Page 172 of Bratva Butcher

I crossed my arms over my chest. “As you all know, your grandfather hired Autumn to kill me.” Seven sets of eyes cut to Autumn.

She smiled awkwardly. “What?Obviously,I didn’t go through with it.”

“Yes, and we’re all immensely grateful,” I said, patting her hand. “As I was saying, your grandfather has officially made a move against me. As much as the man values his legacy, he values obedience more, which he no longer gets from me. After Autumn refused to do what he wanted, he put out an open contract on me.”

Illayana gasped. Aleksandr and Nikolai growled. Lukyan’s face turned grim.

“Last night, a seven-person team of highly trained, highly skilled assassins broke into our townhouse while we were sleeping and tried to kill me.”

“What?!” Illayana screamed.

Aleksandr snarled in outrage. “That’s it. You’re getting a guard detail.”

“I don’t need one.”

“Don’t be foolish, Father.” A stern look crossed Nikolai’s face. “You need someone to watch your back.”

“You misunderstand me. I don’t need one because I already have one.” I looked at Autumn.

She wiggled her fingers through the air.

My children said nothing else on the matter. They’d all seen her in action. Her skills spoke for themselves.

Illayana leant forward, shoving her brothers with her shoulders as she went. “How do you know there’s an open contract? Were you able to question one of the assassins before you killed them?”

Autumn managed to expertly avoid answering that last question by showing the group her phone. “Because of this.”

Everyone moved closer.

“This is an exclusive website that only very select people have access to. Me being one of them. It’s a safe and secure place for people to upload open contracts that every assassin around the world can see.”

Autumn had shown me the website the night before, after we’d dealt with the bodies. I deduced it must be quite a tight-lipped secret among the assassin community, because I’d never heard of anything like it before. It’d been a damn shock to my system when she not only showed me the website, but alsomycontract.

AsPakhanof the Bratva—well, former—I should have known about something like that, and yet, I’d had no idea.

It pissed me off. I didn’t like feeling so unprepared.

“Open contracts are tricky,” Autumn continued as they all flicked through the website, looking it over with interest. “It means it’s open for anyone to take, and therefore can result in multiple people trying to claim the same bounty. The higher the sum, the more interest.”

Illayana’s eyes flicked upwards. “How much did Grandfather put down?”

“Ten million. The second-highest sum I’ve ever seen.”

“Second?” I questioned with a frown, feeling slightly offended. “Who was the first?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she shrugged. “He’s long dead.”

“Who gotthatkill?” Lukyan asked, speaking for the first time.

Autumn smiled wickedly. “Idid.”

“Now Ihaveto know how much it was.” Illayana pursed her lips in thought. “Fifteen mil?”

“Twenty?” Lukyan asked next.

“Twenty-five?” Illayana returned.

“Thirty?” We all stared at Aleksandr in surprise. “What?” he grunted, looking around the room. “I’m curious now. Fucking sue me.”

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