Page 134 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

Anna had once made jokes about opening a flower store, and though it sounded a bit ridiculous in the beginning, I was seriously beginning to consider it at this point.

I set the new bouquet down next to the others and pulled the small card free from where it was tucked between the stems.

‘I’d like to see you. Whenever you’re ready. —Kazimir.’

I hissed, squeezing the card into a ball in my palms. Even when he was trying to be subtle, he somehow managed to sound bossy about it.

Whenever you’re ready. As if the little addition erased the fact that the first statement was basically about what he wanted.

I tossed it into the bin like I did the ones that came before.

His notes had undergone the classic progression of apologies, groveling, fake promises, and we were currently at the part that dealt with demands and negotiations. I couldn’t wait for the part where he gave up.

I sat down on the edge of the couch and pressed both hands over my face. A month. It had been a month since I was brought face to face with Svetlana’s wine glass swirling in front of me.

I wasn’t waking up smack-scared in the middle of the night anymore, but I was yet to leave my house. I’d missed my last antenatal visit because a black SUV pulled up to the curb shortly after I stepped out.

If Kazimir thought that was something a truckload of flowers and ill-written notes could fix, he was set for the biggest failure of his life.

“He really doesn’t quit, does he?” Anna came out of her room tying her hair up, glancing at the new bouquet and then at the growing forest around it.

“One would expect him to run off into the sunset with his lover, yet here he is,” I said, my voice flatter than I meant it to be. “Like I’d fall for the same trick twice.”

She sat down beside me and picked the crumpled note up off the floor, smoothing it out before I could stop her. She read it, then looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite place.

“Genevieve.”

“No.” I stood up. I knew what she was going to say before she said it. We’d been here before.

“I fell for him once already, Anna. I let myself believe a man like that could actually want me, and look what it got me. Kidnapped. Humiliated and pregnant.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “I was there when it all happened, remember?”

“Then you of all people should understand why I never want to see him again. I’m done, Ann, done. It’s been a whirlwind since he entered my life and I would very much love to finally breathe.”

My chest heaved while I tried to gather my emotions. I hated how conversations about him still affected me so heavily.

Anna gave me a moment of calm before speaking again. “I’m not asking you to pretend. To forgive him, or to fall into whatever he’s offering, or to trust one word out of his mouth. I would never ask you to do that.”

“Then what are you asking?”

She was quiet for a second, like she was choosing her words carefully. “I’m asking you to think about that baby you’re carrying. Because whatever Kazimir is or isn’t, whatever he did or didn’t do, he’s still that child’s father, and in a few months you’re going to need to know how this works between the two of you. Not for you. For the baby.”

I crossed my arms and turned toward the window, watching a woman walk her dog down the street below, wishing for one ordinary second that my life looked like that instead of this.

“I don’t want to need anything from him,” I said.

“I know you don’t,” Anna said, her voice softer. “But needing him to co-parent isn’t the same as needing him to love you or giving him a second chance. You can hold him at arm’s length and still let him show up for his kid. Those aren’t the same thing, Gen.”

“It feels like the same thing when he’s the one asking.”

“Do you think he’s going to fight for custody?” I finally voiced the one question that’s been haunting me.

“Gen—”

“He’s rich, he has the money, the influence, the lawyers, and Svetlana said it herself. Men like Kazimir, men of his world, didn’t let their blood grow outside—”

“Gen—”