We leave the warehouse the same way we came in, and no one tries to stop us. The neighborhood's too rundown for anyone to care about gunshots, and by the time the cops show up, we'll be long gone, anyway.
The bad part about all of this is having to return to Tatiana and let her know that this is way bigger than we thought, and it doesn't matter that the men who saw her face are dead now. She has gotten caught up in a much larger issue, and I'm not sure how we'll fix it now.
But I can't let her go until it's done.
And she's going to hate me by then.
18
TATIANA
The dice tumble across the green felt and I hold my breath waiting to see where they land, and… seven. The shooter busts and everyone at the table groans. I've been standing here for twenty minutes watching other people play while trying to keep my mind occupied with anything except the fact that I'm trapped in this casino with a babysitter following my every move.
Lazar stands three feet behind me with his arms crossed and his eyes watching every move I make in this crowd. He's as annoying as my shadow. I can't get away from him even to urinate alone. It's ridiculous.
"You playing or just watching?" The dealer looks at me expectantly.
"Playing." I push chips forward and pick up the dice when they're handed to me.
My first roll is a four. I roll again, trying to hit the point, but I get a six instead. The dice feel slippery in my sweaty palms, and I wipe them on my jeans before throwing again.
Another six. Then a nine. Then finally a four, and the table cheers. I've made my point and won back what I bet plus a little extra. The dealer pushes chips toward me, and I scoop them up without counting them.
"Nice roll." The man next to me grins. "You've got good luck today."
I don't feel lucky. I feel like a caged animal looking for any crack in the bars that might let me escape. I place bets, but the whole time, I'm looking for a way out. If Lazar would only let his guard down, I could slip away easily and fade into the crowd where he can't track me. But the man is a fucking leach. I have to give him credit. He's good at his job.
Three more rounds and I'm up fifty dollars. The other players are excited because I keep making my point, and I'm still just as bored and stuck as I was two hours ago when I came down here to try to distract myself. It's not working, though, and I don't even like this game.
"I'm done," I tell them, and I start collecting my chips to cash out. I have no idea what to do next. I definitely don't want to go back to Dimitri's penthouse to just sit there bored out of my skull doing nothing. Lazar will never let me go tend to business that I need to, like talking to my landlord to make sure he's fixed the door and locked my place up, or visiting Lena in the hospital.
The only thing I know that I'm allowed to do that will reliably eat up my time and make my mind focus on anything other than being trapped and hostilely shadowed is work, which has the power to ruin any day. I haven't worked on the floor now for long enough that it's easy to justify the crude behavior of the men I'll be serving as a valid means to busy my anxious mind.
"I'm going to work." I stand up from the table and turn to face Lazar. "My shift starts in ten minutes."
"Boss said your job is in his penthouse." Lazar doesn't move. "What're you gonna do up there?" He stares at me with a dumb expression, almost a smirk, and I roll my eyes at him.
"He said I could work if I wanted to." I start walking toward the employee area. "And I want to. I'm going crazy sitting around doing nothing… I’m gonna talk to Linda and see if she needs help on the floor, so you can follow me if you want or not, but if you try to stop me, I'll scream rape and you'll have a thousand eyes watching what you do." I wouldn't really do that.
How would I explain to the police? Tell them Dimitri Gravitch is holding me hostage because I witnessed a murder on his property that he's trying to cover up? I'm sure his entire family would love that. I'd be running from two different Mobs then.
Lazar follows, but I can tell he's not happy about it by the way his shoulders are squared and the half-glower, half-scowl he has on his resting bitch face. "I'll need to stay with you," he grumbles when I smirk at him and turn to walk away. He follows on my heel across the floor, weaving through the tables with me until we're in the staff area, and when we get to the hallway to the locker rooms, I turn and stop, leaning on the women’s locker-room door.
"You can't come into the employee locker room." I push through the door and let it sink inward with my weight as a plan starts to form. "It's women only."
"Then I'll wait outside." He stops at the entrance and glares at me as he peeks over my shoulder. I hear women in theresnickering, and I know they'll pitch a huge fit if he tries to come in like he did at the restrooms earlier. "Don't take too long."
The door swings shut behind me, and I see him glare at me through the small round window as I turn and round the corner. The women barely look up at me. I've never seen them before. They must be new, probably people to replace me since I’m not working the floor anymore. It makes sense anyway, and since they don't know me, they don't care what I’m doing. I go straight to the back where I know there's a window. I've never paid much attention to it because when I'm in here, it's to use the toilet or change for work.
But today, I want to know if it can be my escape.
Sadly, the window doesn't open. It's made of thick glass that's fogged from age and exposure to elements and I can't even see out fully, besides the fact that it's so high up, I have to push one of the trash cans up to it in order to reach it.
It frustrates me for a second, but I get the bright idea to break it. The trash can is light enough to lift, but hard enough to potentially break the glass, so I pick it up and launch it at the glass, only to watch it bounce right off. Not once, but twice. It's pointless. This window isn’t going to break, and now those girls are just staring at me.
"You okay?" one asks, narrowing her eyes as the other one chuckles.
"Peachy," I grumble. Ignoring them, I go to my locker and pull out my nametag and swipe badge. The jeans I'm wearing will have to do, and the blouse isn't company policy, but Linda will just have to deal with it today. I'll tell her Dimitri said I can dress how I want now. That'll keep her quiet.
