Chapter Nine
“We’re not going to know unless we get inside that house,” Anastasia said.
Dmitriy had wanted to leave her at his safe house.
That way, he would be able to do a little closer recon without her in danger.
However, he should have known Anastasia wouldn’t just happily stay behind.
Instead, she insisted on coming with him, and the truth was, he couldn’t say no to her. Apart from this.
“Hell, no,” he said.
He already started the car and was making his way back toward their safe house. It had been three days of watching Nikolai’s residence, and other than seeing some of the staff leaving, nothing looked out of place.
The only problem was Nikolai Gnesin had in-house staff.
Once they worked for him, they were not allowed to leave the property.
It was why his staff usually comprised of older people.
Those that didn’t have a family. It was a strange setup to some people.
He used older people, who were happy to stay in a large mansion, serve him, live their life, have their own bedroom.
In a way, Nikolai Gnesin had built himself a loyal family. The people leaving the house were young. He didn’t know if this meant Nikolai was dead, or if he was captive. Going in would mean certain death.
“Come on, Dmitriy. There is no way you can go in. You told me that. They know who you are. At least they do now, but they don’t know me.
First, I am young, and don’t even give me that.
I am twenty-five years old. That is young, and I can fit right in,” she said.
“They are all in their own clothes. I could do this.”
“I am not going to put you at risk. You don’t know what you’re doing, and if they do know you, you’re as good as dead.”
He gripped the steering wheel, because the truth was, he couldn’t handle the thought of anything happening to her. If she were to die, he would ... there was no telling what he would do. It wouldn’t matter if there was a Bratva or a Mafia, he would destroy them all.
“How are they going to know me?” Anastasia asked. “Think about it, they gave you the order that Babkin was to die, right? We all know that total annihilation meant you would have to kill me. Those are the rules, but they don’t know I’m alive.”
“We’re assuming that.”
“Unless they had cameras set up at my parents’ house,” she said.
“We’re not doing this.”
“Damn it, Dmitriy, this is the only way and you know it.”
He pulled the car into the driveway of his property. The doors were still locked, and he glared at her.
“You get in there, and your assumptions are correct, what then?”
“I work, and I find my way around his place. It’s a pretty big place, and the new girl could get lost.” She shrugged.
“You’re insane. You cannot take care of yourself. You don’t even know how to fire a gun.”
“Then teach me,” she said. “Show me how to fire a gun.”
“Hell, no. There is not enough time to teach you everything you need to know to protect yourself.”
He saw her eyes roll, and it was so incredibly cute.
“You’re out of options,” Anastasia said, and he saw her anger building. “We don’t have anyone else, and I am all you’ve got. Teach me enough to get me out of there safely.”
He got out of the car, slamming the door, and heard Anastasia follow close behind him.
Dmitriy needed a moment to think, but of course, he should have known she would have other ideas. What he hated most was, she was right. The moment he saw the staff leaving the house, Anastasia was his only option. He was compromised.
He needed to know if Gnesin was still alive. If he was, then he had to get him out, and the Bratva had a chance. But if he was dead, he needed to get Anastasia far away. He ran fingers through his hair and turned toward her. She was still talking, but he had tuned her out.
Pulling out his gun, one that could be easily hidden on her body, he slapped it into her palm.
“If we do this, we do it my way, and only when I know you’re ready.”
Her eyes went wide. “You’re going to trust me?”
“As you told me, I don’t have much of a choice. I need to know if Gnesin is alive, and if he is worth saving. You’re my only shot.”
There was no one else. Especially no one he trusted. There was only Anastasia.
“Let’s see what you’re made of, Babkin.”
He moved her around the back of the house, and there were several tree stumps. He figured the previous owners of the house liked to shoot, as each tree stump moved further away, but provided the perfect spot to rest bottles, or cans, or whatever target they wanted.
Dmitriy found five empty bottles, and he moved across the large field, placing them where they needed to be, then he walked toward her.
She held the gun in her hand, and it looked .
.. odd. Anastasia could pretend all she wanted, but she was not comfortable holding a gun.
