Page 14 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“Leo, my boy.” A gruff, heavily accented voice announced the entrance of a large burly man with an eyepatch.

His lips curled when he saw me. “You didn’t say you had company.” His eyes felt like maggots crawling all over me. “You know we don’t like to disturb.”

“I’m his sister and who the fuck are you?” My fingers tightened around my knife, not giving away discomfort.

“Why don’t you introduce us to your big sis, Leo.” A smaller man joined the big one. He looked less menacing, but his aura was sinister. “You never told us about her.”

I risked a glance at Leo, who was white as a sheet. “Leo?”

“It’s nothing, Gen. Just go upstairs, I’ll handle it.”

“Uh-uh,” the big guy beat me to speaking. “We love a good family reunion, don’t we, Alexei?”

Alexei? What is Leo’s business with Russians who look like this?

His companion bared his teeth at me.

“Leo, what the fuck is going on here?”

Eyepatch spoke again. “Go on, Leo. Tell big sis about your big scary friends.”

“What’s taking so long?” a voice called from outside. “Bring me the boy or his body.”

A chill skittered down my spine, my mask of courage falling with it. “Leo?” My voice cracked over his name, but he wouldn’t look at me. “Leo!”

His head snapped up. “I owe them, okay. Fuck!”

“You what?”

“I’m only explaining because you’re a pretty one,” Eyepatch commented, walking towards the kitchen. I backed up a little.

“Leo here came to us with eyes full of dreams and a good pitch, and the Pakhan was kind enough to fund it on the grounds that Leo would pay back.” He circled the island, coming to stand in front of me. “We shook on it, finalized details, only Leo here failed to keep to his end of the deal and the boss is pissed.”

“Leo, is this true?”

“Aw,” his companion cooed. He had walked into the living room and was standing close to the award cupboard. “You don’t believe us, sweetheart?”

I ignored him, focusing on my brother. “Leo?”

“I told you to go upstairs.”

“Answer me.” I was seething. I worked my ass off and starved myself of luxuries to make sure he was good, and he got himself in this mess?

“I told you to—”

It all happened so fast. One moment, Eyepatch was in front of me, and the next he was slamming his fist into Leo’s stomach.

I held up my knife, pointing it at him. “Get away from him.”

Leo cowered over, coughing and spitting.

“I was only teaching him how to speak to a lady.”

“Leave him alone.”

“Genevieve Sinclair.”

I turned to find Eyepatch’s colleague in front of the award cupboard, plaque in hand.