“T told your papa if I found him in Moscow before I invited him, we’d need a lot of FedEx boxes to ship you home.” I ran a thumb across her jawline. “Ty pomnish eto?” Do you remember that? Her eyes finally met mine, iridescently blue and wary, and she shook her head like it had slipped her mind. I wanted to smile because, fuck, she was kind of adorable. But the awkward fact I thought that about anyone other than my niece quelled the impulse. “Considering it wasn’t your papa I found but two of his men, we need to discuss a different course of action.” I reached into my suit pocket and set a single golden bullet on the table. “Since you’re so fond of games, shall we play one the Russian way?” She stared at the bullet for a long second before Alexander interrupted the thick silence. “She has nothing to do with this,” he snarled. Viktor got to his feet to cut out Alexander’s tongue for speaking, but I stilled him with a hand, and he sat back down. It was when I met Albert’s severe gaze, I recognized everyone in the room believed Mila would be on the other end of the barrel with a chance of one out of six. Dry amusement filled me at the ridiculous realization. I wasn’t going to shoot Mila. I hadn’t even fucked her yet. Albert seemed mollified by whatever he saw in my expression, but I was no longer amused. My gaze hardened, telling him I would do whatever I wished with Mila, and he wouldn’t intervene. As he held my stare, a dark, ruthless heat emerged at the idea he might actually be challenging me. I didn’t want to fight Albert, and it wasn’t because I thought he would win. He wouldn’t. In fact, beating him half to death in prison after he insulted my brother even though he had three inches and thirty pounds on me was one of the reasons I gained his loyalty. He was also .. . a friend. The word sounded a little melodramatic and sour, but it was the closest thing I had to describe the relationship. When he pulled his gaze away and relented, a flare of resentment for Mila surged. She was fucking not only with my head but my men’s, so I kept up the façade she might not see tomorrow just to watch her reaction. “Will you do the honors, kotyonok?” “Wait,” Alexander growled. “We deserve the punishment, not her.”