I point to the exit. “She could be here by now. Go try to find her. You probably don’t want to be here for this next part anyway.”

She scampers away through the open door. Milana’s eyes follow her the whole way. But she still doesn’t budge from her spot in the corner of the room.

“Milana,” I say, “you don’t have to stay.”

“I know.” She makes no attempt to leave.

Adrian scoffs, but his expression is laced with jealousy. “You always did have a knack for acquiring loyalists who follow you like trained dogs. Or maybe there’s more to it than just loyalty?” He arches his eyebrows, waiting for Milana or me to confirm it. “I always did find it hard to believe that all these years, nothing happened between the two of you.”

“That’s because you can’t conceive of a relationship that’s not transactional,” I growl.

He scoffs. “Because there is no such thing.”

“Spoken like the piece of shit you are,” Milana spits.

Adrian rolls his eyes. “Still sore, Milly? And to think, we used to be friends.”

“We did—right before you tried to put that shriveled little cock inside me,” she says, her eyes glowing like lit coals. “And we both know that the only reason you tried is because you thought there was something going on between Kolya and me.”

I laugh sardonically. The drunkenness is clearing now, burning away like fog in the path of the rising sun. “You did always want what I had, didn’t you, little brother?”

His fists knot tight at his sides. “That’s ironic coming from you,” he snarls. “Considering you tried to marry my woman.”

“I didn’t want her because she was yours; I want her despite that. I want her because she’s an amazing, kind, brilliant woman. It has nothing to do with you.”

His squinted eyes turn into little pinpricks of rage. “How romantic. So it’s true then: you do have feelings for her.”

“I love her, Adrian. She’s the most important thing in my life. She will always be the most important thing in my life.”

He takes a step forward and I notice how his hands shake. It’s a dead giveaway. The one little gesture he makes just before he completely loses his shit.

“She’s carrying my child. She loves me.”

“Maybe she did once,” I suggest. “But not anymore. The irony is that if you had stayed, even if she’d met me, this would never have happened. Because that’s who June is—loyal to a fault. But you did leave. In the worst way possible. And you paved the way for her and me to be together. You did this. You have only yourself to blame.”

His whole body is shaking now, not just his hands. Milana seems to notice the same thing, because she moves forward, her hand reaching for her coat pocket.

“STOP!” Adrian screams. His own gun, pulled out of nowhere, is pointed right at Milana. She freezes in place, hand hovering just a few inches away from salvation. “Put your hands in the air. Move over there, next to Kolya so that I can see both of you.”