Mira stared at her feet the entire ride back, her breaths low and shallow.

How did none of it seem real until now? She wasn't clueless, the mafia was notorious for violence, willing to do whatever it takes for success and wealth. She'd witnessed her father takes someone's life, yet she convinced herself it had been out of a sense of duty, not a choice, but a necessity. But that was no excuse; killing was a choice, no matter what the circumstances. She wanted for her dad to be a good person, but the reality was that he was simply a bad person that was good to her. 

She was so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that they'd arrived back to HQ until Elise gently tapped her shoulder. Mira forced herself to calm down as she slipped out of the van, her eyes finding Leo as he climbed out of his van, splatters of crimson decorating his shirt. She followed the group back to the artillery, keeping silently to the back. 

Everyone began taking off their gear and returning their weapons back onto the racks, Mira following in suite.

"Did it meet your expectations," Leo stood next to her, his icy blue eyes sending a tremor down her spine. She'd always compared his eyes to the color of electric sparks, but now she realized that they were far more than that; they were the eyes of a remorseless killer.

"Depends, do all of your routine operations end with you shooting someone's brains out?" She asked dryly. He shrugged.

"Whatever it takes to get the job done." He said, pausing. "Why, did my actions upset you?" He was mocking her now, a twisted smile crossing his lips. Mira pressed her lips together, not responding.

"Seems I was right about you, you shouldn't be here. Take a look around, Mira, you're in a room full of murderers. Scary, huh? But let me get one thing straight; none of them have done anything near as horrible as your father. We smuggle drugs, kill people, and traffic them under his orders. Let that sink in before you go crawling back to him for some sort of consolation." He hissed, eyes narrowed. Then, without another word, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away.

Mira stood there, frozen in place. Her heart was racing, her mind repeating the same two words over and over again:

Get out, get out, get out.

"Hey, do you have a second?" It was Elise, her expression soft. The only thing Mira wanted to do was get as far away from everyone as possible, but something about the look in Elise's eyes convinced Mira to stay.

"Yeah," Mira agreed warily.

"Here, lets go somewhere a little quieter." She lead Mira out into the hall. She followed her all the way across the building out onto a large balcony. The balcony was completely vacant and for a split second Mira wondered if Elise was planning on killing her right then and there.

"You seemed pretty shaken up back there," She leaned against the railing, gazing up at the sky, a solemn expression on her face.

"If I'm being honest, I've never witnessed a murder... it was unsettling to say the least." She frowned, peering over the edge of the railing at the street below. Maybe Elise would ridicule her for being so mentally weak, but there was no point in pretending anymore. She couldn't.

"Unsettling. It was fucking horrific if you ask me." She replied, much to Mira's surprised. She turned her gaze to the freckled ginger standing next to her. Her expression was heavy, and her eyes looked... tired. 

"Then why do you do it?" Mira asked, her voice coming out as a mere whisper. She just didn't understand it.

"My little sister was abducted and sold into a sex trafficking circuit. I searched and searched until I could find out who was responsible, and that's how I ended up here. I begged and begged for her to be released, agreed to do anything. This is the debt I'm paying off for freedom that should have already been hers." She released a low shaky breath, closing her eyes.

"What I really wanted to say is that I don't know what your plans here are, but not everyone here is bad. By no means am I or anyone else here good people, but the world we live in is dark and twisted, and survival is rarely a righteous path." She turned her emerald eyes to Mira.

"You look a lot like my little sister, you know that?" She smiled sadly. "And I genuinely think you're a good person. Even if the Joseph Bonnano is your father, and you've seen good in him, this place will ruin you. I want you to run. Get out of this while you still can before you become trapped like me while you still have the chance. I'm sure if you disappeared, your father would turn a blind eye. Everyone can tell he cares about you, but that doesn't change what he's done." She pushed away from the railing, tightening her ponytail.

"I know I have no right to tell you what to do, but I see a lot of myself in you." She smiled softly before walking back inside. Mira turned away, leaning back over the railing and burying her face in her hands.

She was angry at herself. Why the fuck was she here? What made her think she could waltz into this and then walk right out? And the Genovese and Lucchese? Why had she painted them to be the good guys in this situation? There were no good and bad guys here. It was one evil against another.

Mira had a whole life ahead of her, one that a lot of people would have dreamed of, yet she was so close to throwing it all away. Her grip tightened against the railing. It was time to stop ignoring her intuition and get the fuck out. Her feeding information to Adrian and the two families weren't going to change anything. They all did the same shit.

Mira turned and went back into the building, heading not back to her room, but to her father's office. Two security guards were standing at his door, one of them stepping forward holding a hand out to stop her.

"I'd like a word with my father." She stated coolly. 

"I'm sorry, the boss is a very busy man, I'll let him know of your request." He replied. Mira's jaw tightened. Busy man her ass.

"It's actually quite urgent, now please move aside." She said firmly, narrowing her eyes at the security guard. He paused for a moment, looking at the other before finally stepping aside.

Mira pushed the door open, walking right up to his desk and sitting across from him. 

He lifted his eyes from his computer, surprise crossing his features.

"Amira, I wasn't expecting you-"

"I'm done." She cut him off. "Whatever arrangements you can make, make them. Otherwise, I'll be heading back home on my own." She was shocked by her own firmness. Her father was utterly horrifying, but she had the upper hand in this scenario. He wouldn't force her to stay here if it wasn't what she wanted.

He looked at her with a shocked expression, his mouth opening, but no words coming out. After a moment, he let out a loud sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Of course. I assumed partaking in the operation would solidify your decision whether it was to stay or leave, and I respect the choice you've made." He said finally. Damn straight he did.

"Thank you." She stood up, preparing to leave, but stopped herself.

"Did mom really know? About everything?"

He frowned, definitely sensing where this conversation was going. 

"She did, I made sure of that long before I married her. She despised it all, and I hold nothing against her for it. She always saw the best in me, even when I didn't deserve it. I tried to be better for her, I began making arrangements to step down from my position, leave the mafia entirely even. Then your mother was killed. I realized then, that this isn't a life I can walk away from. I've built an empire I'm not proud of, and now I will reap the responsibility of it."

She couldn't breath. It was like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room and was crushing her lungs. Killed. Her mom was killed.

"What do you mean mom was killed? I was the one that found her body, the note, everything pointed towards suicide." Mira croaked, her voice shaking.

"It did, and for a while I thought that was the case too, but Amira, your mother wasn't suicidal. Everything was too perfectly placed, and the note she left . . . it didn't sound like her. I held an investigation, and it turns out, a group of my own men killed her. They saw the influence she had on me, and they didn't like it. I didn't tell you, because I knew it would break you. There is no way out for me, but I will do everything in my power to keep you as far away from these affairs as possible." His words hurt, but Mira knew they were sincere.

She didn't say anything on her way out, too shocked and angry to speak. As she walked back to her room, she couldn't help but think about the ground she walked on. To think, this was the place that killed her mother and she had been roaming about so carelessly even since she arrived. It was sickening.