The Roadtrip

twenty-eight

I slammed the car door and stomped my way towards the motel room.

I was still angry he put me through that and how could I forget his little deal? How was he going to keep me safe if he made a deal to hand me over to Miko?

"Maria," He called out as I entered the room. I paced back and forth thinking about everything he had said. He still hadn't promised to keep me in the loop, I could not go on this way.

How the hell did we even end up in a Russian drug town?

"Calm down," He said locking the front door.

"Calm down? Calm down?" I said. I replayed everything that went down at the club. Think Maria.

The bodyguards, they saw me tied up and stepped aside even though it was day time.

Girls, they do business selling women. That's how he got by them, right?

Ok, Dimitri, Miko, they hadn't met Will yet. Will said he went to check out the cargo ships instead of the club.

But Will knew Miko was there.

My head whipped up. We'd been heading North West for a while.

"Maria," Will said stepping forward. I stepped back. "You knew" I said.

We didn't just happen upon a drug town. Will was smarter then that, smarter then me or anyone else gave him credit for. "Were you looking for the drug town or did you know where it was all along?" I asked. "Maria, don't start drawing up stories-stop!" I him cut off.

"If you just let me explain," He said. "You just need to trust me," He said. Trust him!?

We stared at each other. Could I blame him for all his secrets? I chose to stay with him, it was clear he was hiding a lot. What could blame him for was putting me through bad situations, especially without warning.

"I'm used to working alone, I'm sorry I don't blurt out every idea I come up with," He said. "So you were looking for this place?" I said. "Yes, Miko used to run the money laundering front my mom, my uncle and me used to work at. That's where I first met him. We all knew he was setting up shop here so figured that's where he ran off too once I got stabbed and stopped making him money," He said. "And Vickrov was the name of the front back in Boston, Vikcrov dry cleaners, named after Miko's old boss who he killed to get bumped up here, that's how I knew he was there," He finished.

Even his mother was a criminal. It's like he was made for this. I wasn't, the idea of Russian gangsters with big guns shook me to my core. It was like at every turn it was getting deeper, scarier.

"I knew it had to be somewhere on the coast of Washington state, I just didn't know where but I knew we were bound to run into it," He said. "We're lucky we found it fast," He said.

"How long?" I asked.

"How long what?" He asked. "How long did you have this figured out?" I asked. "The minute you shot out the glass window and showed me you were serious about this, about me," He said.

My breath hitched.

"I know Maria, I get it but you need to trust me if were gonna get through this," He said. "You need to keep me informed about the plan," I retorted.

"You're not cut out for this," He said. "It's better that you don't know everything," He said. "No, you tell me everything from now on," I said. His mouth pressed in a hard line.

"What are you so afraid of? It's not like I can leave, we're wanted all over the country, I don't have a choice but to stay with you," I said.

"Even if I can't handle it I'm still stuck with you, so just tell me the plan," I said. His eyes bore into mine soaking in my words.