... help one another with their body armor. Natalia helped Amina tighten her vest, and Amina helped Natalia tie her hair into a bun.

Natalia's toned body and Amina's chiseled abs were clearly defined under their respective outfits. Natalia's muscles looked strong and capable while Amina's muscles looked firm and tight. Both girls had plenty of scars, with gunshot wounds being the most common.

"I-I-Uh-You-You should put-"

Anastasia was so embarrassed that she couldn't finish the sentence.

The way their fingers intertwined while tightening the straps on their armor, with how Amina's hand lightly grazed against Natalia's, was all so intimate and tender.

Amina's skin seemed tough but also so tender, and seeing a glimpse of her muscular abs beneath that sports bra...

Anastasia was stunned, her whole face flush from the encounter and the images that were going through her head.

"That-... Uhm..."

After a while, Anastasia finally regained control of her roller-coasting heart and berated the duo,

"What was that!?"

"Well, we were helping each other,"

Amina chimed in, with Natalia smiling right next to her.

"We weren't doing anything wrong. It's normal to touch someone while putting their stuff on."

"Mhm."

Amina continued and Anastasia felt her stomach flip.

"It feels nice to help each other, right?"

Anastasia growled again,

"Did you have to put up that show? What if I had assaulted you two?"

It was a valid question for her since she nearly did so.

Amina looked down at Anastasia with a smile on her face and continued,

"What show? Isn't it normal to help your teammates with their equipment?"

A soft chuckle escaped her lips, and she looked over at Natalia, who was trying not to laugh at Anastasia's embarrassment.

"Besides, if you tried to assault us,"

Natalia chuckled,

"We would have let ya'."

Amina chimed in, 

"But after that, we would have ripped yer tits off."

Anastasia shivered at her warning, while their bodies were worth their weight in gold to touch, she would rather keep her chest intact.

Sobered out of her embarrassment, she noticed that both of them wearing a Kevlar vest beneath their clothes and a flak jacket above. Amina had equipped herself with an MP5 and a Berretta M9 and also had her Jericho 941 holstered on the inside of her belt. 

Meanwhile, Natalia had armed herself with an AK-47 and a MAC-10, she still carried the M1911 in her baggy jacket's pocket. A moment later, Mikhail also walked out from behind the weapons rack, armed exactly like his sister. 

Anastasia clapped her hand once, loud enough for the noise to echo through the warehouse. 

"Good, now that you are all armed to the teeth let's get going then."

She led them through the warehouse and out its back door.

The night was rather gloomy, it was a New Moon after all and the only source of light was the street lights glowing softly in the distance. 

Just when the quartet had walked past the seven warehouses, loud voices started to erupt from the building at the very edge of the wharf. It was a much better-maintained building made of solid brick and had a slight French architectural taste to it.

Anastasia chuckled,

"When we first took over this place, there was an argument on what sort of meeting place we should build. Alas, I lost and we never built an opera house here but since I AM the Boss, I forced through with my plan anyway."

As they approached the entrance of the building, the raised voices turned into distinct arguments and, occasionally, loud laughter. At the door stood two men whom Anastasia recognized to be from the group assigned to Diego, they nodded at her and opened the doors.

The heavy wooden door creaked open, revealing a spacious interior with dim lighting. A vast yet empty hall that could have easily passed for a theater and even more guards.

"How are things going Diego?"

The man in question stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor, he had an annoyed look on his face and was smoking a cigarette. His AK-47 was slung across his shoulder but he was not wearing any sort of protective gear/

"Bad, some bitch named Julie started up a storm about not being able to carry a weapon,"

He sighed while rolling his eyes. Suddenly, he smirked,

"But after I beat the crap out of her men she followed through quietly. She's been arguing with the rest of the people up there about firing me."

His smirk broadened and Anastasia gave him a raised eyebrow before smirking,

"Well, that just made my day."

She grinned and turned to the trio following after her,

"From here on, we need to maintain a formal image. You two,"

She motioned towards the twins,

"Would follow behind me. You know, the side-to-side manner that all second-rate mafia movies have."

They both nodded and did as they were told.

"Good. And you, Hawk, would sneak in through the second door. You will act as the sniper and probably the main gunner too in case things go south."

Amina nodded before following one of the guards. 

Diego kept on staring at Anastasia, expecting his role to be declared next, but instead,

"Diego, you keep an eye on the building. Keep an eye out for any unknown assailant or helper that one of the traitors may have brought with them."

He was clearly not happy to be stationed as a sentry but he agreed nonetheless,

"Alright then, let's begin the family meeting shall we."

And with that, she bounded up the stairs followed closely by the Ivanov twins. Once they began climbing the stairs on the first floor that led to the meeting hall, she could hear the sounds of Julie's complaining and the murmurs of her men.

"What is it with her anyway? No weapons, no alcohol... Do you know how many rules she's setting? It's madness! I can't live like this!"

Julie shouted in frustration.

Anastasia smiled as she heard this and then turned to the siblings behind her.

"That's Julie right there, sounds like a lovely person, huh?"

The twins nodded with smirks on their faces, before following Anastasia into the meeting hall.

Anastasia walked in with confidence and a strong stride. She had the look of someone who was accustomed to being the leader of a group.

The twins followed right behind her, almost walking in step with each other. Their matching gear and clothes along with their almost identical appearance made quite the impact on people looking at them through the dim light's in the room.

Inside was a long table, surrounded by high-backed chairs, it occupied the center of the room but there were several other stools and chairs scattered all over the place. The air was thick with the scent of cigarette and cigar smoke, and the room was filled with the low hum of conversation.

"Anastasia, you're late,"

Even before she made it to her chair, Julie commented in a tone that seemed to convey that she was the one looking after Anastasia.

