Page 80 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

I wasn’t used to female drama by any standard, but I knew damn well when someone was avoiding me. I had thought her distance was a result of Svet’s visit, but when I thought further, I’d realized it started way before.

Genevieve only appeared when she was needed, hardly spent time in her office, and disappeared almost immediately.

And it wasn’t because she was taking time to get to know her coworkers and make friends.

If it was one of those stupid games women played when they wanted attention, then she was in luck because she finally had mine.

However, she was going to find out having my attention is not always a positive event.

My door flew open to reveal Nikolai storming in, his nose flaring like a Chinese dragon.

“There’s no way I’m working with that asshole.”

“Do you knock?”

“Are you deaf?”

I leaned back, watching as he paced the length of the room giving all the reasons why working with Vasily would be a terrible idea.

“I’ll kill him,” he said. “Alliance be damned, I’ll watch the life drain out of his eyes and I’ll hang his head for crows to devour.”

“Thanks for the detailed description, Nico, but we have more than your feelings to cater to.”

He began walking to the mini-bar. “We are supposed to get down to Moscow, investigate and make sure everything is fine. Why the fuck do we need to be divided into teams?”

“Covering grounds would take a lot of time, and neither side trusts the other enough to let them handle business completely, hence the division. Men from each side make a team and send them out.”

He reached for a glass and began pouring. “And you couldn’t find a different team for me?”

“I have better things to do with my life than to divide grown men into teams.”

Nikolai’s hand paused mid-air. “Fucking bitch.”

He swallowed the half-filled glass in one gulp and brought down the glass with a bang. “What’s with her and pushing into everything?”

“It’s her family too,” I replied, eyeing Nikolai as he poured a second glass.

I was aware of his struggles in my world, and while I deeply appreciated his loyalty, sometimes I could never understand why he stuck around.

“And none of the men in there have the balls to take over and do something reasonable?”

“Would you vote Vasily?”

He hissed, draining his second glass. He held the bottle, debating if another glass was a wise decision. “Vasily is a fool.”

I smiled. “We agree on that.”

“Why do we even bother with them? The father is sick and it’s been proven he was the one who ran the entire business. Why don’t we take over and make a clean wipeout?”

“Svet’s family is the next most feared family in Russia for a reason. Granted, they may not have the best brains, but they had brute idiots who only lived for bloodthirst and didn’t care about one another. They live for wars.”

I could see the wheels in his head moving from my seat.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of wiping out the family, especially after Svetlana’s recent stunt, but if there was one thing I’d learned from my father despite his brutalities, it was to protect your clan and not put them through unnecessary wars.

The feud has been on for a while and the death toll has been massive on both ends. I needed Svetlana’s men for fights where I couldn’t risk one of my own, and she needed me for the influence.

It was symbiotic and the more efficient way without a bloodbath, but I had my ulterior motives. I just needed to give the illusion of peace. I would never forgive anyone who shed clan blood.