Page 28 of Bratva Holiday

“Who? Who did I tie with?” Aleksandr demanded.

Mikhail pointed to the target board beside his.

Aleksandr turned, his gaze slicing to Autumn. “You?”

Autumn smiled. She shrugged absent-mindedly. “Perks of being an assassin, I guess.”

Aleksandr grunted. He faced Mikhail once more. “You have a tie breaker?”

“Why, yes, I do, good sir,” Mikhail responded enthusiastically, making me roll my eyes. The man was eating this up. “For a tie breaker, the two of you will shoot again, and this time, we will factor in speed and accuracy. Whoever can load their gun and shoot the fastest while also shooting with the most accuracy will take out first place. The other will come in second, moving Lukyan to third⁠—”

“Rats’ balls!” Lukyan cursed.

“And my dear best friend into fourth,” Mikhail finished. He placed a hand over his heart, as if his next words brought him great pain. “I am filled with such sorrow to have to do that to you, DeDe⁠—”

Seriously? My eyes couldn’t roll back any fucking farther.

“—but it is the name of the game.” Mikhail wiped away a fake tear. Illayana, Lyla, and Lukyan chuckled at his antics. At least they found him funny.

“I’ll get over it.” I grunted.

“I have faith you can come back from this! ” Mikhail said, pointing a finger. He blew on his whistle in a quick burst. “Okay, everyone move off to the side! Aleksandr and Autumn, take up positions!”

As Mikhail placed a fresh magazine onto each of the tables in front of Aleksandr and Autumn, everyone else began to make their way to the sidelines. Before I could do the same, I took a few steps forward, wrapping Autumn up in my arms and kissing the side of her throat.

She sighed happily. “Are you sure I shouldn’t just let him win?” she whispered into my neck.

“I’m sure.” I kissed her skin again, enjoying the way she shivered at my touch. “Good luck. Not that you need it.” I winked.

“Okay, okay. Give it a rest, lovebirds.” Mikhail jogged over, slapping his hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got a game to play. Now, DeDe, if you’d be so kind⁠—”

His words cut off with a pain-filled choke when I rammed my fist into his stomach. He doubled over at the waist, dry heaving. I patted his back twice before moving on to join the others.

DeDe was a stupid, ridiculous nickname he’d come up with during our childhood. I had no idea where he’d pulled it from, and to be honest, I was too scared to ask. I never knew half the reasons why he did the shit he did. One thing I did know, though, was he was well aware how much I hated it when he called me that.

To me, the punch was warranted.

Mikhail coughed, clearing his throat before he placed his hands on his hips and straightened. He blew out several deep breaths. “I’m okay. I’m okay,” he reassured…no one. “You two ready?”

Aleksandr nodded. So did Autumn.

“Okay. Remember, this round is about speed and accuracy. It won’t mean shit if you hit all the targets but are the slowest. In order to win this one, you’ll need to win in both categories,” Mikhail noted.

“Got it.” Aleksandr grunted.

“Not a problem.” Autumn nodded.

“Good. Take stance.”

The two moved into position in front of their tables. A suspenseful silence filled the air. From his pocket, Mikhail produced two stopwatches, one in his left hand, and the other in his right.

“To keep things fair and even, I’m going to enlist a helper for this round.” He waved over one of the soldiers and handed him a stopwatch. “Daniel will monitor Aleksandr’s time. I’ll monitor Autumn’s time. We ready?”

“Yep,” Autumn said at the same time as Aleksandr simply grunted—his usual communication style.

Mikhail let the silence drag on for a few seconds, allowing the suspense to build before finally signaling for them to start.

Mikhail and Daniel activated the stopwatches.