"Shut your god-damned trap for a second would ya'"

Grumbled a man sitting a few seats away from Julie, he was Samuel, the one in charge of smuggling and 'cooking' work for the family.

"Yes, I have arrived a minute and a half later. Good to see you are as grumpy as always Sam, and you Julie, are still a stupid c*nt!"

Julie turned in shock at that, and Samuel couldn't resist snorting loudly at Anastasia's words. Julie didn't respond quickly enough, and the twins took up their position on both sides of Anastasia, their expressions blank and hands folded behind their backs.

Anastasia had to admit that they did look impressive. The twins were both tall, beautiful, and well-built. With their faces expressionless, they looked more like a pair of statues rather than ordinary bodyguards.

"Now that everyone is here, let's take count."

Julie sat there in the middle of it, a face red with rage. She and Samuel had been enemies since their youth, and Anastasia had to intervene many times before. Samuel was always the instigator, though.

A few of the men and women in the room looked at each other in surprise before someone raised their hand,

"Yo, I got a question."

"Yes, Pedro..."

Pedro the pillow talk, was the one who had raised his hand. He was the one in charge of the three brothels and was the direct superior of Julie but was a lazy ass and always dumped the work on the bad-tempered woman. 

Anastasia looked directly at him,

"What do you want to ask Pedro?

Pedro cleared his throat before speaking, his face full of a smug smile.

"What good is it to keep a family meeting if we don't have food or drinks, let alone no women here?"

She rolled her eyes.

"We're here to discuss serious matters, not host a dinner party."

Someone in the crowd, a woman, muttered under her breath,

"Though I wouldn't have objected to that idea,"

Samuel chuckled at the joke, and Julie looked at him in disdain. 

He shrugged his shoulders and said,

"What else are we going to do around here if we don't get some alcohol? We haven't had a shipment in weeks."

Anastasia kept her face stoic even though every part of her wanted to rip Samuel's throat out. He always had a knack for clowning around when the situation got serious.

"Sam, Pedro, be quiet. If you can't think with anything other than your dicks I might have to castrate you two."

Anastasia said with barely contained exasperation in her voice.

"This meeting is important. We have things we need to discuss, understand?"

Julie's jaw tightened, her eyes narrow with rage but she said nothing as Samuel shivered while Pedro snickered in childish amusement once again.

There was a moment of tense silence in the room, only broken by Samuel's stupid giggling. He had to get kicked out of another meeting if he wasn't careful. The twins continued looking at Julie until they saw Anastasia look over at them and shake her head. They returned their cold expressions to a blank state.

Then, Pedro got himself in trouble again,

"But the meeting is so boring!"

He said in an exasperated tone, looking up at Anastasia with pleading eyes.

"I'd do anything to make it less tedious."

He smiled and licked his lips. 

"Very well then, since it's tedious let's just skip to the good part. Pedro, you are no longer the one in charge of the three brothels, or at least no longer in charge once they are rebuilt."

There was absolute silence in the room, now even Julie was stunned by her decision. But Pedro was not sad or confused, far from it, he was happy to be able to laze around now.

"Who'll be the new manager for the brothels?"

Samuel spoke out, a grin spreading over his face as he prepared for the fallout.

"Is it going to be me? It has to be, right?"

Muttered Julie frantically while staring at Anastasia, but she merely rolled her eyes and shook her head. Samuel's smile broadened but Julie screamed in anger,

"You must be joking! I worked really hard for this position."

Anastasia smirked and replied,

"And look at everything you've accomplished. Half of our workers are dead, in less than a month, and the remaining are refusing to return to work."

Everyone was dead silent. No one knew what to say. Julie in particular seemed dumbfounded and speechless.

"How dare you! I was doing a wonderful job! It was your feud with the Italians that brought death to my establishments! You were the one who didn't fulfill the contract of protection! Not me!"

Julie stood up as if to prove a point, but Anastasia had had enough of her rant, she glared at her with such intensity that the nearly forty people in the room gulped simultaneously,

"Don't! Talk! To! Me! In! That! Tone!"

She gritted out those words with quite a visible effort that was needed to reel in her anger,

"You fucked up! In more than one way! And now that's coming to bite you in the ass."

Julie was silent. No snarky comment, no excuse, nothing. All that filled the air was the heavy silence hanging in the room.

Anastasia turned to Samuel, this was far from over.

"Congratulations."

Samuel merely smiled and nodded, but suddenly froze when he heard the rest of her sentence,

"You earn yourself a warning. Samuel, you spent all your funds on a single batch of high-end goods without informing the family. And somehow it's all burned to ashes!"

"But ma'am-"

Samuel tried his best, but everyone knew there was no way to reason with the head of the family.

"You know how much trouble we have dealing with the Italians. This was the only way. It was an investment, a very good one at that."

Samuel could see Anastasia's face getting more agitated. Her temper was growing by the second. He would need to find a way to convince her.

"Ma'am, it is the perfect opportunity. We could get rid of the Italians, or at least severely weaken their presence... And the best part-"

But Anastasia interrupted him,

"Is that all your plans were burned to ashes, and then those ashes were mixed into the sea."

Samuel froze. He had nothing to say. He could feel the disappointment from everyone in the room. He had gone too far this time. He was afraid of the consequences.

"Ma'am." Samuel tried one last time.

"I-It-It w-"

But before he could say anything else, Anastasia had already made up her mind.

"Stand down. You are not to take any independent decisions until you have made up for all the losses."

Samuel felt a wave of relief wash over him. Anastasia must be in a good mood today. He had gotten away with it.

"Of course, sis."

Samuel nodded.

Anastasia turned to look at the crowd,

"Now for you all shitheads...