“Shut up,” his friend hissed and, if I wasn’t mistaken, he kicked Alexander under the table. Mila interrupted their quarrel. She grabbed the revolver and slipped the bullet into one of the cylinders, then stared at the gun in her hand like she was thinking about turning it on me. With a chuckle, I took it from her before she could follow through with that. When I pointed the revolver at Alexander, two surprising things happened. Alexei’s nephew looked relieved, and Mila—well, she finally acted like she gave a shit about our little game. “No!” She struggled to escape my lap, but I held her still, if only to keep her from flashing everyone in the room something that belonged to me. “I thought...” I raised a brow. “You thought what?” She wouldn’t beg for her own life, but she would for two men she didn’t know. The stupid, selfless act was the most irritating thing I’d ever experienced. “I thought you—” “Hyvatit.” Enough. I was unable to listen to another word from her mouth right now. Gripping her chin, I pulled her eyes to mine. “You and I, kotyonok . . .” I stroked a thumb across her cheek, my voice softening. “We’re far from finished.” She didn’t look convinced, so I pulled her face closer and sealed the promise with a short kiss. She was as tense as a statue, but her lips were soft, pliable, warm, and somehow, she still tasted like strawberries. The fleeting press of her mouth on mine swelled the ache in my cock to a raw throb, and an ounce of irony arose. I needed to get laid if a quick kiss got a stronger reaction from me than a woman’s tongue on my cock. I pulled the trigger. Click. Before Mila could finish a relieved breath, she jumped when I fired at the next man. The bang ricocheted off the walls. Smoke rose from the barrel, and his lifeless body slumped to the table. Mila trembled against me, a hand over her mouth. “Guess we get that funeral after all,” I said drily. Blood spread across the table, and my gaze narrowed as it reached my plate of dessert. “I’m going to...” Mila trailed off, her head lolled, and then she went limp in my arms, a comatose tangle of blonde hair and legs.