Page 65 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

I was going to disfigure his face, body, and I would ruin whatever was left of him.

“You dare touch what is mine?”

He coughed out a mouthful of blood in his struggle to come up with an answer, but I drove another punch through his throat before the first sound escaped.

I went for his eyes, wanting to make sure he never set sight on her again, but a hand wrapped around mine, holding me back.

Only one person was stupid enough to come between me and a fight.

“Let me take it from here,” Nikolai said. “She needs you,” he added when I did not budge.

I looked up to find her cradled by Rose while Caroline draped silk around her exposed boobs.

My rage was renewed and I wanted to turn back and finish what I started, but I knew she needed to get to safety first.

Getting off the floor, I pulled off my jacket and draped it around her shaking frame.

The entire office had gathered around the tiny restroom, witnessing the event while I took her arm and led her out from their devouring eyes.

We walked in silence till we got to the sandy river bank at the back of the restaurant.

Genevieve was clutching tightly to my jacket, her eyes still wide even though her body had stopped shaking.

“He said it was my fault.”

Something tightened in my chest, pulling at every part of me till I had to dig my fingers into my palms to quell it.

“He said I was intentionally leading him on while feigning innocence.”

“He’s a dead man,” I gritted out, hating how he reduced the strong fighter I knew into a quivering, scared woman.

“But what if he was right, what if—”

I grabbed her face, forcing her eyes to mine. “Look at me. You did nothing wrong. You are not responsible for the actions of a swine, and I would chop his hands to bits for thinking he could lay them on you.”

Her eyes glossed over, but she didn’t let the tears fall.

I pulled her into a hug, holding her till her body stopped shaking and her breath evened out.

“He’ll never touch you again.” I pressed a kiss into her hair. “I swear it.”

She pulled back, looking into my eyes. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. I’ll never let any harm come to you.”

The promise took me by surprise, but it felt more natural than any commitment I had made in the past.

“How did you know to find me?”

I smiled. “Funny story, I’d come to see if you were defying me.”

“So I have your possessive ass to thank for my salvation?”

“It’s not possession, baby.”

“What is it then?”

I smiled, pressing another kiss into her hair because even I had no answer for the question.