While staring at the man who was pointing his gun at her, Hannah felt like puking everything that she had just eaten out of fear.

Numerous horrendous thoughts filled her mind of what could go wrong and it didn't help that she could also feel the cold barrel of the gun being pressed harder on the temple of her head.

"I should just kill you" Ivan uttered all of a sudden, which made Hannah's heart race in her chest.

"Don't!" she cried in a panic.

Hot tears immediately began to pool at the corners of her reddening eyes due to the intense wave of fear she felt coming from the bottom of her heart.

"S-spare me! Please spare my life!" she begged hysterically after being frightened by the man. Her beautiful blue-grey eyes are staring straight into Ivan's amber eyes, looking directly at him as she pleads for her life.

Looking back at her glossy eyes, Ivan stared at her for a while before his lips once again arched into a slightly naughty and playful smirk.

His dashing face has a villainous appearance to it, appearing both incredibly sinister and elegant at the same time.

"Give me one good reason for me to spare you, and I might be willing to let you live"

While speaking, Ivan pressed the muzzle of his golden revolver harder into her temples, adjusting his grip on it to avoid accidentally pulling the trigger.

"Should I admit that I have no idea what he's talking about?"

"But he wouldn't believe me. Instead, he might even assume that I was only lying to get out of this situation"

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"The clock is ticking, sweetheart" Ivan uttered all of a sudden, which made cold sweat drip down the smooth skin of Hannah's back and before she could even think twice, her mouth began to move.

"I-I like you!" she stuttered.

Hannah felt her world crumble as soon as those words left her mouth, and she immediately became convinced that her mind had finally been corrupted by her cousin's romance novel and had already been rotten.

It was almost as if she could see her chances of survival dwindling to zero.

"Sheldon, Sean, and Shaine... my time has come"

Hannah didn't know why she chose the 'I-Was-Driven-By-Love' alibi while she was in the midst of a life-and-death situation.

All that she knows is that out of all the lies that she could have said, she picked the most useless one of all.

"..."

"..."

For a brief moment, the entire room became deafeningly quiet as Ivan's faint smirk faded when he heard the beautiful girl in front of him confess her 'affections' for him.

He knows he had undoubtedly ordered the maiden in front of him to come up with a convincing reason why he shouldn't kill her, enjoying the petrified look on her face, but he never expected her to say those words out of the blue.

Assuming that her words weren't persuasive enough to impress Ivan, Hannah bit her lips and continued to lie through her gritted teeth.

"It's because you're so handsome! That's all! I really mean no harm" she added, almost whimpering in the end, unsure if what she was saying would make the man spare her life or fasten her impending death.

As she spoke, her eyes once again began wandering everywhere except for the man who was standing in front of her.

She was so terrified that she could hardly breathe, but when Ivan finally withdrew the gun he was pointing at her head and walked away to drop it on the table, Hannah couldn't stop herself from secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

It did not last long, though, and Ivan walked towards her again.

Ivan squatted down at Hannah's level so he could directly look her in the eyes. Cruelly, he grabbed her soft cheeks with his partially calloused hands and pinched them with his strong fingers.

"You like me?" he asked, earning a couple of nods from the girl who was currently looking at his forehead with her misty eyes, attempting to avoid his intimidating gaze.

Unbeknownst to Hannah, a smirk much less mischievous but way more intimidating compared to his earlier ones had once again appeared on Ivan's face, and with a wicked glint in his eyes, Ivan dared her.

"Prove it"