Gerome was watching the roads around them making sure there was no threat to Magdalene. His eyes were always roaming around searching for a threat. Searching for a hint of something not at all ordinary. He regarded her when she asked him where he had come from. He debated telling her truth. Often times he would just not respond. He took a slow deep breath before turning his gaze to meet hers, "You'll not believe me," he prefaced his story with those simple words. "My father was a doctor and chose to go to Africa to help in a small rural hospital, my mother was a stay at home mom who was homeschooling me so she decided to go with him and take me along. Me and my sister who was two years younger. I was four when we moved.  They were killed in a raid. My sister was brutalized and murdered before my eyes. As was my mother. My father was the only one who had it easy. He was shot in the head." He stopped speaking as this was the part that rarely made sense to anyone.<br/><br/>"They didn't kill me. At six years old they recruited me, until I was rescued three years later. I was taken back to the states and been here ever since. When I was eighteen and already a juvenile delinquent just waiting for a full jail cell to call my own Anthony found me in one of his clubs. Not a nice one like this. A dive hole in the ground that often saw fights. He saw me fight and he gave me a deal. Work for him and my record would be erased or go to jail for murder. You can guess the option I chose."<br/><br/>He fell silent once more. His eyes closed a second. He always hated sharing is sordid past. He opened them again and resumed his scans of the streets but the hint of sadness still darkened his features. They were less than a block away from the mall now he noticed.<br/><br/>"We will take care of you, Liane is a survivalist and I'm not afraid to do what it takes to make sure you're safe and taken care of," Gerome said reassuringly as he watched their approach to the south entrance. "Liane is a very warm person once you crack that cold hard shell. You'll have plenty of help navigating this world, never fear." He wasn't sure if he was being reassuring or not. He wasn't often one to offer comfort having not known any since he was six years old. Gerome watched over the club and it's girls like they were his sisters. He would gladly kill anyone who dared to be less than cordial to them.<br/><br/>"Always," he answered. She had a friend in him even if it was more business than friendship that had brought them together it was still friendship to him.