Tough Love

Chapter Ninety-Five

“Could it be graffiti, sir?”

“Yeah, it could be. At this point, I'm willing to check any leads out.”

“There's a back alley near a restaurant in Brighton Beach that has that kind of graffiti on it. There's a number of different tags sprayed onto those walls.”

“Any chance you can give me directions to that alley?”

“Sure thing. It's right near Primorski. If you type the restaurant name into your cell, it'll give you directions straight to it.”

“Great. Thanks. Do you have a good knowledge of what goes on around here? Like who causes the most trouble or what type of trouble I should look out for?”

“Well, there are a number of gangs in the area, but the Russians and Italians have most of the area covered. There's a lot of hidden stuff going on, but it's mostly the usual crime you'd see.”

“Thank you for your help, Officer. Keep up the good work.”

Eli taps on the window when he gets back to the car and I unlock the doors.

He shoots me a smile and says, “See, I told you it would be ok. I think we might have a lead. He gave me a location that might be the alley. It's behind a restaurant called Primorski. Does that sound familiar?”

I think really hard, but nothing springs to mind so I shake my head and apologize.

“No need to apologize, Dani. We're actually making progress here. You can't apologize for what you don't know or remember. Let's see if we can find this place, huh?”

I reluctantly nod. This is all getting far too real and far too close. We're obviously getting closer to where I was dumped and we're running a massive risk of being seen. If they recognize me, there's no telling what they will do. They could and probably would kill us. We've already seen how badly they want me dead. They don't want their little secret out and they don't want any witnesses. They know the men that go there won't say anything. They're either scared they'll be killed, in the Bratva, or just enjoying the benefits of the whole sordid situation.

While the drugs stop me from full out panicking, they don't stop me from being aware of our current situation. My hands are shaking and it's not just because of my fear of remembering or my fear of these people finding me. I'm scared that they'll find Eli and hurt him or even worse, kill him.

I whisper, “Eli?... I don't want to do this any more...”

“Really?”

I nod and he eyes me closely before asking, “What's wrong, Dani?”

“It's too much...”

“You want to leave it until another day? We can always come back...”

I almost shout, “It's not safe!”

Once I realize what I've done, I gasp and cover my mouth with my hands; willing the words to come back.

“I'm not going to let anything happen to you, baby. We won't even get out of the car. We can just drive off quickly if you think something is wrong...”

“If they see you, they'll kill you. I don't want you to die, Eli...!”

I'm trying to get myself under control again, but the thought of losing Eli is more than I can bear.

“I'm not planning on leaving you, sweetheart. I won't let anyone hurt you or me. I promised I'd stay with you until the end, and that's what I'm going to do. No, don't say that this could be the end, because it's not. Ok? I don't want you to back out of this just because you think they'll kill me. I want to find them so you can live without the constant fear of them finding you. Do you want us to go home just because you're worried I'm going to get hurt?”