Page 35 of The Pakhan

“Do tell me what you’ll do if I continue.” He placed his hand on his chest. Why did he need to look that sexy. I wanted to stay furious with him and had every intention of doing so.

I’d seen the look of worry on his face when we’d been rushed in, had heard him barking off orders to his men in Russian as if we were under direct attack, but it was over. We were fine.

Terrified but fine.

A flash of lightning momentarily caught my attention, my heart racing for so many reasons.

“Nothing is going to hurt you,” he dared say.

“Not even you? I’ll… I’ll call the cops if you mistreat your employees again. I’ll find a government agency to serve you with infractions. I will do something. You can’t treat people that way.”

He remained just as amused with my ridiculous statement. Of course I knew the man owned just about everyone in town. No one would go against the great Vadim Chernoff except for his enemies.

I had to admit the horrible shooting had left me in shock and exhausted, the fear it was going to happen again remaining.

“Mmm… And I am certain you’ll get somewhere with that given your caustic mouth and how pushy you are.”

“Pushy. Me? Well, you’re an incorrigible, gruff asshole who has no respect for anyone.” I could somehow tell by the change in his eyes that he’d had enough of my vitriolic tantrum.

I found out immediately I was right when he snapped his hand around my jaw, pulling me closer with ease.

“Listen to me, little one. And I need you to understand me clearly. The men who came after you today wanted blood. Your blood. And they were prepared to kill my daughter in the process. No one will ever hurt the two of you and live. Anyone who gets in the way, or allows a door to open for that possibility, will be punished. My way.”

“Anything else?” I huffed.

“Yes, there is. You will never talk to me that way in front of my men or I’ll return the favor, punishing you in front of them. However, in private you can say anything you want to me and we can discuss it. Is that clear?”

“Why certainly, asshole sir.”

He shook his head. “I’m not playing here. And you weren’t straight with me. Were you?”

A cold shiver trickled down my spine. I’d been a fool to tell Sofiya anything, but I’d blurted out what had occurred, maybe needing to clear my conscience. It wasn’t like when we were kids, determined to keep our little stupid secrets forever.

Pinky swear.

“What do you mean?”

He absently rubbed my face with his thumb and I sensed the man was completely uncertain how to deal with me.

That made two of us.

He lowered his head until I was able to gather an even better whiff of his amazing aftershave. Only this time, it seemed mixed with something like the scent of gravel dust. Horrible images popped into my mind. “Zavetnyy, do you really think me a fool? Do you not know my daughter had been programmed to tell me things that could be damning to our family? You heard an audio tape, something I didn’t find on the jump drive. Are you hiding a copy somewhere?”

Oh, shit. What had I been thinking?

“No. I couldn’t download it in time. I knew the men were outside.”

“But you heard it.”

Nodding my head felt strange.

“And what was said?”

I closed my eyes briefly until he shook me gently. His fingers were digging into my skin but oddly enough, his possessive hold comforted me as well. It was as if the man truly cared about me.

“Do you remember?” he pressed.

I nodded. “I always remember these things word by word.”

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