She looked nervous. He didn’t want anything to happen to her.
“Take aim, and shoot.”
She held the gun up, and he saw she didn’t have a clue what she was doing.
First, the safety was on. She pressed the trigger, and of course, nothing.
She did so again and again, until he finally took pity on her and stared into her eyes, as he gripped the gun, giving her a pointed look.
He didn’t even need to look at the gun to know how to take off the safety.
Anastasia had so much attitude as she rolled her eyes. “So, I don’t know how to take the safety off. I didn’t even know it had a safety, so what?” She shrugged.
As for Dmitriy, he knew, at this moment in time, they were fucked. He could leave. But Gnesin hadn’t been an asshole to him. He had given him a position, and he hadn’t been pissed that he had killed his parents. Not when he saw the scars. He owed Gnesin the chance to survive.
Anastasia was innocent, and if they somehow managed to pull this off, he was going to make sure she never had a target on her head again.
****
In all her life, Anastasia had never entered Gnesin’s home, but as she did so now, there was a real fear, which she tried to hide.
No one stopped her. She had waited for the majority of the staff to arrive, and she hadn’t smiled or played nice.
Instead, she held a bag across her body and waited to be patted down by one of the guards.
Every woman had a bag, and she was nervous about them looking in hers.
However, as the guard was about to check her bag, someone distracted him, then the bag was opened, closed, and handed right back to her.
She had no idea what she was doing, and Dmitriy told her to follow the crowd, just keep her head down, lay low.
He wouldn’t be too far, and if it went sideways, she was just to run.
Seeing the guards, getting a glimpse of the inside, she was not going to be able to run. This was a fortress.
Dmitriy had told her what to look for, and it came as no surprise to find many Gambino guards and not a single Gnesin guard. She couldn’t see signs of dead bodies or blood. All that evidence must have been covered up.
After making it through the main clearance, she followed the rest of the women to the back of the house, and they made their way to the locker. She had a little trouble finding the necessary maid’s outfit, but she finally figured it out and was able to start the process of cleaning the house.
Anastasia had no choice, on that first day, but to follow the rules.
She took notice of everything—where the guards were stationed, the changes that were made.
She kept a close eye on the staff as well.
There were both male and female staff, and she tried not to show nerves when she was stopped. Each room had a guard.
Anastasia couldn’t figure out what had been changed. She had never been to Gnesin’s home. She only had the brief description Dmitriy had given to her, and right now it wasn’t the best information to go on.
When it came to lunch, they were all rounded up and forced to eat outside. She had packed her own lunch. While outside, she continued to watch the house, and if a guard looked her way, she would quickly glance up to the sky.
It was a lot of work, but everything was running like a machine. By the end of the day, the uniforms were taken from them, and they were all escorted off the property.
Dmitriy had told her to turn left and keep walking until she saw his car. He was there, glasses on, as she got closer to him. She didn’t know what he had been up to, but the moment she climbed into the car, he leaned across the seat and pulled her in close, taking possession of her lips.
“You made it.”
“I made it.”
“Let’s not talk here, come on.” He turned the car around, and they headed in the opposite direction.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I want to make sure you’re not followed. We’re only assuming they don’t know who you are, but we don’t know for certain. Anyone could be following you.”
She hadn’t even thought about that. Glancing behind her, she tried to see if anyone followed, but there was no one there.
Nibbling her lip, she didn’t know how long they drove, but he finally pulled up outside a drive-thru burger place and ordered them some food.
They stayed in the car, and Dmitriy was like a completely different person when they were around people.
It was odd to see the ghost devil acting so normal.
She liked it, but then she had come to realize she liked a lot of things about Dmitriy.
“Tell me about your day. The whole setup, everything.”
She told him about everything, from the moment she entered the house, the guards checking her stuff, and also how easily he was distracted.
“That’s still not good. We can’t risk you taking a gun. Anyone would be able to sense it or feel it.”
“They don’t have any sensors, though,” Anastasia said.
“That’s because they’re being sneaky little shits. They don’t know we finally figured out that something is not right with Gnesin. Go on.”