My eyes widen, and I tear my eyes away to look up at Ivan incredulously. His stony gaze holds no deception.
“This was not the first time he’d made such an advance, the animal,” Ivan says, looking back at the video ruefully. Konrad is still stomping around and shouting at Dad. “He has lusted for you for a long time. Your father hid it from you so well, but Konrad has been circling you like a vulture for years.”
I want to vomit, and I put my hands to my mouth as I watch Konrad order Nic to turn the table over, sending papers flying everywhere as my dad stumbles backward away from them. Konrad takes him by the scruff of his collar and tosses him into the center of the room.
“Now, Konrad thought he had his chance at you. It would be you, or dire consequences.”
A gasp escapes my lips as I see Konrad throw the first punch into my dad’s stomach, and as he stumbles back, Nic catches him and holds his arms back while Konrad squares up for more pummeling. I want to turn away, but I owe it to my father to see the truth.
“Konrad demanded to know where you were. He was going to collect on you himself. Your father would not budge. They had already searched his house, but your father had been shrewd enough to hide which college you were away at. He endured terrible things, Katy.”
Ivan’s voice is a little thick as he watches my innocent father get tortured by the thugs that are now inflicting awful things on my dad. I can barely watch, cringing and feeling my gut wrench at every blow.
“Despite everything that happened, your father wouldn’t speak. He was silent during the whole interrogation.”
I bite my lip and feel tears welling up in my eyes as I see Konrad cross the room and take down a baseball bat Dad had mounted on the wall of his office. I finally have to turn my eyes away when I see him use it to pummel Dad’s stomach.
“You don’t have to watch this, Katy,” I hear Ivan’s thick whisper, but I foolishly keep my eyes locked on the screen.
Konrad’s face is red, and he’s clearly utterly lost his temper. His motions are wild and uncontrolled, and when he raises the baseball bat high and brings a fast, hard swing at the side of my dad’s head, I reflexively shut my eyes and turn away, unable to hold back the sobs in my chest as I instinctively know what just happened.
I’m a trembling wreck when I feel Ivan’s hand rest on my shoulder.
“What Konrad did was officially an accident, he reported to his superiors. He was never supposed to commit such an act. Covering Konrad’s tracks before investigators arrived at the murder site cost them a lot of money. Paying off the investigators cost even more. It cost Konrad his position, which is why Oskar runs collections now.”
Through teary eyes, I see Nic hoisting my father’s body up while Oskar checks for a pulse, shouting something angrily at Konrad, and I can watch no more.
“Turn it off,” I ask Ivan through a choked voice.
He obliges, and I hug myself, leaning over in my seat.
“How did you find all this out?” I finally manage after taking a few moments to muster the strength to speak in an even voice. “If all this is true, why did you imply you didn’t know who killed my father when I told you about it?”
“There were only three men who handled your business before me,” Ivan explains. “Oskar, Nic, and Konrad. A demotion like Konrad’s is not a common thing, so I investigated.” His serious face allows a small smile to form. “I wasn’t joking when I said I know Konrad’s dear old matushka. She was more helpful than anyone else.”
“What do you mean?”
“The circumstances of this murder were incriminating enough for Konrad. He wanted this tape we’re watching kept even more secret. If his superiors had watched this, his consequences would have been far more severe. So he kept it with him, lied to say that he and the boys had disabled the security cameras before beginning their interrogation. He kept it in a safe at his own mother’s house, along with the murder weapon — your father’s baseball bat.”
I’m reining myself in better now, and my swollen eyes look up at him with determination, anger, and confusion. “So why is he coming after us now? Why me?!”
Ivan closes his eyes, his hand balling into a terrible fist. “The bastard knows we’re together, Katy. It infuriated him from the moment I brought it up to our superiors, and the beating I gave them only soured him more. He’s a petty, wretched man, and this was a feeble move to try to incriminate me. He thought you might go to the police with this letter and spark an investigation that would have me arrested.”
I look up at him evenly for a few long moments, then I stand up, and his gaze down at me is open and sincere. All of this information has been overwhelming. I don’t even know what exactly I want to do — punch him, kiss him, run away, or maybe all three.