Page 30 of Bratva Holiday

“Oh! Burn!” Lukyan hollered with a laugh.

Aleksandr’s gaze snapped to him, eyes narrowed. Lukyan pointed to Illayana as the culprit, causing Illayana to shove her brother hard in the shoulder.

Mikhail handed a strip of cloth to both Autumn and Aleksandr. Once they were securely fastened around their heads, Mikhail checked to make sure neither of them could see before placing a loaded 9mm down on the table in front of each of them.

“Okay. I think we can all agree we are well and truly ready to move on to the next game, so, on the off chance this round turns into a tie, which it better bloody not, both of you will receive three points, and we will be done with it. Ya hear?”

“Fine by me.” Autumn shrugged.

“Good. Aleksandr?”

My son remained silent, standing stoically with his hands behind his back.

Sighing, I rolled my eyes. “Aleksandrrrr?” I dragged out, my voice hardening.

“Fine,” he grumbled out reluctantly.

“Thank God. Take stance.”

Aleksandr and Autumn stepped forward, their hands outstretched, searching for their gun. Once in their grips, they both took aim and waited for Mikhail’s signal.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…Bang!

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. There was something there. A…hesitance in Autumn’s last shot that had my gut screaming at me that something was off. Aleksandr removed his cloth first, then Autumn. Her rich green eyes landed on me, and shining within them was a sparkle of amusement.

“Oh, thank the heavens and the hells.” Mikhail blew out, inspecting the target shots. “We finally have a winner.”

I knew who it was before he even said it.

With Mikhail’s announcement declaring who had won, a few things happened at once. Aleksandr let loose a triumphant roar that could no doubt be heard from miles and miles away. Illayana groaned, as did Lukyan, both of them handing over their money to Nikolai, who lapped it up, taking the bills to fan himself with it, and Autumn clapped demurely.

Aleksandr and Autumn shook hands before walking away from the shooting range.

“You let him win, didn’t you?” I asked as Autumn sidled up to my side.

She gave me a cheeky smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I tried my absolute hardest.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did.” I kissed her softly, “Up until that last round.”

She shrugged, a smile still firmly on her face. “If I didn’t ease up, we would have died here.”

“Can’t argue with that.” I grunted. “You and him are far too evenly matched in marksmanship.”

“At least we came in second.”

“Two points to Aleksandr and Drea’s three still keeps us firmly in the running. We can take them.” I was just as competitive as the rest of them. The difference with me was that I hid it rather than showed it. The next round was 1 v 1, and it didn’t matter which one of my children or their partners I got paired with. I was going to beat them to a pulp.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Arturo De Luca

My lips pursed in distaste. Last. We were coming last.

While usually, I wasn’t an overly competitive person, the idea of that shithead Lukyan being ahead of me left a foul taste in my mouth. I didn’t care if I won the whole game. What I did care about was at least beating Lukyan. I refused to accept anything less.

Fingers danced across my nape, and I turned slightly, glancing over my shoulder.