Page 34 of Captivated By Him

Jakub gets up from his chair at the sudden invasion into his office. Joseph and Dominik are sitting on either side of him; both look up to see the disturbance. Dominik’s lips twitch a little on the side, and Joseph’s eyes go wide.

But Jakub.

His reaction sends ice through my chest.

“What the fuck.” Jakub turns his cold glare on Henry.

“She was outside. Since this is about her, I figured we’d include her.” Henry shuts the door behind us.

Jakub keeps his gaze away from me as he moves away from the table. A large man, who I assume is Piotr Kaczmarek, gets up from the table as well. I’ve met Piotr’s cousin back in New York, and this man looks nothing like his cousin. Christian Kaczmarek looks like he just stepped off a muscle man magazine cover. Piotr looks like someone who should subscribe. His hair is long and pulled back into a thin ponytail behind his neck. I can’t tell if the scars on his face are from injury or acne.

“Henry, I told you we’d figure this out without her.”

“She was right outside the door,” Henry defends himself in a nasal tone.

“Nicole. I’m Piotr Kaczmarek.” Piotr steps toward me with his hand out in greeting. I flick a quick glimpse at Jakub who gives me a curt nod, while still not looking at me.

I take Piotr’s hand and he closes his thin, chilled fingers around mine.

“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Kaczmarek,” I say, lowering my gaze a bit to give a show of respect. My father worked for his family for as long as I can remember; to be disrespectful now would cause more damage than good.

“I understand your father worked for my cousin in New York.” He drops my hand after a gentle squeeze.

“Yes. He worked for you here in Chicago before,” I remind him. “Not directly. I mean, he worked…” I let my words trail off. Don’t answer questions I’m not asked.

“Hmm.” He rolls his shoulders back and turns around toward Jakub. “I think the terms you’ve given are reasonable.” He marches back to the table. “For now.”

Joseph pushes up to his feet. “And your men will stop pursuing the girl.”

Henry huffs from behind me.

“Unless I find she has betrayed my family, we will leave her in your capable hands.” That sounds like a big ass loophole to me, but I’m not dumb enough to get entangled with this conversation. By the sound of it, Henry will be leaving, and I won’t have to worry about finding any more of his muscle in my apartment at night.

“Good.” Joseph shakes Piotr’s hand and escorts him to the office door. I scoot out the way before they walk right into me, and I catch Henry’s angry glare waving over me as he follows his boss from the room. As his eyes sweep over me a tremor erupts in my belly. He doesn’t look like the matter is resolved.

“Well, that could have gone worse.” Dominik gets up from the table, buttoning his suit jacket back up as he does so.

I look to Jakub, trying to read his expression, but he’s tapping on his phone.

“Jakub.” I take a small step in his direction. The tension in his jaw tightens, making my stop. He’s not ready to hear from me just yet. That’s okay, I have a few more things to do in the office. Maybe by then he’ll calm down.

“You’re lucky,” Dominik continues.

“How so?” I ask since Jakub seems hell bent on deafening me with his silence.

“Turns out Piotr doesn’t care for Henry all that much, and the guy Jakub killed was on his way out anyway. Jakub did him a favor.”

“Stop talking to her, you only encourage her,” Jakub growls as he puts his phone into his back pocket.

“Jakub—” I try again, but his chilling glare shuts me right up. Okay, still not ready.

“The car is waiting for you up front. Dominik will walk you out. You will go home, get in the apartment, go into the bedroom, and wait for me until I get home. Do not sit in the living room. Do not go into the kitchen. Sit in the bedroom until I get there. Am I understood?”

By the time he’s done talking my face could light a small fire. I’m not sure what to respond to first: his unreasonable dictates or his tone or the fact his brother is standing only a few feet away listening to all of it.

“C’mon, Nicole. I’ll walk you up front.” Dominik makes his way to me.

My tongue is heavy, too many words climbing on top of each other trying to get out of my mouth and stab him.

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