Page 35 of Trapped with the Ice Queen

Vivienne froze. It was a harsh contrast to the warmth of the room, the sound too loud in the quiet, the jarring ring pulling her out of the cocoon she’d been living in. The screen flashed to life, and for a moment, she just stared at it. The name on the display sent a wave of dread through her—a contact she hadn’t seen in over a week, someone from her office back in New York.

She’d almost allowed herself to forget about the outside world, the way the storm had swallowed it whole, leaving her in a small, insulated bubble with Alex. But now, the intrusion felt like a breach, something that had no place here in this fleeting moment of peace.

With a slow, deliberate motion, she picked up the phone from the couch, her heart thudding as she accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear. She tried to swallow the knot that hadformed in her throat but found it stuck there, lodged tight with the weight of the decision she knew was coming.

“Vivienne,” the voice on the other end greeted her, its tone too familiar, too cold. It was all business, a voice that could have belonged to any one of the countless people who had called her before, demanding her time, her attention, her life. “We’ve got a situation. We need you to come back. It’s urgent.”

Her stomach twisted in response, and she glanced toward the window, watching the delicate snowflakes fall. They seemed to mock her, drifting with no purpose other than to exist. She couldn’t let herself think about what was happening beyond the confines of this cabin. Not yet. She had been running from it, from the calls and the endless demands, trying to hold on to the fragments of something real, something she hadn’t known she could want until now.

“Can’t it wait?” Her voice was small, almost a whisper, but even as she spoke, she knew the answer. It couldn’t wait. It never could.

There was a pause on the other end, andthen the voice came back, clipped and professional. “Vivienne, this is serious. We need you here. Now.”

The weight of it settled on her chest like a stone. She had tried to push it out of her mind, the constant pressure to return, to step back into the role—the prison—she had created for herself. It had always been this way. She had built her life around the demands of her career until there was nothing left to give but the hollow shell of her own expectations.

The reality was crashing back in, the promises she’d made to herself about change, about stepping away from it all, slipping through her fingers like water. It wasn’t just about the phone call, or the job; it was about everything. About what her life had become, and what it was never meant to be.

It wasn’t meant to be this hard.

Vivienne’s grip tightened around the phone, the cold metal pressing into her palm. She wanted to scream, to throw the damn thing across the room. Instead, she inhaled deeply, the air filling her lungs with a false sense of calm.

“I’ll be there as soon as Ican,” she said, her voice sounding distant, even to herself. It was the only answer she could give.

She ended the call without waiting for a response, her finger trembling as she pressed the red button to disconnect. Her heart pounded, and she felt the walls of the cabin closing in on her.

Alex was still in the next room, oblivious to the turmoil stirring inside of Vivienne. For a moment, she considered going to her, seeking comfort, trying to put off what had just become all too real. But it was impossible. The weight of the decision hung in the air, and Vivienne knew there was no escaping it.

She stood, pacing to the window, pressing her hand against the cool glass, as though it might provide some answer. Outside, the storm had subsided completely, but Vivienne couldn’t shake the feeling that it had simply been replaced by something else: a storm of her own making, one she couldn’t outrun.

She glanced back toward the small flickering flames in the hearth and then at the door that led to the rest of her life.

She had to go back. But that didn’t mean she had to leave everything behind.

Not yet.

Vivienne sat in the silence of the cabin, her hands cold despite the warmth of the fire. The phone call had been an unwelcome reality check, but it was the silence afterward that had swallowed her whole. There was nothing left to do but face the tempest brewing inside her.

She hadn’t planned on leaving. Not like this. She hadn’t imagined that the quiet space they’d carved out for themselves could end so abruptly, her world cracking open to reveal the pressure and weight of the life waiting for her back in New York.

Her thoughts spun, each one tighter than the last. She had told herself that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different. That she could step away, let go of the demands of her career, let go of the life that had kept her tethered to a version of herself she no longerrecognized.

But that was before the call. Before the reality of the work waiting for her, the world that was demanding her return with its cold indifference. Her fingers trembled as they gripped the edge of the table, staring at the half-empty mugs of tea that had once felt like the center of something meaningful. The storm outside had cleared, but the turbulence inside her hadn’t.

Vivienne closed her eyes, trying to center herself. She didn’t want to bring this tension to Alex. She didn’t want to shatter the fragile peace they’d found. But she knew there was no way around it. The truth was pressing, suffocating.

Alex was standing by the window, looking out at the quiet morning, her back turned to Vivienne, as though she were trying to pull herself together too. But this was different. The cabin had been their refuge, but now it was a cage, and Vivienne could feel it closing in.

"Alex," Vivienne’s voice was soft at first, hesitant. She could feel the weight of the words even before they left her mouth. "I have to go back. They called. There's an emergency at work."

Alex turned, her expression unreadable,but Vivienne could see the flicker of something behind her eyes. Something that said she’d been waiting for this moment.

"I know," Alex said quietly, her voice more resigned than anything. "I figured it was only a matter of time."

Vivienne’s chest tightened. It wasn’t just the weight of the words. It was the way Alex said them, like she knew the inevitable. Like she’d always known that this was all temporary.

"Alex, I…I don’t know what to do," Vivienne admitted, her voice wavering. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to say this until the words tumbled out.. "I want to stay. I want to be here with you, but everything else—everything that’s waiting for me—it’s all pulling me back. And I don’t know if I can walk away from it."

Alex’s gaze softened, but there was a flicker of something else there, too, something that cut deeper than Vivienne wanted to admit. "You can’t stay, Vivienne," Alex said, her voice quiet, with an edge to it that made Vivienne’s stomach turn. "Not for me. Not for this."

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