"Tell me! Who made you betray your family? WHO?!"

Anastasia shouted, getting closer to Julie, who was still weeping on the floor.

Amina kept her pistol pointed at the traitor, but Anastasia was more keen on finding out the truth about the matter; a traitor was nothing new in the world, but what had been a surprise was that one of her closest friends was the traitor.

Who would be so powerful that even someone as close to her as Julie could be brought to their side? Admittedly Julie was a bit of a 'bitch,' but she wouldn't have betrayed their family for no reason, at least not after having slept with half the women there.

Julie was too focused on the pain in her arm to reply, but after a few moments she looked up at Anastasia and hissed,

"I didn't sell your location, you paranoid whore!"

Anastasia frowned and grabbed Julie's injured arm, twisting it painfully to get her attention. When Julie flinched, Anastasia leaned in and whispered in her ear,

"This is for betraying the family."

She twisted Julie's arm harder before letting go. Julie screamed again and buried her face in the floor in pain, unable to respond.

The room fell silent as everyone watched Anastasia confront Julie. The twins stared at Julie with cold eyes, waiting for her response. Amina stood quietly over the crowd, ready to take any action needed.

"Speak to me, little mouse."

Anastasia whispered to the girl with a twisted smile as she held her injured arm, her eyes filled with contempt.

Julie had kept her secrets safe, but the system had laid her betrayal bare for Anastasia to see. And now, despite the pain she was going through, she was unwilling to reveal her secrets.

"I... I don't know what you are talking... talking about..."

Tears rolled down Julie's face as she looked at Anastasia, who was still gripping her injured arm. She looked at every face in the room, in search of some kind of pity or help, but she was met only by cold expressions and stares. She knew she had no recourse, and would have to suffer this pain all alone.

"You know full well what I am talking about..."

Anastasia's face showed no mercy, and not even a drop of emotion. Her eyes remained cold and unfeeling, she was nothing but a stone in these moments, focused only on getting what she wanted.

"Someone is forcing you to betray the family, and I will find out who it is..." 

She held up Julie's arm in a threatening manner and pulled her arm so hard that a fresh burst of blood erupted from her wounds. Julie couldn't help but cry in pain and at that moment she confessed.

"I had to do it,"

Julie choked out between her ragged breaths.

"It was just business. I just wanted to get out of this goddamn business. We don't make any money at this rate. Samuel blotched the drugs, the weapons are in short supply, the wharf's losing business, and we have nothing! There are no more jobs. I had to do what was best for my men and the family,"

Anastasia listened to her with a neutral expression, her tone was calm but it was filled with menace.

"There will be time to discuss those matters later..."

She said, trying to keep the discussion on a specific topic.

"And I believe that I asked you 'Who made you betray us?' not why?"

Julie's eyes widened in fear, but she didn't respond to Anastasia's question for a moment until she finally answered,

"It was someone from the Hong Kong Triad, some Ling or the other! He came to me and offered me an out, one that I couldn't refuse."

Anastasia's face was expressionless as she listened to Julie, but she couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed that it had taken her so long to answer. However, the news wasn't all good.

Were the Triad starting to crack down on smaller groups because of boredom?

And why exactly were they trying to help the Italians against her? 

Was it because of the trafficking ring? Was it because the Vorovich weren't part of the human trafficking operation run by the Triad? Were they trying to expand that ring?

There were so many questions in her head and yet she had answer to none. 

Instead, she let out a heavy sigh and enveloped Julie, who lay on the floor. Julie clung to her like a newborn, staining Anastasia's suit with her blood, but Anastasia didn't push her away. Instead, she embraced Julie tightly, as if trying to shield her from the pain.

"Chut, ne pleure pas, ma sœur. Dors maintenant et tu te réveilleras dans un endroit meilleur."

Anastasia's hug was unexpected, it was something she rarely did. Her tone was usually strict and cold, but now she was showing a different side of herself. Julie was startled by that, but she didn't fight back, she just laid in her arms, as she was told to do. 

"Je... je m'excuse..."

There was nothing else she could say, her tears soaked her clothes and her face was the perfect picture of despair, her tone wasn't that of a rat, but the tone of a woman whose world had collapsed.

"Dors maintenant, sœur, dors."

