Page 128 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“You know he won’t stop looking,” I said, and I didn’t know if I believed it or just needed to say it out loud.

“They always think that,” she said, standing and smoothing her dress. “Right up until they don’t.”

Shouting erupted outside before she’d even turned around—boots pounding against marble, voices barking orders too fast to follow. The door slammed open so hard the glass panel beside it cracked.

Svetlana’s wine glass shattered against the floor, her face turning white as a sheet.

“Nikolai,” she said, backing toward the far door, her composure cracking for the first time since I’d walked in. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

I turned to find the Italian stalking towards her in slow but steady strides.

“It looks exactly like what it is,” he said, and his voice had none of the warmth I was used to from him.

She turned and ran. Two of the men went after her through the side door, but I heard tires shriek against gravel seconds later and a few curses followed.

Nikolai hissed, a string of curses following before he turned to me, his eyes devoid of the ice from earlier.

“Are you hurt? The baby?”

“We’re fine,” I said, though my whole body hadn’t stopped shaking since the SUV. “I’m fine.”

He watched me for a moment like he knew he was supposed to do more than just ask, but also had no clue what to do.

“Kazimir isn’t far behind,” he finally said. “Ten minutes, maybe less.”

The name shook my body out of shock and forced a response. “Good for him. I have to leave.”

Nikolai beat me to the door. “This is a bit out of town, and it’ll take hours to get an Uber if you find one.”

I wanted to push past him and head out anyway, but after being kidnapped and narrowly escaping confinement, certain levels of stubbornness were very unnecessary.

I turned back, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms over my chest.

“Svetlana is a liar who would do whatever it takes to get what she wants.”

“Sounds like a match made in heaven if you ask me.”

Nikolai squinted. “What do you mean—”

Something in me snapped at the sound of his irrationally calm demeanor.

“Look, Nikolai, I appreciate you trying to soften the blow, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve had the worst hours of my life. I never asked to be here, nor did I ask to be dragged into this. I was lied to and deceived, and now I have to deal with being kidnapped and threatened, so do me a goddamn favour and do not play the devil's advocate.”

It took some time for him to recover from my outburst, but when he did, the sound of tires against gravel beat him to whatever he had to say.

I didn’t need an announcement to know who had arrived. I had all my senses and the hairs on my skin to thank for that.

“Genevieve.” Kazimir hurried over to me, but I held my arms out, stopping him in his tracks.

His brows squinted in a way I would’ve thought adorable a month ago; only now, I saw a fake, manipulative bastard with superb acting skills.

“I want to leave.”

“Baby, I know she must’ve done some cruel—”

“She?” I echoed, my voice surprisingly calmer than the storm brewing inside me. “She did nothing, Kazimir, this was all you.”

His frown deepened further. “I don’t… whatever she told you is a lie. She said you were—”