28. Mikhail

Viviana and I break apart, both turning and running towards… nothing.

The lake is empty. Dante is nowhere in sight.

"Dante!" Fog clouds in front of my face, blocking my view.

How long has it been since I last saw him? Thirty seconds? A minute? How far could he have gone?

"Dante!" Viviana cries just as I see his boots.

He must have kicked them off to slide better on the ice. They're laying a few yards from the bend in the trees that marks the mouth of the river. Which is why I break into a dead sprint.

My feet slip out from under me again and again, but I keep moving. The world flies past as each second stretches and morphs. It's been five seconds since he screamed. Ten, at the most. That's not a long time… unless he's underwater. Unless the layers he's bundled in are waterlogged and he's slipping deeper and deeper into the dark.

I lower my head and run faster.

"Dante!" Viviana is calling his name again and again behind me. I can hear her falling back. I want to turn around and tell her to stay put, but I know it won't do any good. That's our son out there. There's no way she'll wait patiently on the bank.

I jump over his snow boots and follow the edge of the water around the bend.

For a single second, my chest eases.

Dante is standing on the ice. He's above water. He's alive.

He turns towards me and his eyes are two black circles in his pale face. He's terrified.

"Dad…" he whimpers.

He takes one step closer to me and the ice shatters.

The cracking sound is like gunshots. But instead of ducking, I lunge forward.

I only make it two more steps before the ice starts to thin. I drop to my stomach, spreading out my weight as far as I can to keep the cracks from spreading further.

"Kick!" I yell, army crawling towards him. "Kick your feet, Dante! Fight!"

He's splashing, but I can't see if he's above water from this vantage point.

I might be too late. He could disappear under the water.

I shove the grim thoughts aside and focus on getting to him.

I hear the moment Viviana rounds the bend behind me because she screams. "Stay back!" I yell over my shoulder. I don't have time to stop to make sure Viviana is following orders; I just have to hope she's smart enough to know I can't save them both.

I might not even be able to save him.

I'm making achingly slow progress towards the cracked ice, but if I want to get Dante out of here alive, this is the only way. It would take longer to crash through a different spot in the ice and have to fight my way towards him like that. I need to get to the hole he fell into.

As I get closer to the fracture point, the ice is thin and gray. It splinters under me, painfully cold water creeping over the surface and cutting straight through my coat and thermal layers. I hiss, but I don't stop. Dante's bright blue coat is a blotch of color below the surface of the water. His face is submerged and he isn't moving.

"Dante!"

He doesn't budge—and everything I've ever been taught goes out the fucking window.

I should stop at the edge and strip down. The fewer layers I have on, the more likely it is I'll be able to get us both out.

But there isn't time.

I throw myself the last few feet into the water.

The cold filets me. It freezes the breath in my lungs and everything in me wants to get out. But I splash closer. Dante bobs in the water like a dinghy, still and lifeless. A small sense of relief floods through me when I get my numb arms around him and drag him above the surface. The relief is gone as soon as I realize how rigid he is.

His lips are blue and he isn't breathing.

"This way!" Viviana is standing on the bank, waving me towards her. "Come this way. It's faster."

I'm so cold that I can't even think about whether she's right. I feel my body shutting down with every passing second. If I don't get out now, we never will. So I move towards Viviana.

She's like an angel in her white coat set against the dark trees. I follow the dot of light as black creeps into the edges of my vision. I do my best to keep Dante on my shoulder and out of the water. Not that it matters. He's twenty pounds heavier, at least, just from the frozen lake water his clothes soaked up.

The water gets shallower as I approach the edge. I have to break through the ice with my shins to make it to the shore. I'm sure I'm cut to hell, but I don't think about any of it. As soon as I'm clear of the shore, I lay Dante on the ground, rip open his coat, and press my hands into his chest.

Viviana collapses next to him. She tilts his head back and blows into his mouth.

Neither of us know what the fuck we're doing, but there's nothing else we can do. We have to try.

Viviana blows another breath. As soon as she's done, I start pumping on his chest again. It feels like it's been hours of breathing and compressions, but it can't have been more than thirty seconds. Then, between one pump and the next, Dante coughs.

Water pours out of his mouth and I quickly roll him onto his side to help him get it all out.

"Oh my God!" Viviana presses his soaked hair back from his forehead. Her hands are shaking.

Dante coughs again and then starts to cry.

It's the most beautiful fucking sound I've ever heard.

"We have to get him inside." My teeth are chattering so hard I'm not sure Viviana understands what I'm saying. But she grabs Dante's arm and helps me lift him.

He isn't heavy, but it feels like my arms are frozen solid. I can barely bend my elbows.

Viviana leads the way through the trees, cutting through overgrown bushes and disregarding the path entirely. We don't have time for it.

After what feels like hours, the cabin comes into view. "We're almost there, kid," I whisper through my chattering teeth. "Hold on."

Dante has stopped crying, but only because he's shaking as hard as I am.

As soon as we get inside, I head for the bathroom off of the main bedroom. It's the only tub large enough for both of us.

Viviana drops to her knees and turns the hot water on.

"Undress him," I tell her, gesturing to Dante. Then I turn the knobs back to lukewarm, at most. As bad as the cold water felt, dipping our half-frozen bodies into hot water would be just as painful. We need to warm up slowly.

Viviana tears away layer after layer from Dante while I peel my snow pants and thermals down. I strip down to my boxers and step into the half-full tub. The water is barely above cold, but I hiss as I lower one foot and then the other. I slide beneath the surface reluctantly and hold my arms open for Dante.

"Hand him to me. Now."

There are still tears streaming down Viviana's face, but she's focused. Her mouth is set in a determined line as she lifts our pale, shivering son off the floor and hands him to me.

As soon as he touches the water, he recoils, but I force him in little by little.

"I know it hurts," I soothe. My teeth are still chattering, but it's less intense. "This will help."

Dante is too weak to fight, so I curl him against my chest and hold his body under the water.

As the pain starts to ebb, I make the water pouring into the tub a little warmer and then a little warmer still. After a few minutes, we've both stopped shivering. A few minutes after that, Dante is asleep in my arms, too exhausted to keep his eyes open.

It's only then that Viviana falls apart.

She claws at my neck and shoulders—every part of me she can reach above the water. "You saved him, Mikhail. You saved him."

I lean my cheek against the crown of her head. "Of course I did. I'll always save him."

But I was almost too late.

I can feel Dante breathing steadily in and out, but I'll never forget the way it felt when he was still and damn near dead in my arms. I'll work my entire life to make sure I never get that close to losing him again. Either of them.

"When you went in, I didn't know if—" She sobs, burying her face in my neck. Her breath is hot on my cool skin. "I thought I was going to lose you both. I thought we were all going to die out there."

"You weren't in the water," I remind her gently.

She pulls back, her green eyes clear and bright as she takes me in. "I was going in after you. After both of you. There's no point in me being alive if you two aren't here."

I wanted to keep Viviana at arm's length.

When we got married, it was out of some twisted obligation to take care of her and our offspring. I didn't care about her.

Not the way I do now.

"Viviana," I breathe.

She looks me over like she's searching for something she can fix. "Yeah? What is it?"

I hold Dante tighter against my chest and curl my cold hand around Viviana's neck. She flinches, but then leans into my palm, giving me her weight.

I want all of it.

All of this.

"Will you marry me?"