You've won

The end of august. It's still hot and stuffy, but the weather is about to deteriorate. The leaves are not yet turning yellow and are not circling in the air, caught up by the currents of the north wind, unable to descend to the ground. How stupid it is to die like this until the end and not enjoy the last warm days. It was on that day, at the funeral, that Altan first saw Vadim's mother. Unremarkable - a fleshy, tearful Muscovite. Altan just liked to walk around and look at other people's mothers. It was she who asked to bury her son in his homeland. And they buried him in Moscow. Only now, looking at the funeral procession, he realized that he probably had no one closer to Vadim. His relationship with his sister is strained and his views on life are radically different, but Vadim ... he killed his grandfather, he is already part of the family. Although Altan would never even call him a friend, after so many years of working together, he still somehow got too used to him. Vadim was really special, there were not enough tears or time to mourn every mercenary who squeezed his eyes like that, and Altan did not feel the need for this, just getting rid of the bodies and forgetting was enough, but with Vadim it was another matter. What's the difference? Surely those people also had relatives, families and plans for life? Altan put his hand in his pocket and clenched a five thousand dollar bill in his fist. A trifle. An incomprehensible lump rose in my throat and I had to step aside. He took the bill out of his pocket and carefully spread it out in his hands, it's sad to realize what value this piece of paper had for Vadim, but now it doesn't mean anything, and where does he go now. Altan tried to open his eyes as wide as possible to keep the tears from flowing down his cheeks. What is he even doing here? He went up to the coffin and looked into Vadim's eyes for the last time. Usually they were shiny and full of life, but now they seemed deadly pale, which is not surprising in his position. — You won ... – said Altan and threw a five thousand dollar bill into the open coffin, after which he silently turned around and left.