"Discipline is doing what needs to be done, Madora. Even if you don't want to do it."

Some day, Cedro was going to earn a bullet. Whether from someone else, or myself. It was gonna happen. I don't like killing my recruits, but sometimes it just needs to be done. My fathers words, not mine.

Beads of sweat formed along my muscles and over my forehead, signalling I was well past warmed up. I didn't feel like getting off though. Cardio fitness had always been a favourite, even more so than boxing. It was a way I could just zone out, forget everything and just run.

"Madora Brooks." Zoning out didn't work when someone said me name. It was a trained mechanism, like snapping a dog out of aggressive rage.

My eyes flew to the source, taking in the few males that had been sent to collect our payment. Then, there was the payment herself. I'll admit, I done a double take. She was small, tiny even. I know I'm small, but this woman looked innocent, fragile.

She reminded me of me.

Before I learnt from my father, before I reached sixteen, she was almost exactly like me.

The males pushed her down, forcing her onto her knees. I saw her expression. They'd hurt her with the action. My jaw immediately tightened, my teeth grating against each other.

Then the innocent, fragile woman spoke, and that image I had formed immediately shattered.

"Watch it." It was a snarl that had left her lips, and I was shocked. I may not have showed it, but I was. She was a snapping one, I'd soon come to find that out even more.

Moving my gaze back to the males, I jumped off the treadmill and flicked it off, stalking towards the group. "What is this? Why is she here?"

I couldn't help sounding sharper than usual, I hated the way they were treating her. Hate was a strong word, but I meant it. Females were treated like the way this young girl was being treated all the time within our gang. I blame my father for that. He never did looked into the history of new recruits, never had someone watch them, or interact with them before they joined. Nobody knew how they would act until they were inside our walls.

I nodded to the two males who were staring at the ground beside Mordecai, allowing them to leave. They had been to school with me, they knew not to abuse the females, or even weaker males for that fact.

"She's the payment of the Brookes'." His hand wrapped around her neck as he spoke. I heard a soft gasp, it was just as small as she was. The anger and rage that I had just been working so hard to get rid of started crawling back.

My hands went to my waist, feeling the hard and engraved ridges of my hidden gun. "Let go of the damn girl, Mordecai."

She laughed and my eyes were once again drawn back to the payment as she haunched over. The laugh brought up a locked away emotion. It pulled it forward, one I never thought would return. Joy, amusement even.

How could one be amused and joyful when they ruled a vicious and powerful mafia group? You wouldn't think they could, yet here I was, feeling it tugging at my facial features, daring to be exposed.

"W-wait." The girl continued to laugh as Mordecai released her from his grip. I could visibly see red marks and imprints. Although the amusement had pushed back some of my anger, the marks he had made immediately caused a tilt in the scales, letting the anger have more freedom.

"Le-let me get this straight," she choked out, "Your name...your name is Mordecai?"

My eyebrow arched. That's what she found amusing? How was this girl ever going to fit in? I couldn't get over how much she was laughing, my emotions felt like a see-saw between anger towards Mordecai, but amusement towards this daring female.

My eyes saw red as Mordecai made a swift action, his lip curled and palm slammed between her shoulder blades, sending her to the floor. "Shut the fuck up."

Another gasp of pain.

"Mordecai, watch yourself." My body unconsciously shifted forward, I should have just shot him, saved other people the same abuse, but the payment would have to learn there was going to be a bit of roughhousing.

Sarcasm dropped from her lips as she continued to speak, "Yeah, Mordecai, watch yourself." She was earning herself a death sentence. Didn't she know when to shut up? The payment, this little woman, looked up at me and smirked. Actually smirked. I was dumbfounded. "I don't really blame him. It must be painful to have a name like that."

I couldn't even respond before Mordecai made his next move, swinging his foot around with most of his body's strength and landed it against her head.

I saw red. Anger immediately exploded throughout me, fingers curling around the handle of my gun. I could have prevented this, I could have prevented the following two kicks to her ribs. I could have, but I didn't.

My gun was aimed and fired before I could think about the consequences. We'd just gained a recruit, she lay on the floor in front of me, but we also just lost one. His body fell and hit the ground with a thud.

The anger slowly dispersed as worry for my new recruit replaced it. It wouldn't have shown. Even though my body was filling with it, it wouldn't have been displayed.

Only the anger was left was guard my face with. I moved forward, knowing she needed medical attention. The gun went back into my waistband, hidden from view as if I hadn't just killed one of my best fighters.

She tried moving back, fear evident in those green eyes of hers. I placed a gentle hand to her back, not bothering to push hard. "Don't kill me."

A whisper that broke my heart. She wouldn't have believed me if I said I wouldn't. She'd just seen and heard me kill another, one of my own no less. I untied her wrists, wrapping a limp arm around my neck as my own firm grip circled around her back and lifted her.

"Lean on me," I was tempted to say 'sweetheart', the sentence seemed unfinished. She pushed herself up the best she could. "That's it."

Guiding her to the exit, I thought up the quickest route to the medics. I'd just come from the place, took me little time.

"I'll help-" another whisper. It was filled with agony, and breathless. Her ribs would likely be bruised. She was lucky to not be dead considering the last guy Mordecai had beaten died when his broken rib pierced his lungs.

Seeing a couple up ahead, I gave a snare. "Move." It was all that was needed, they quickly scurried away with a confused glanced towards the female hanging off me. I glanced down at her frail body. "What hurts?"

Before she looked at me, my eyes were back on the direction we were heading. She seemed hesitant. "I...my ribs and my head."

Just speaking cause her to stumble, her hand pressing to the wall beside her. I tightened my grip, pulling her closer to me. "I won't let you fall." I murmured, moving forward again. "Describe what you're feeling to me."

"Pain." Yes because that was helpful. I held in the sarcastic answer, glancing down the long hallway, I saw the corner which the medics room connected off.

"What kind of pain, princess? Come on, you need to tell me so I can tell the medic."

"My head feels like it'll burst," that's not good. A quick glance towards her was enough to tell me the way she was describing it was truth. "I'm dizzy, and I nauseous, and my ribs feel crushed in. It hurts when I talk."

I took a deep breath. It sounded bad, really bad.

We reached the medics room not long after, and I quickly opened the door. That was a nice way of putting it anyway. I scanned the room for Victor while placing the girl onto the medic bed. After only finding a nurse, I realised I'd have to leave to find someone with more experience.

"Stay here." I left her after those words. Even as I was saying them I was walking away. She needed a medic, not a nurse, or a volunteer who helped clean, a medic.

Liza, more commonly known as Elizabeth, one of the finer medics here sat at her desk, looking through records. She only allowed me to call her Liza because it was shorter in emergencies, and because we'd slept together.

She looked up as I approached, reading my body language quickly and standing abruptly. "What bed?"

My eyebrows pulled together, trying to remember the number I only got a quick glance at. "Seven, I think."

We both headed back to it, Liza pushing me behind the closing curtain so I couldn't see what was happening.

"Go check on Adelaide."