Chapter 96 Nikolai
The next three days were the most tense of my entire life.
Every conversation felt dangerous. Every movement felt watched. Every shadow seemed to hide one of Ivanov's spies.
Viktor, Dmitri, Pavel and I stopped meeting together. It was too risky. Instead we passed messages through Sonya, who moved through the mansion like a ghost, noticed by everyone but suspected by no one.
"Viktor says the supplies are ready," she whispered to me one morning while delivering breakfast to the servants' quarters. "He hid them in the old storage room behind the stables."
"Tell him good," I said quietly. "What about Dmitri?"
"He secured the exit route," Sonya said. "There is a gap in the east fence that the night patrols do not check. He will make sure it stays that way."
"And Pavel?"
"He is working on the alibi," she said. "Making sure all four of you have reasons to be elsewhere when it happens."
I nodded. The plan was coming together piece by piece.
But it still felt fragile. Like one wrong move would shatter everything.
That afternoon I was cleaning the main hallway when I heard voices coming from Ivanov's study.
I slowed my work, listening.
"I am telling you sir, something is wrong," a guard was saying. His voice was unfamiliar. Not one of ours. "The men are too quiet. Too careful around each other."
"Which men?" Ivanov asked.
"Viktor for one," the guard said. "And Dmitri. Pavel too. They have been acting strange."
My blood went cold.
"Strange how?" Ivanov pressed.
"Meeting in corners. Stopping conversations when others approach. That sort of thing."
"Have you heard what they talk about?"
"No sir," the guard admitted. "They are too careful for that."
There was a pause. I could imagine Ivanov sitting behind his desk, steepling his fingers, thinking.
"Keep watching them," Ivanov said finally. "Report back to me daily. I want to know everywhere they go, everyone they talk to, everything they do."
"Yes sir."
Footsteps approached the door. I quickly moved down the hallway, pushing my cleaning cart, trying to look busy and unaware.
The guard emerged and walked past me without a glance.
But I had heard enough.
Ivanov was watching Viktor, Dmitri and Pavel. He did not suspect me yet but it was only a matter of time before he connected the dots.
We needed to move faster.
I found Viktor that evening behind the kitchens.
"We have a problem," I said quietly.
"I know," Viktor said. "Gregor has been following me all day. He is one of Ivanov's most loyal men."
"He told Ivanov that you, Dmitri and Pavel have been acting suspicious."
Viktor cursed under his breath. "How much does Ivanov know?"
"Not enough," I said. "Not yet. But he is watching now. We need to be more careful."
"Or we need to move sooner," Viktor said.
"How much sooner?"
"Three days," Viktor said. "Four at most. If we wait any longer, Ivanov will figure it out."
My heart raced. Three days. We were not ready. The plan still had holes. But Viktor was right. If we waited too long there would be no plan at all.
"Can we do it in three days?" I asked.
Viktor thought for a moment. "If we simplify things. Cut out the complicated parts. And focus on what matters."
"Which is?"
"Getting Ivanov to be alone," Viktor said. "Making sure he cannot call for help. And making it look like an outside job."
"How do we do that?"
"I'm still working on it," Viktor admitted. "But we will figure something out. We have to."
The next morning I was serving breakfast when I noticed something odd.
Anya was not eating. She was pushing food around her plate, her face pale, her movements was slow.
"Are you feeling well?" Ivanov asked her.
"I am fine," Anya said. But her voice was weak.
"You do not look fine," Ivanov said.
His tone was more annoyed than concerned.
"It is nothing," Anya insisted. "Just a headache."
She reached for her water glass and her hand trembled. The glass tipped, water spilled across the table.
"Damn it, Anya," Ivanov snapped.
I quickly moved forward with a cloth to clean it up.
Anya stood abruptly. "I need to lie down."
She swayed on her feet. For a moment I thought she would collapse.
Ivanov stood and caught her arm. "You are sick."
"I am fine," she said again. But she was clearly not fine.
"Go back to bed," Ivanov ordered. "I will send for a doctor."
"That is not necessary," Anya said.
"I will decide what is necessary," Ivanov said firmly. He looked at me briefly. "Help her back to her room."
I set down the cloth and moved to Anya's side. She leaned against me. Her weight was slight and fragile.
We walked slowly from the dining room, down the hallway, toward her chambers.
Once we were out of earshot Anya whispered, "I am not really sick."
"What?" I said quietly.
"I am pretending," she breathed. "To distract him. To give you more time."
My chest tightened. "Anya, you do not have to do this."
"Yes I do," she said. "He was getting too close to figuring things out. Now he will be worried about me instead of watching you."
"What if he realizes you are faking?"
"He will not," she said. "I am a very good actress. You should know that by now."
We reached her chambers. I helped her to the bed.
She lay down and looked up at me. "How much longer until you are ready?"
"Three days," I said. "Maybe four."
"I can buy you that much time," she said. "Just be careful. Please."
"You too," I said.
I left her there and returned to the dining room where Ivanov was finishing his breakfast alone.
"How is she?" he asked without looking up from his newspaper.
"Resting," I said. "She said the headache is very bad."
"Probably all the stress," Ivanov muttered. "Women are weak like that."
I wanted to punch him. Instead I cleared his plate.
For the rest of the day Anya stayed in her room. A doctor came and examined her. I heard him tell Ivanov it was likely just exhaustion and she needed rest.
Ivanov seemed to accept this. His attention shifted from hunting conspirators to fretting over his wife's health.
It bought us exactly what we needed. Breathing room.
That night I met with Viktor, Dmitri and Pavel in the old storage room behind the stables.
"The timing is perfect," Viktor said. "Tomorrow night there is a council meeting. Ivanov will be out until late."
"What about the guards?" I asked.
"Pavel is working on that," Viktor said.
Pavel nodded. "I will make sure the east wing patrols are light. And that Gregor is assigned to guard the council meeting, not the mansion."
"What about after?" Dmitri asked.
"After Ivanov is dead, how do we make it look like an outside job?"
"We stage a break in," Viktor said. "Smash a window. Ransack his study. Make it look like thieves got in and Ivanov caught them."
"Will anyone believe that?" I asked.
"They will if we do it right," Viktor said. "The key is making sure we have alibis. And making sure Anya is nowhere near when it happens."
"She is already handling that," I said. "She is pretending to be sick. The doctor ordered her to stay in bed for at least a week."
"Smart," Pavel said with grudging respect. "That woman has more spine than most of the guards in this place."
"So we are agreed?" Viktor asked, looking at each of us. "Tomorrow night we do this?"
Dmitri nodded immediately.
Pavel hesitated, then nodded as well.
I looked at all three of them. These men who were risking everything to help me. Who had as much reason to hate Ivanov as I did.
"Tomorrow night," I said. "We end this."
We shook hands in the darkness. Then we separated, each going back to our quarters by different routes.
I lay in bed that night unable to sleep.
Tomorrow everything would change. Tomorrow Ivanov would die. Tomorrow Anya would be free.
Or tomorrow we would all be caught and killed.
There was no middle ground.
I thought about Anya lying in her chambers, pretending to be sick, distracting Ivanov from discovering our plan.
She was so brave. Braver than I ever gave her credit for.
If we survived this I would spend the rest of my life making sure she knew that.
But first we had to survive.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest, knowing that tomorrow would be the longest day of my life.
And tomorrow night would be the most dangerous.
Everything we had planned, everything we had risked, it all came down to the next twenty four hours.
I just hoped we were ready.
Because we would not get a second chance.