Page 66 of Ivory Ashes

“The tutor is here.” Stella waves for Dante to follow her, but her eyes keep flicking to Anatoly untangling himself from the curtains.

“What’s a tooter?” Dante asks, making a fart noise with his mouth.

“Get it out now because you are not going to do that when we meet her,” I warn him. He continues making fart noises as I explain. “She’s going to be like a teacher, but here in the house.”

He frowns. “I already have a teacher. Mrs. Campbell is my teacher.”

This. This is why I’m not thrilled.

As great as things may seem, Mikhail still pulled my son out of his school and away from the life we built. At the end of the day, Mikhail is a Bratva pakhan. He’s used to everything in life going his way. If Dante or I try to push back, he won’t be open to compromising.

I ruffle Dante’s hair. “I know, but now, you have two teachers! How lucky are you?”

Dante grumbles something I can’t hear, but it doesn’t matter because we turn the corner and there she is. Dante’s tutor.

The woman has pitch black hair pulled back in a severe bun on the top of her head. She’s wearing wire-framed glasses perched on her thin nose and a green sweater vest over her button-down shirt.

I want to ask what came first: the job or the wardrobe. She looks like she stepped out of an encyclopedia page for tutors.

Instead, I hold out my hand and smile. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Dante’s mom.”

“I’m Mrs. Steinman.” The woman shakes my hand, but her attention quickly shifts to Dante. She kneels down in front of him and, in an instant, she comes alive.

A smile spreads across her face and everything that looked severe a second ago suddenly looks approachable. The bun flops back and forth when she talks, her eyes crinkle with the grin, and her glasses are in little half-circle shapes. She looks like a real-life cartoon character.

“I’m so happy to meet you, Dante!” she beams. “Do you want to help me get set up for today? I have so many activities planned for us that I’m going to need your help.”

Dante twines his hands together behind his back and shuffles his feet across the carpet, but his nerves evaporate as soon as he pulls the giant, rainbow-colored dice out of Mrs. Steinman’s bag.

I watch from the doorway as Dante and Mrs. Steinman take turns rolling the dice. Each number is associated with a different activity—a dance move, making a shape out of fuzzy pipe cleaners, finding alphabet sounds around the room. Dante is grinning from ear to ear as he rolls a four and then races over to make a butterfly out of red and orange pipe cleaners.

“She isn’t going to disappear with him,” Anatoly whispers from behind me.

I roll my eyes but slip out of the doorway and into the hall. “I know.”

“Really? ‘Cause you lurking over his entire lesson gives off nervous energy.”

“I just met this woman fifteen minutes ago. Am I supposed to just walk away and leave her alone with my kid?”

“She’s been vetted,” he says like that is reason enough. “Mikhail actually paid to swipe her from her position with some senator’s kids. She’s the best of the best.”

“According to Mikhail.”

Anatoly sighs. “I understand the chip on your shoulder, Viv. I really do.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that.”

He smirks. “And I wish you’d stop pretending you hate it—and us—so much. Maybe if you let yourself relax for a second, you’d realize that life here isn’t so bad.”

Anatoly is saying out loud what’s been silently floating around in my head for the last twenty-four hours. So I tell him exactly what I’ve been telling myself.

“It’s not so bad now, but it won’t always be this way. Mikhail’s life is dangerous. This world is dangerous.”

“Life is dangerous,” Anatoly retorts. “The only difference between being out there and in here is that, in here, Mikhail is going to do whatever it takes to make you and Dante safe and comfortable.”

I snort. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Then keep looking around, Viv. You’re family now. Mikhail is going to treat you right.” Anatoly tries to pinch my cheek, but I dodge him. “Maybe he’ll even treat you extra right on your date tonight.”

---