Page 48 of Bratva Holiday

“Cheer for your sister, you grumpy ass.” She scolded.

I rolled my eyes, raising my glass before taking a drink.

Standing in front of the fireplace, Illayana bowed low, accepting the praise with smugness. “Thank you, thank you!” she boasted, holding up what should have been my fucking trophy for all to see. “Ahhh, what an honor this is. First, I want to thank my wonderful husband. Without his support, this win would have been impossible. Another thank you to my siblings for an entertaining game. While none of you have a trophy of your own this year, you’re all winners for trying.” She stared me dead in the eyes. “Especially you, Aleksandr.” She smirked, tauntingly rubbing the trophy.

That little bitch.

My glare could have set her on fucking fire. Illayana was a sore loser, but an even sorer winner.

She continued with her grandiose winning speech, which I promptly tuned out, because if I didn’t, I was liable to challenge her to the ring after the holiday was over.

Playing in a large pen in the center of the room were Aleksei and Ivana. The twins were bickering over a soft toy, talking in nothing but cute little baby sounds and babble. It didn’t seem to matter that there was an exact identical toy right beside them. No. They both wanted that specific toy, and apparently, no other toy would do the trick. It just had to be that one.

Sibling rivalry started young, apparently.

Illayana was still droning on and on about her win. You’d think she had that shit written out from the very start, with how much she was harping on. I finished the rest of my drink and slunk down onto the floor, moving to the pen.

Right now, Aleksei had the toy, Ivana’s little hands, reaching and clutching for it, trying to take it off her brother. I picked up the other identical toy and tried offering it to her. She smacked it away and yanked the one in Aleksei’s hand from his grasp. Aleksei wailed and tried to grab it back, which just made Ivana wail in return, harder and louder than her brother.

“Okay, okay. Enough, you two.” Nikolai stood and plucked Ivana from the playpen. “Be nice to your brother.” He scolded lightly, taking the toy from her. “He had it first.” He handed the toy to Aleksei and returned to his seat. “Come sit with Daddy.”

Aleksei, with the toy now in his possession, was as happy as he could be. Nikolai bounced Ivana on his knee, but his daughter was still upset over the fact that her brother had the toy she wanted.

Sitting beside Nikolai, Lukyan offered up his gun. “Here. She can play with this.”

“What the fuck?” Nik pushed the gun away. “You can’t give a toddler a gun, Lukyan.”

“What?” He shrugged innocently. “The safety’s on.”

Tatiana shook her head, chuckling softly. “You are never allowed to babysit again.”

“Hey, you can’t keep her away from her uncle. She’s going to ask questions.”

“She can’t even talk yet,” Nik said, rolling his eyes.

“Excuse me,” Illayana snapped. “I’m still talking.”

“We get it. You won,” Lukyan droned. “Just email your victory speech instead of boring us to death with it.”

“You’re just jealous because you came in last!”

“Hey!” Lukyan barked, flying to his feet. “Second last. Technically, Nik and Tati came in last.”

Nik frowned. “What are you going on about? We got the same score. We tied in last place.”

“Yes, but the loss is in alphabetical order, and L is before N, therefore, I’m in first last place, and you’re in second last place.”

Ivana tried shoving her fingers into Nik’s mouth, and he pushed them away. “Who came up with that rule?” She gripped his hair next, and he winced, trying to untangle her fingers from the strands.

“Me,” Lukyan said, smiling brightly.

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes perfect sense to me,” Lyla added supportively.

Nik scoffed. “Well, of course it does. You’re just as crazy as he is.”

Lyla smiled, unshed tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said sincerely, hand to her heart, as if he’d just given her the best compliment one could give her.