“Yeah,” I took a full glass of brandy from Kota.

“Very good,” he smiled, going around the table and looking out for his next victim. Then he bent low, tried on the cue and hit. One short accurate poke, almost like a shot - once, and the ball is already in the pocket. - And what is your plan?

I raised my eyebrows.

“Just don’t pretend that you don’t understand what I’m talking about,” he straightened up and looked right into my eyes.

- I ... - I hesitated.

In fact, I myself also did not formulate my plan so clearly in words. No, he was, exactly, I saw him in full detail, but to pronounce it ...

- Do you want to marry her?

I swallowed hard and nodded.

- Have you already slept?

I shook my head.

“This is good - you shouldn’t hurry before the wedding,” he bent over the table again. - Seven in the right center.

And the seven slowly rolled and stopped at the very edge of the said pocket.

“Your blow,” he leaned against the table, putting the thick end of the cue on the floor.

I prepared to strike.

- When are you planning your wedding? - asked Roman Alexandrovich.

I started and did not hit the ball:

“I ...” I straightened up, and he took my place. “I haven't talked to her yet ... about this ...”

“You are silly, Senya,” he grinned, having driven his seven into the pocket, and moved to another position. “It’s not to be discussed with her, but with her dad.”

- I know that he will answer ... - I lowered my head, leaning on the cue with both hands.

“But you didn't even ask,” he grinned.

I sighed and shook my head.

“Take a moment and talk to him,” he pounded the last ball into the pocket. - The consignment. With you three hundred.

I sighed and took the whole pile of money out of my pocket, counted out three hundred-dollar bills and handed them to him.

He hid the money in his pocket and put his hand on my shoulder:

- Senya, talk to him. Believe, it will be worse if she marries you against his consent.

- He will send me ...

“And we will help you to make sure that you don't send,” he patted me on the shoulder, and then made a sign to his comrades and they left the club. I ordered another pair of brandy, and then I also went home.

They met me in a gate near Olkina house. The first blow fell on the liver, from which I doubled over. The second neck - and in my eyes darkened. But I did not lose consciousness - I felt how three pairs of hands felt my pockets, heard their voices and receding steps.

As soon as they were quiet, I hardly raised my hand to my breast pocket, pulled out the phone and dialed Milana's father. In three words, I explained to him what had happened to me, without going into details of what we talked about in the billiard room. He silently listened to me and said only: "Wait."

Then I called Olya, said that I got into a very unpleasant story and that she did not wait for me. She burst into tears right into the phone, said that I had completely fallen out of love with her ... I did not listen to her snotty lamentations and simply dropped the call.

Half an hour later I was lit by the headlights of a hefty SUV. Some people spilled out of it. Someone approached me:

- Alive, handsome? - Milana’s security chief lightly slapped me on the cheek.

I nodded and tried to get up, but from the sharp pain that immediately pierced my body with a hot iron I sank heavily to the ground.

The guard shook his head sullenly, threw my hand on his shoulder and lifted me without apparent effort. I tried to touch the legs, but every movement responded severe pain throughout his body. He carried me to the car and carefully put me in the back seat. Then he got behind the wheel:

- Theodore Rudolfovich ordered to bring you to him. You will be examined by a family doctor.

I nodded and suddenly realized that I was leaving. The last thing I saw was the guard’s worried look in the rearview mirror ...

- Hmm, they are strong you - I heard the voice of Theodor Rudolfovich, as if through cotton. - Well, nothing, you will live. Rupture of the spleen is, of course, serious, but not fatal.

- I ask to forgive me ... - I said with difficulty.

- For what? - he looked at me in surprise.

- I myself am guilty ... lighted money in front of them ...

“Of course, it's to blame,” he smiled very warmly. - But this is nothing. My guys have already found them and are driving here.

“And what will you do with them?” - my hands went cold at once.

“You don’t have to worry about that at all,” he patted me on the shoulder and left the room.

I lay back on the pillows. This Roman Aleksandrovich is far from a fool - if he feels that it smells like kerosene, he will lay out everything to Rudolfovich, as if he were on the spirit, and he will not make a fuss with me. And it’s good if they just let me get out of town quietly. And if with that Milin boyfriend? I don’t even have tattoos, so they can't even identify them. What to do? We must somehow warn, somehow ...

At that moment the door opened, and on the threshold appeared anxious Milan without makeup and in a silk nightgown.

- You're already awake? - she slowly approached the bed on which I was lying.

I nodded, but inside I had something pleasantly squeezed - that was how real, excited, unkempt and unpainted I liked it even more than with a full parade. She knelt beside me, and her eyes were exactly at the level of mine.

- How do you feel?

“Fine,” I answered hoarsely.

“While you were unconscious, I talked to dad,” she smiled.

I tensed:

- and?

“He didn’t believe a word of those bandits,” Milana tilted her head to the right.

I squinted:

- What gangsters?

- Those who attacked me then near the club ... They said that it was you who incited them ...

- What about your father? - my heart sank in the literal sense of the word.

- Nothing - put a bullet in his head so that he would not stipulate an honest person ...

The worm threw off a newspaper and turned on the light - he grew up, and his eyes became even more reproachful than before. I pushed it closet and unscrewed the light bulb. There is nothing for me to look at me like that!

- And the rest? - I did not care, damn it, but I was even afraid of my own voice - the indifference that sounded in it.

“I don’t know,” she ran her hand over my stomach and stopped exactly where needed. I was afraid to take a breath so as not to scare her away, but my little one stirred and began to pour blood.

“What an impatient boy,” Milana smiled and yanked my blanket to the floor.

I was wearing only a hospital disposable shirt, which, of course, did not really hide anything. Mila smiled and, slightly clearing a place for herself, pressed her lips to my dignity.

Steps were heard in the corridor.

- Mila, Milana, wait ... no need ... what if someone enters?

She distracted from her entertaining class and smiled, covering her eyes:

- No one will enter, do not be afraid. Behind the door is my guard. But if you scream, they really will. Also, father will be called.

I bit my tongue - but I did not expect this from her. Dura stupid, and knows his stuff ... Damn, how well she does it ...

Mila swallowed everything, then gently wiped my limp organ with a wet washcloth, gently smacked my cheek and left.

And I was lying and listening to the rustling behind the wall. I waited for someone to come for me. But the room was getting dark, and no one came. It can not be that this nerd told them nothing. And if told why I'm still here, and not in that creepy basement? The answer was self-evident - for some reason I need Rudolfovich. But why?

And now, when I almost completely persuaded myself that if they wanted to kill me, they would have killed me long ago, they knocked on the door quietly. A real hurricane of thoughts immediately spun in my head, and the main one was: “Well, that's it, I waited” ... A knock repeated - timid and timid - the door creaked next.

Stop, I stopped the panic circulation, if I ...