And with that, her arms tightened. Ever so gently and yet firmly strangling the life out of the woman she had once considered her childhood friend.

"Tu as fait une grave erreur..."

Her arms tightened around Julie's body, ever so slowly and gently choking the life out of the traitor.

"Je suis désolé," 

She said calmly, the girl slowly turning cold under her firm grasp.

"Je t'aime."

She repeated, the words coming out softer than usual given the situation, but they had the intention to hurt. The rat had deserved this, for sure, but the childhood friend had not.

"Je... Je t'aimait aussi."

Those were the only words Julie's body could say, before falling completely limp. A few seconds passed, and her body turned completely pale. Anastasia's face remained cold, but her eyes were filled with sorrow.

Letting go of the body in her hands, she stood up and straightened her suit. The dark fabric did wonders in terms of hiding the blood stains.

"Now for you two,"

She turned to Pierre and Jeanne.

Pierre was also lying on the floor, clutching the stump of his trigger finger while Jeanne was held in place by two other members of the family.

"It's to the table with you two."

Pierre and Jeanne were led to the table, where they were seated opposite each other. They were both shivering in fear, knowing full well what was to come and yet neither of them spoke up. Anastasia had just dealt with Julie who was her childhood friend, while they were simply subordinates.

Anastasia stared intently at the pair for a moment, then took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling the smoke with a look of pure satisfaction on her face.

She took another long drag, then finally blew out the smoke and spoke.

"So now we have got the facts straight. These two, along with Julie and Charles, decided to betray our family. They were working for both the Triad and the Italians. Leaking our routes, plans, and locations."

She turned towards the rest of the crowd,

"Their punishment is the Russian Roulette."

Natalia whistled in appreciation but one of the members, a young brunette, had something else in mind.

"Say, aren't we French? Shouldn't we..."

Anastasia cut her sentence short,

"I am a half-Russian so the Russian Roulette it is. Anyone got a revolver?"

"I'll go get you one,"

Natalia said as she left the room.

The other members of the family waited patiently as if they were already accustomed to witnessing Anastasia use the Russian Roulette as a punishment. A few moments later, Natalia returned with a slightly old handgun and handed it to Anastasia.

"Manurhin MR 73, .357 Magnum."

She introduced the revolver while removing three bullets from the cylinder and placed it on the table. She took a few steps back and folded her arms, leaving the two members seated at the table.

"Since your crime is betrayal, I don't see the problem in upping the odds a bit. There are three bullets in the cylinder. The chances of survival are 50-50."

"Good, the odds aren't bad,"

the young brunette said, smiling slightly.

"Let's start with you first, Jeanne. Why don't you spin it?"

Jeanne gulped and hesitantly reached out to the revolver, then began spinning the cylinder with one hand. The metal clicking against itself was the only sound in the room as the barrel continued to spin. Eventually, the spinning stopped, and Jeanne pointed the muzzle at herself. She hesitated for a moment, closing her eyes and pulling the trigger.

*BANG*

Jeanne's head jerked back violently as the sound of the gunshot ricocheted around the room. Her body went limp, flopping onto the table as the revolver fell out of her hand and clanked on the floor, coming to a stop on the blood-stained wood floor.

Anastasia took a step forward and knelt down in front of Jeanne's corpse, studying her face for a moment before slowly standing up. She picked up the revolver and then looked back at the dead woman's face.

"... I guess you were just unlucky,"

she finally said in a calm tone, then moved to the other end of the table.

"Here you go, Pierre. This one's for you."

She handed the revolver to Pierre who shivering in fright after seeing Jeanne's dead body. He hesitated for a moment before cautiously reaching out towards the revolver and taking it in his left hand, his right trigger finger's stump was still bleeding.

Pierre closed his eyes and held the revolver in his left hand, his finger stumps bleeding profusely. He couldn't bring himself to point the revolver toward his chest, but there was no alternative, he had to decide his fate with a single click of the hammer. 

Pierre nervously held the pistol in his bleeding hand and began to spin the cylinder with the other hand. The clicks of metal against metal echoed throughout the room. Pierre didn't immediately point the gun at himself, which made it clear that he was not exactly ready to die.

Finally, the cylinder stopped spinning and Pierre pointed the revolver at himself. He hesitated again as if hoping that his fate would be similar to Jeanne's, but eventually, he pulled the trigger...