He tensed beneath me, losing focus while he kissed my mouth, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, urging him to give one final push. He did, pulling out of me quickly to spill thick bursts of cum between my thighs as we shattered together, our orgasms exploding, and held each other tight.

From the couch, the iPad chimed—ten-thirty a.m.. The session had come to an end, but we could both feel that something else was about to begin.

With his chest rising and falling rapidly, he kissed my forehead. “I’ll be leaving now. But I promise, I’ll see you again soon.”

Chapter 23 – Miron

For years, I had been a loyal soldier, a man who did his job without hesitation, without complaint. I never asked for favors, never stepped out of line. I followed orders, enforced thePakhan’swill, and left no loose ends behind.

Egor Yezhov, a man feared more than death itself, ruled with an iron grip. Betrayal wasn’t just punished; it was erased.

I had seen it firsthand. A man who skimmed money from the books? Buried alive. A soldier who let emotions cloud his judgment? His own family paid the price before he did. He was not a man of second chances.

And yet, I stood before him now, ready to make an announcement that sounded more like a death sentence.

“I can’t continue with the engagement.” My announcement breezed through the ripples on the blue pool and was met with brooding silence.

Cool wind rustled through the nearby trees, ruffling the strands of my hair, and I seized a minute to inhale the freshness, knowing there was no guarantee that I would walk away from this scene with my head on my shoulders.

Egor stood beside me, his rough hands clasped behind his back and broad shoulders relaxed as he watched the maintenance staff seize debris from the water’s surface with a skimmer.

“You mean your engagement to Ivanova’s daughter?”

His voice was eerily calm, like an echo in the canyons, and it was neither a promise of good nor bad tidings.

I gave a curt nod, keeping my eyes on the pool just as he did. For all I knew, Egor could pull out a Marakov in the blink of an eye, and the next debris the staff would carry in his skimmer would be my dead body from a bloody pool.

Before I drove to Egor’s hotel for this private meeting, I reminded myself that, after I dropped the announcement, every breath I drew could be my last.

He shifted his feet and started walking around the edges of the pool, quietly paying attention to invisible things I couldn’t see in the water.

“And you are calling it off because?”

I followed after his footsteps, eyeing the smooth flex of his back and every little thing that could be a fucking signal of his explosion. “I have eyes for someone else.”

Egor halted in his steps and turned around. The setting sun, all purple and orange splashes of rays, bathed him in its warm light, and the depths of his eyes swirled with years of experience, deep secrets, and…nothing else. I couldn’t pick a hint of his possible reaction toward this conversation we were having.

“You have eyes for someone else,oryou’ve already told that someone else that you’re coming back for her. Which one is it, Miron?”

I shrugged as casually as I could. “Don’t they mean the same thing?”

“Arrogant asshole.” Egor shook his head, a hint of a smile curving on his mouth. “The former means that there’s still a chance to remind you where your loyalty lies and turn your eyes back to Alina. The latter means you have made a promise and made up your mind, and you somehow believe that you can leave this place with my blessing to do whatever the hell you want.”

“My loyalty lies with you, Egor. It always has and always will.”

“And yet,” the smile turned into a full-fledged grin now, “there’s someone else who I had no clue existed until now. How long has it been?”

Briefly, my gaze faltered. He was taking this more calmly than I imagined, and it disturbed me. “A few weeks after I started therapy.”

Evidently intrigued, he lifted a brow. “The therapist or her daughter?”

“The therapist. She’s twenty-four. Single. No children.”

“Same age as your fiancée, no?” He frowned slightly. “And this therapist knows who you are and what you do?”

I cleared my throat. “I told her two days ago, and she took itwell.”

“Interesting. She took it well,” Egor repeated, unclasping his hands, and my brows creased in alert when he slid them into his pockets. He watched me like a predator studying a shift in the wind.