Page 130 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“Long before everything changed.”

He rolled his eyes. “Coward.”

“Careful.”

He lifted his arms in surrender, even though the act barely made a difference. “Alright. Alright, but how do you intend to convince her when you can’t even say the words yourself, and this meeting…”

“You said to give her space.”

“That I did. She just had the most traumatic experience of her life and would be needing some time to recover.”

“Which is what I am doing.” It had taken a level of restraint I never knew I had in me to keep from marching to her house and never leaving till she agreed to hear me out, but Nikolai was right; this wasn’t one of those operations I bulldozed my way into.

“Nope.” He shook his head. “What you are doing is moving the players in the dark.”

“Because I would rather all loose ends be tied before I bring her back into my life. What use is there in waiting when nothing has changed?”

Nikolai’s eyes widened like he was only catching up with my intentions.

“What do you intend to do?”

“Cancel the engagement.”

I reached for the bottle of scotch on my table, hissing when I found it empty. It was halfway filled less than an hour ago.

“That will have consequences, Kaz.”

“Not when Svetlana has made it so easy.”

I clicked on my desktop to view the live reports from the men I’d stationed around Genevieve’s new place.

Everything was clear, and save for an old woman trying to get her cat from a tree, it all seemed peaceful.

“And how does that work?”

I dragged myself from the seat I’d been glued to for hours, gripping the edge of the table to steady myself before walking to the minibar by the corner and pulling out a new bottle of bourbon.

“She undermined my authority and tried to keep my unborn child from me. That alone is grounds for the dissolution of unions with the claim that the family failed to raise their daughter well. Her father knows this; a Pakhan cannot have a woman who undermines his authority as a wife. The women in the Bratva are raised to know their place, and trying to harm a baby who might possibly be the next Pakhan is treason, punishable by death.”

I poured two fingers and relished the burn spreading through my veins as I threw it back. “Svetlana is only alive because I will it, and that is enough mercy.”

Nikolai’s features relaxed a bit. “So she practically handed you the winning ticket.”

“To forgive and marry her would be a sign of weakness on my part, one I cannot allow.”

Nikolai nodded slowly. “And the ports?”

I walked back to the table, lowering the new bottle. “They’ll have no choice but to keep to their end of the bargain. I kept to my end.”

Nikolai nodded, helping himself to a glass. “Guess that solves one end.”

“Not really. There will be resistance,” I said, staring into space. “But I’ll be ready.”

“And Genevieve?”

“She’ll have one more week before I’ll be forced to go see her myself.”

Nikolai’s lips curled. “I knew that watching and waiting game would hardly work for you.”