Chapter 7 Dimitri pt. 2
Maria's POV
The honesty is brutal.
I swallow hard.
"Im right here," I say quietly trying to step out from behind Dimitri.
Both men look at me.
Good.
Let them.
"I don't need to be protected from the truth. I am tired of not knowing who is who and what is going on!" I huffed.
Aleksander's expression softens slightly.
Dimitri studies me more closely now.
Not understimating, but reevaluating me.
"So let me get this straight, you fired at us to warn him?" I ask.
"Yes."
"You could've just pulled up to the front door and knocked like a normal person" I said beginning to feel a bit more courageous as this was all just becoming more and more outrageous.
"And been shot before I even put my hand on the front door?" he counters.
He's not wrong.
Aleksander lowers his weapon slightly.
"If there is a leak," Aleksander says, "we will find it."
"I am already trying."
"Then why tell me all of this now?"
Dimitri's answer is immediate.
"Because if someone comes for her you will burn everything down."
Aleksander doesnt deny it.
And that terrifies me and a little bit of me feel's excited.
The silence shift's and I decide to do the one thing I will proabley regret.
"This isn't about owing gambling debt is it? Can either one of you finally explain to me what the fuck is going on and who exactly yall are? I've stood here scared shitless hearing all of this while my mind has gone to fifty different conclusions." I screamed while stomping my foot down.
Fear.
Silence.
And then Dimitri coughs and looks right at Aleksander with a shit-eat grin.
"You haven't told her, Aleksander?"
Aleksander clenches his fist and then sighs and turns sideways to look at me while still being able to see Dimitri.
"Maria, I never thought it would get this far. I thought it would it just be us at the safehouse until all of this blows over. But now that he is here I can tell this is going further then I ever expected." He takes a deep breath and then continues, "Maria, I am the leader of the Southern divison of the Bratva.......The Russian Mafia."
What the actual fuck.
I pale.
He lied to me.
This can't be true. I am a middle aged, plus size, and night shift waitress who lives in the middle of nowhere in Georgia. This just doesnt happen to people like me. Maybe in the movies and stuff like that, but not people like me.
I lift my arms up and start pulling my hair again into a high pony tail and then pulling my shirt down all nervous habits I do.
I just can't believe this, but it sadly makes sense.
"The Russian Mafia?" I whisper.
Dimitri is coughing trying not to laugh at my reaction. I shoot daggers with my eyes towards him.
"Yes, Maria the Russian Mafia." Alexander says. "I know this is complicated and sounds scary. I never wanted you to know about this, but it seems now that its unavoidable for me not to tell you the truth."
Before I could react any further Aleksander moves quickly towards Dimitiri.
"Go now and find the leak at all costs! Who ever is behind it eliminate it. I will take care of Maria and we will be going back to Atlanta to one of the safe houses no one knows about, unless your the one who will leak it.
"Yes, boss." Dimitri said and without another word disappears into the woods like he was never here.
Aleksander is standing right in front of me. Putting his pistol in the back of his pants and starts to pull keys out of his pocket.
Before I could fathom what I was doing I lifted my hand slapping him across the face with a loud thwack.
With my jaw set tight and my breathing haggard I tried to calm down. But all I could think of was the lies and the fact that my life was in the hands of the Bratva.
Moving his neck side to side feeling his cheek with his hand he muttered "I guess that was warranted."
Moving over to position himself in front of me he grasped both shoulders with his hands and sighed.
"Maria, whether you like it or not we have to move."
He grabbed my hand and unlocks the door to his black mercedez sedan and semi forcing me to climb into the passenger seat.
The engine comes alive and we start heading down the driveway to some unknown destination.
It hits me hard that whatever life I knew, I will never be able to go back.
What would my parents think about all of this? Doing my best not to cry, I focus on what's to come next and howl I'll survive.