Chapter 30

You really never realize how oppressive the silence that follows bad news is until you can feel it firsthand. And what I always feel after bad news is an indescribable cold.

That disturbing stillness that followed what Rex said was horrible.

But it must have been worse for Ivan, I imagine.

I put my hand to my mouth and immediately felt my heart drop to my stomach. She was dead. Ivan’s wife, the children’s mother; Anya, she was dead. My throat closed and, for some reason, my eyes felt very itchy, but it must have been due to the brutal shock of the moment—or maybe because Sasha was playing with a strand of my hair, tickling my neck. My entire back stung when I became aware again that I was still carrying the girl in my arms. It gave me some comfort, on her behalf, to realize that she would never remember those awful, definitive words.

For several seconds, the only thing there was was the choppy, metallic sound of the storm that was taking place where Rex was,