Page 79 of Bought By the Ruthless Pakhan

She left.

She actually left with that man again.

What the hell did he have that I didn't? Did she think Chris was better than me, more capable of protecting them?

I didn't get it.

I wanted to chase after them and demand answers. Maybe punch that pretty-boy face of his while I was at it.

My jaw locked tight, knuckles white on the steering wheel. The leather burned against my palm, hot as the way that bastard looked at me—smug, with his arm around Anna's shoulder. Heat surged through every vein in my body.

Jealousy.

I was jealous of this guy.

The three of them standing there—they looked like a real family.

The feeling slithered through me like a snake, coiling around my ribs, squeezing until I could barely breathe. I stared at their backs disappearing into the building entrance, jaw clenched so hard my muscles ached.

Chris.

What right did he have to stand beside my Anna? What gave him the privilege of making my kitten smile like that—so safe, so at ease?

I should be the one comforting her, standing by her side.

I pulled out my phone, finger hovering over the dial button. One call and Dmitri would make arrangements. Within a week, this guy could be transferred to the coldest port in Alaska, stuck digging for oil in the frozen wasteland, never to appear in front of Anna again.

Or maybe...

My thumb pressed down an inch. A darker thought surfaced, rising like silt stirred from the bottom of murky water.

Kill him.

One word from me, and by tomorrow his body would be floating in the Hudson. No one would trace it back to me.

Then no one could take my kitten away.

The thought kept circling, tightening like poison ivy around my brain. My finger was almost on Dmitri's number.

But...

Anna's face appeared without warning.

Those eyes—clear, bright, soft as warm water.

She looked at me with hurt and sadness in her gaze.

My thumb froze.

In that instant, everything went numb. I knew with absolute clarity that if I did this, it would destroy her.

Anna didn't love Chris, but that didn't mean she could accept someone vanishing from her life without a trace.

And if she ever found out I was behind it, she'd only fear me more, hate me more, weld shut the tiny crack that had finally started to open between us.

I dropped the phone onto the passenger seat.

I buried my face in my hands, the heat of my palms pressing against my eyelids. A sliver of overhead light leaked through my fingers.