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“Wait So your uncle is black with him?”

D, more like But yeah, basically”

“Fuck Dmitri, you’re not a criminal You’re a victim”

“No I’m not I still have a choice And I choose to do as I’m told I could stand up to ht and overthrow him Or I could call his bluff and refuse to cooperate As bad as he is, maybe he wouldn’t really let harm come to innocent wo to find out what he’s really capable of And as a result, I’anized crime on the west coast”

“I knew it I knew you weren’t a cri him to me

“Of course I a?”

“Yes And you knohat? Introducing one criminal to another isn’t actually a cri, Dmitri”

“People have probably died because of deals I set in motion Ok, so all I did was s But the end result is that criot hurt And I hatemuch for my role in that shit” Dmitri looked ashamed, and rolled over with his back to me

I spooned tightly against his body and wrapped my arms around him And I told him, “If you want a way out, I’ll help you”

“There’s no way out For years I’ve been trying to figure out how to untangle myself from all of this But it’s impossible Like, say I just take off, run away from the whole situation – which I’ve fantasized about all my life Then my sisters and their families are left unprotected Worse They’re left to the mercy of my uncle”