Page 99 of The Fire Beneath the Frost

Ivan crossed the room and grabbed me roughly by the shoulders.Not painfully, but with a steadiness that sent panic straight down my spine.His voice was calm, almost eerily so.“Because thanks to you, my son has a target on his back.”

I swallowed hard.“I never wanted…”

“You have the luxury of camouflage,” he cut in.“A pretty wife with a Party job.No one will touch you.Maybe they whisper behind your back, but they won’t arrest you in the middle of the night.”

He paused, voice thickening.“Dimitri has no one.If you had left him alone, none of this would’ve happened.”

I didn’t argue.Because what if he was right?

“But you didn’t leave him alone,” Ivan went on, stepping back.“And now my son’s got a police record that says he was arrested outside a faggot club.”

“There weren’t any charges,” I mumbled.“They let us go.”

Ivan barked a laugh that had nothing funny in it.“You stupid, gullible fool.”He shook his head.“They don’t need charges.It’s written down somewhere now, stamped and filed.And it will follow him.Forever.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.I didn’t have to ask what he meant, because I understood the danger.

“You?”Ivan said, circling me like a general before war.“You’ll be fine.Make a baby with your wife.Get promoted.One day, this will all be a strange memory.But my son?”He exhaled hard through his nose.“My son’s life is over if he stays here.”

I stared at him, wide-eyed.“You’re asking me to say goodbye to him?”

“I’m telling you,” Ivan said, voice cracking for the first time, “that you’re going to.”

He paused, glancing out the dirty window at the gray sky.When he turned back to me, his voice was hoarse.“You’re coming back with me tonight.I’ll drop you off at my apartment, and then I’ll be gone.I won’t come back until morning.You’ll have a few hours.Just the two of you, and during that time, you’re going to make him understand.Make him leave.”

Tears burned my eyes.“You can’t do this to me,” I whispered.“You can’t do this to Dimitri.We’ll never…”

“You fucking fool!”Ivan roared.The echo rang through the empty dacha like a gunshot.“If you care one little bit about him, then you’ll make sure he gets on that boat.My son deserves freedom.”

I swallowed my sob, and my chest burned.

Ivan stepped forward again, but this time his hands didn’t touch me.They just hovered in the air, trembling.

“You’ll tell Dimitri you’re going with him, if that’s what it takes.Lie.I don’t care.Make him believe it.But if my son’s not on that boat, I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

The room spun slightly.I nodded—just once—because I couldn’t speak.

“Saturday morning.Three a.m.Finnish freighter.Two miles off the Port of Leningrad.There’ll be a rowboat waiting.Don’t worry, I’ll give you the details tomorrow night.”

Ivan didn’t move.Didn’t storm out like I expected.Just stood there with his jaw set, breathing hard through his nose, like he hadn’t meant to say so much.

I stared at him, this gruff, dangerous man, and I croaked, “Why?”

Ivan looked at me like he didn’t understand.

“Why are you doing this?”I asked.My voice shook.“You could’ve turned me in.You still could.Just tell me why, damn it.”

Ivan’s breath hitched, barely audible, and he glanced away.Then, after a long moment, he asked, “What’s your wife’s name?”

The question caught me off guard.“Vera,” I breathed.

Ivan’s eyes flicked toward me, sharp and unreadable.Then he gave a slow, bitter nod.“My wife’s name is Elina.”

He turned back toward the window, his silhouette tense and tired in the gray evening light.

“Elina and Vera have much in common.”

ChapterThirty

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