Page 121 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

I managed to drag my wobbly feet up, supporting myself on the island till the wave of dizziness wore off before trudging to the living room.

I called in sick to work. I couldn’t sit across from him in that office and pretend I hadn’t heard his voice calling me nothing.

Anna found me an hour later still sitting on the floor where I’d sunk down after Svetlana left, my phone in my lap, unopened messages from Kazimir stacking up on the screen.

“Gen?” She rushed to my side. “I got your text. What happened?”

I opened my mouth, but the only sounds that came out were sobs so guttural every sound bruised my heart further.

“Oh God.” Anna’s arms wrapped around me, cradling me while I wailed like a new widow.

“He… he…”

“It’s okay,” she shushed. “You don’t have to speak now.”

“I’m so stupid, Ann. She was right. I’m so naive and stupid and—”

“Wait, who was right?”

“Svet…”

hiccup.

“Svetlana.”

Anna pulled back, her eyes narrowed at me. “What has Svetlana got to do with anything?”

I breathed in, preparing myself to utter the words I’d been replaying in my head for the past hours.

“She’s his fiancée.”

Anna’s jaw dropped. She blinked multiple times, seemingly struggling to find words. “What?”

“He said I was a warm pussy.”

Her eyes flashed. “That bastard. Tell me everything.”

I told her. From the visit to the revelation. The recording. The word fun echoing through my head like it had taken up permanent residence there. She listened without interrupting, her jaw tightening more with every sentence.

“I’ll kill him,” she said finally.

“Don’t.” I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“It matters plenty.”

“What matters is I need to plan my exit.” I stood, already pulling my laptop toward me. “He might’ve won at this, but I won’t sit around in the office and watch like a good assistant while he acts like we never happened.”

“Genevieve, maybe you should slow down a little. There could be—”

The final bit of restraint I was clinging onto snapped. “There could be what, Anna? A good reason he hid the fact that he was not only married but engaged? A good reason why he fucked me repeatedly and acted like he cared?” My voice rose with every sentence. “A good reason he took me on a date and pretended this was more than it was? He followed me around this week acting like my silence was physically destroying him and I almost convinced myself he wasn’t as bad as I thought? A good reason he fucking got me pregnant and called me nothing to the woman he’s marrying?”

My hands were shaking as I opened my email. “I’m not doing this. I’m not going to be someone’s fun little secret while he plans a wedding.”

“Gen,” Anna started. “I understand this is—”

“You don’t understand, Anna. I love him.” The confession tore out of me like my heart was ripped out of my chest. “I didn’t want to believe it at first, but these past few weeks made me…” I swallowed a hiccup. “It made me feel we could finally be something, and when he came looking for me at the office, the way he looked at me, I almost told him everything and now?” I bit my bottom lip to stifle a sob. “I feel so stupid admitting I fell for his deception, but I did and it hurts. He said I was fun. Anna, he said…” the rest of my statement got swallowed by a new wave of sobs.

Anna’s expression softened in a way I’d never seen and she tried to give me a hug, but I couldn’t let myself melt away in her comfort.