Page 64 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

Vera’s words play in my mind.Love is always worth the risk.

This thing between me and Dima, it’s love. I know it is.

So this is worth it. It has to be.

When Gennady pulls into the parking lot, he curses under his breath. “That has to be Dima’s car. It’s a black rental with tinted windows.”

I remember seeing the cars sitting in front of the airport when I left. There were two of them. One for Dima, one for Ilyasov.

“It’s his,” I confirm.

Gennady curses again when we pull up alongside the car. “He’s already inside. Shit, shit, shit.”

“Okay, so we go in and get him?”

Gennady turns to me, eyes wide. “You say that like it will be easy. There are men with guns in there, Arya.”

“Do we have guns?”

Gennady takes a deep breath and then angles around to reach into the backseat. He comes back with two handguns. “Of course we do. But still, I want to make sure you understand there is a chance we don’t come out of there. I can’t have you backing out once we’re in. If we go in, you have to be ready for whatever we may face. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Love is always worth the risk.

I hold out my hand. “Just give me the gun and tell me what to do.”

Gennady’s expression blurs between admiration and an eyeroll. But he hands me the gun and we step outside.

"There aren't any other cars here. I don't see any sign of active patrols."

"What signs?"

Gennady points at the freshly-turned dirt that has been turned up during the renovation. “No tracks and no footprints on the concrete. If Giorgio has guards here, they're all inside."

"Dima said there wouldn't be very many guards here. Giorgio wants to keep his location quiet."

"Let's hope he’s right."

Gennady goes straight for a side door between two large bushes with an overhanging tree. When he turns the handle, it opens immediately.

"That's lucky," I say.

He shakes his head. "No. That's Dima. He picked the lock."

I follow him inside. The hallway is dark and it takes my eyes a moment to adjust, but Gennady doesn't seem bothered by it. He charges full steam ahead, gun drawn. I do my best to keep up.

At the "T" in the hallway, Gennady stops and presses his ear to the door. "I hear voices."

"Should we go in?"

He shakes his head. "Let's find another door. Dima probably went in this way. We want to come in behind Giorgio, not behind Dima."

I'm glad Gennady is here. At least one of us should know what we're doing. I probably would have walked through the first door I saw and ended up with a bullet between the eyes.

I still might, I suppose. I haven’t had much time to process this truly insane turn of events.

The hallway wraps in a circle around what I guess is the main casino room. We move cautiously through it, ready to fire at anyone who appears.

But no one does. It’s silent as the grave.

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