Page 39 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“Kai.” Nikolai acknowledged Kazimir’s male companion whilst completely ignoring the woman.

Kazimir turned, his eyes instantly locking on my arm around Nikolai’s before they settled on me.

“Kai, this is Nico, my partner, and Genevieve Sinclair, my assistant.”

His method of introduction and choice of words were not lost on me. The man offered me a gruff nod, but the blonde looked exceptionally pleased to see me.

“Hello, Genevieve. Nice to finally have a girl to chat with.” She was even more gorgeous from a closer range.

“Hi…” I looked to Kazimir for an introduction, but he didn’t bother.

“I’m Svetlana, but you can call me Svet.” She spoke through the awkward pause with her hand held out.

I took her perfectly manicured hand in mine. “Genevieve Sinclair.”

She chuckled. “I believe I already got that part.”

“I’ll drop by the office on Monday and we can conclude,” Kai said.

Nikolai cocked a brow at me, indicating it was my cue to take notes.

I pulled out my phone and pinged a reminder for the day.

The rest of the gala followed in the same manner. Men walked up to Kazimir, they spoke for a time and an agreement or timeline was set, then I set a reminder.

And if two people picked the same appointment, I pointed that out.

Occasionally, Svet would try to make small talk with me.

She was not very active in the conversations, but I didn’t miss how most of the men already knew her and regarded her with respect. That only deepened my curiosity about who she was.

Kazimir, on the other hand, had failed to look at me since I walked in with Nikolai. He kept conversations with people brief and concise, but he never spared me a glance.

It took great restraint and self-control to not call him out for his bullshit. One moment, he had a gun between my thighs, and now he couldn’t bother enough to acknowledge my existence even though I was right next to him.

Yet he showered Svetlana with all the attention in the world and she soaked it all up like a sponge in water.

Did she know he had his hands on me not less than two weeks ago and if Nikolai hadn’t walked in, things would’ve progressed rapidly, or did he feed her lies and rainbows? Just how many faces did the man have?

Svetlana seemed like the kind of woman who was incredibly soft, kind, and did not possess a single mean streak. I had no doubt she knew nothing of his other personalities.

The time came for the fundraising and Kazimir walked away without a word.

Nikolai, however, stayed back, indulging me in a game of who is who.

He’d pick out a random face in the crowd and I’d have to guess who they were using three aspects of them he pointed out.

At first, it was tough. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to know that much about a person by the watch they wore, the woman on their arm, and if he approached others or was approached by others.

“Alright.” I let out a frustrated breath. “I hate to admit defeat, but I gotta say, I suck at this one.”

Nikolai smiled, taking a sip of whatever was in his gold-carved alcohol flask. “Look closely and pay attention to the mannerisms.”

Suddenly, I caught a crack in the man’s demeanor. He held the woman like she was a trophy and a pass ticket. “She’s a rich heiress and he managed to get her to fall for him?”

“Close enough, give it another go.”

I zeroed my focus on the sandy-blonde guy with a gorgeous woman on his arm. He never let her out of his sight and his arms had been wrapped around her the whole day.