Page 29 of Bratva Holiday

Aleksandr and Autumn both moved fast, equally as fast as each other, picking up the magazine and slamming it into the gun before taking aim and firing, completely emptying the clip in a matter of seconds.

Mikhail and Daniel clicked the stopwatches once again. They compared numbers.

“Hmm. Interesting,” Mikhail sang. “You both scored the same time. Right down to the millisecond.”

They both looked at each other, eyes narrowed. Competitiveness shot between them, vibrating in the air.

“One momento.” Mikhail went down to the target ranges, assessing them both carefully and meticulously before coming back. “We have another tie.”

Aleksandr’s mouth dropped open.

“Must be losing my touch,” Autumn commented.

“Do you have a tie breaker for the tie breaker?!” Lukyan yelled from the sidelines.

“You know what? I do!” Mikhail yelled back. “I am nothing if not an overplanner, and I do have another round in mind in case we hit another tie. Line back up.”

Aleksandr and Autumn did as he asked.

Mikhail went around the other side and began dismantling both guns, laying out each of the pieces flat on their tables. “First one to reassemble and shoot the target with the quickest and most accurate shots wins. Clear?”

Aleksandr and Autumn nodded.

Conversation amongst my children had me turning, my brow arching.

“Bet you $100 it will be another tie,” Lukyan said, waving a $100 bill in the air.

Nikolai pursed his lips in thought. “I’ll take that. $100 that Aleksandr ends up winning.”

“I want in.” Illayana patted Arturo down until she found something in his pocket, pulling it out. It was a thick leather wallet. She pulled out a $100 bill, then another. “A hundred bucks that Autumn wins, and another hundred that Aleksandr loses his shit over it.”

Lukyan laughed. “Bet.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. I returned my focus to the field just in time for Mikhail to start the next round.

With a speed and accuracy that was beyond impressive, Aleksandr and Autumn each reassembled their handguns with textbook precision, took aim, and fired, hitting their targets.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Mikhail grumbled. “Another tie?”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

Huffing in frustration, Mikhail started the whole process once more. Aleksandr and Autumn shot again and again, continuing to tie on not only speed, but also accuracy. They were far too evenly matched.

“Seriously?! How is this possible?” Mikhail barked out. “Once, I can understand. Twice, maybe. But six times? How the fuck have they tied six times?”

Mikhail had offered for them both to take out the win, scoring three points each for their team, but my son didn’t believe in ties. In his eyes, there was a winner and a loser.

He refused to be the loser.

“Why don’t they just do it blindfolded?!” Lukyan shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“Blindfolded?” Mikhail thought about it for a moment before nodding. “I like that. Let’s do it.”

Aleksandr and Autumn didn’t have any objections, and quite frankly, neither did any of us. We were eager to move on to the next game. After shooting at the same target six times, doing it blindfolded should be a cakewalk for them.

My son turned a confident smirk Autumn’s way. “Good luck.”

Autumn smiled, and it was full of smugness. “Keep it. I think you need it more than I do.”