interaction with a guard, or security. Anastasia even saw one of the men nod in Dmitriy’s direction.
She was just going with ideas on how the Gambinos had taken control of Gnesin. There was a chance the order to kill her family didn’t even come from Gnesin, but from their enemy.
Dmitriy had a car, parked in the underground parking facility, and she climbed into the front seat. He pulled the car out of the parking space, and they made their way out and left the city behind.
Anastasia didn’t look back.
The only way to save the Gnesin Bratva was to potentially die trying to save it. The odds were not good. They didn’t know how strong a hold the Gambinos had on the Gnesin household. She didn’t even know where Nikolai Gnesin lived.
If they ran, they were always going to be hunted. The Gambinos would succeed in wiping out the Gnesin Bratva, and although she walked away from the life, there were people that had been her friends. Her parents deserved to have their names cleared.
“Pull up,” Anastasia said.
“We need to get to a safe location.”
“There is no one around, and we don’t know for sure if they are even going to spare the manpower to come after us. Pull over, we need to talk.”
She expected him to argue, but he pulled up just a few feet from where she had asked. It was dark now.
Rubbing her nose, she took a deep breath and turned to look at him. “Regardless of the risks, we need to figure this out.”
“I need to get you to safety.”
“Don’t,” she said. “You are not going to be able to do this without me.”
“Anastasia, I have been doing shit like this for a long time. I can do this without you.”
“But you don’t need to.”
“I’m not going to put you in danger.”
She growled. “You put me in danger the moment you kept me alive. If that order came from Gnesin, and we’re wrong about this, then I am going to die.
He is going to make sure I am hunted until I am dead.
Both of us. I don’t want to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder.
My father did not raise a coward. He raised a fighter, and I do not run away. ”
“You left.”
“With my head held high and my dignity intact. I did not run away. I made a choice.” She glared at him. “And we have a choice right now.”
“What if we’re wrong? What if Gnesin is working with the Gambinos, and it’s his intention to change the Bratva?” he asked.
“Do you believe with your whole heart that Nikolai Gnesin would give up the Bratva, have it turn and make an enemy within itself?” she asked. It seemed like quite a stretch to her.
“People change.”
“Yeah, they do, and then some people don’t change.
Not like this. If we’re wrong, then we die, knowing Gnesin .
.. changed,” she said. “If we don’t do this, and all along the Gambinos were there, then we potentially allow the Bratva to die.
” The very thought of it didn’t sit well with her. In fact, it was terrifying.
“It comes with risks.”
“Everything comes with risks,” she said.
“When I told my parents I wouldn’t marry that fucking pig, they could have killed me for being a disrespectful daughter.
I know I upset my dad, but I also think I made him proud that day.
” She shrugged. “Life is not certain. Everything we have seen and experienced tells us that. I would never for a million years believe that Gnesin would send a group of soldiers to kill his ghost devil, yet that is what he did.”
She pressed her lips together.
“We can’t leave.”
Dmitriy looked straight ahead and gritted his teeth. Silence fell between them, and she looked at him and waited, knowing he was making a decision. They truly didn’t have a choice.
If Gambino was in control, it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for them, unless they assumed they were dead. She didn’t want to work or live with those odds.
“You’re right, we can’t leave, but if we do this, we do it my way,” Dmitriy said.
To that, she smiled at him and felt a little happier with herself, but it also meant there was a chance she would not make it to Christmas.