Page 119 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Genevieve

“Don’t wait up for me; it’s employee game night tonight,” Anna called from the door.

“Have fun!” I called back from the kitchen.

“You know I will.”

I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips as the soft click signaled her exit.

Picking up my breakfast of orange juice and toast, I made my way to the dining room to finish up my evaluations and conclude Kazimir’s bookings for his next trip.

Something I found incredibly funny about being pregnant was how you couldn’t take a shot or indulge habits that made you feel better or forget in the past.

Wanted or not, you had to be sober through the entire process, and I wasn’t sure it was something I was ready for.

It took days and different results from different hospitals for me to finally come to terms with my fate, and even longer for me to decide what to do.

Anna was right, I had to tell him, but I didn’t know how to. I’d practiced in front of my mirror and tried sending a text multiple times, but I always quit last minute.

In the past week, Kazimir had become a landmine of some sort. I avoided him mostly because I didn’t trust myself not to blurt it out at the most random time, and partly because I was ashamed to admit to forgetting to replace my implant.

There was also the simmering fear slithering beneath all of this, one I had ultimately refused to admit to even though I revisited it every night.

I lowered my breakfast onto the table and proceeded to massage my barely visible bump. It was incredible how you could go days, even weeks, without noticing something, but the moment it’s been pointed out, you could hardly ignore it.

A knock interrupted my chain of thoughts, pulling me to the door.

I dropped my toast, walking to the door to give Anna an earful on how she should be more organized.

I threw the door open and began my speech before looking at her.

“You know it’s not proper—”

“Good morning, Genevieve.”

The voice snatched the rest of my speech and pulled up my head.

Svetlana stood at the entrance in stilettos high enough to break my ankles, a tailored pantsuit, and the tightest ponytail I’d ever seen.

“You casting for a James Blond movie?”

It was probably the worst opening line for an uninvited and very much unwanted guest in your house at dawn, but my brain was still dealing with shock.

She smiled, a gesture that barely touched her eyes. “Can I come in?”

“How do you even know where I live?”

“I know a great many things.” She stepped past me before I could answer, heels clicking against my hardwood floor like she owned it. “You should really get better security in this building. Anyone could walk right up.”

I glanced at the security lock on the door, realizing I should indeed be more security conscious. Anna wouldn’t knock.

“What do you want, Svetlana?”

She turned, taking in my small living room with an expression that made it clear exactly how she felt about it. “I think it’s time we had an honest conversation. Woman to woman.”

“There’s nothing for us to talk about.”