Fragile Wings: Broken Beginnings Prequel

by J. L. Beck

  Please, make it stop! I repeat over and over in my mind.

  Then, as if God can hear my silent prayers, the weight against my body is removed. I force my eyes open, even though it feels impossible to do. The pain in my face is overwhelming, but for a brief moment, it becomes background noise when I see Lucca hovering over my father.

  The world around me is silent, there is no sound, and all I can do is watch in horror as Lucca transforms right before my eyes, becoming someone else entirely. Fear replaces any happy thoughts I ever had about him.

  There is a darkness in his eyes that makes it hard for me to breathe. Terror reignites in my veins as I lie helplessly on the floor and watch my father’s head bounce against the ground, over and over again like a basketball.

  Lucca’s lips move, pulling back into a sinister grin as he speaks, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. All I can do is drown in the chaos. My eyes drift to a dark spot forming on the floor beneath my father’s head.

  Blood. The puddle grows bigger and bigger, and it seems like forever before Lucca stops. I can’t look away from his hands. They’re coated in blood—so much blood. My entire body starts to shake when his eyes find mine. His penetrating stare submerges me into icy water. I’m afraid. I want to move, to run before he hurts me too, but I can’t make my limbs work.

  Pain blankets every inch of my body. The darkness in Lucca’s eyes fades slowly, and he looks down at my father and back at me. The person I thought he was all along, the white knight, a friend, reappears.

  Lucca crosses the room, fear overtaking his features as his gaze sweeps over my body. I struggle to move, trying to scoot away from him, but any type of movement makes the throbbing in my head worse.

  With his powerful arms, he picks me up off the floor and holds me to his chest. I push with all my strength, trying to escape him, but I’m in too much pain. Too far gone to care what happens next. The coppery tang of blood is all I can smell as I breathe through my nose. Lucca peers down at me, his eyes liquid pools of amber.

  “Call an… ambulance…” I croak, afraid that my father may be dead before they arrive.

  “Everything is going to be okay. He’ll never hurt you again. I swear on it. No one will, not so long as I’m breathing,” he whispers, and I want to cry, but the tears aren’t there. I’m broken. The man I thought would never hurt me, that would save me from everything, just took my entire life and crushed it into a million pieces.

  7

  Lucca

  My heart thunders as I bring the cell to my ear. I’m frazzled, looking between the road and Claire, who is lying back in the passenger side seat, rivulets of blood trickle down from her ear. I hope it’s not as bad as it fucking looks.

  The only person that can help me is Julian. I’ll be indebted to him from this day forward, but wasn’t I already? After the third ring, he picks up. “I hope you’re calling to tell me that you got the job done.”

  “The job is done. I’m calling about something else.”

  “What do you need?” Julian might be a young boss, but he’s nothing less than powerful.

  “I need a cleanup crew, and your assistance with the police.”

  “What the fuck did you do?” He growls into the phone, and I know I need to clear this up before he gets some guys to start digging a shallow grave somewhere on his property.

  “There was this young girl next door. Her father was beating her. He hurt her… bad, and I’m on my way to the hospital with her, but I know the moment I walk through those double doors, they’re going to call the police and start asking questions.” I pray that I don’t sound as weak as I feel.

  There is a long pause, and I worry he might have ended the call. Claire groans in the passenger seat, and I press my foot against the gas pedal, willing the car to go faster.

  “You should keep your nose out of other people’s business.”

  I don’t want to beg, but I’m not above it. Claire is just a kid; she doesn’t deserve this. I’m close to breaking down when Julian speaks again.

  “You’re a good worker and loyal to the family, so I will extend you a helping hand, just this once.”

  It takes everything inside me not to audibly sigh.

  “I’ll make some phone calls. They won’t give you hassle.”

  “Thank you,” I say, my eyes darting to Claire. Her face seems even paler than it did a second ago.

  “Don’t thank me yet. You don’t even know what I want in return.” I don’t get the chance to respond. The phone goes dead, and I pull it away from my ear and drop it into the cup holder. All my attention is back on Claire. I don’t care what I have to do for Julian, what hoops I have to jump through, or who I have to kill.

  It’ll be worth it so long as Claire is taken care of and no one asks me any questions.

  “Everything is going to be okay, butterfly. I’ve got you…” I tell her. I know the words I’ve just spoken are the truest I’ve ever said to anyone. I will take care of Claire.

  As soon as we arrived at the hospital, they took her into a room to evaluate her, making me stay in the waiting room. Which is where remained for the past two hours.

  I stare down at my hands, which are clasped together in my lap. Blood. So much blood. I can still hear her agonized screams, still feel the rage pulsing through my veins, the need to lash out so strong it controlled every thought and action. All I could think was to remove the problem, to hurt the person hurting her. I didn’t stop. Couldn’t. He deserved it anyway, and even if she hates me for killing her father, I did what was right.

  Looking up, I peer around the waiting room, wishing I was back in the operating room with the doctors, making sure Claire is taken care of. Instead of sitting in this chair, waiting for a doctor to come to me.

  My leg bounces up and down nervously until I shove out of the chair and march over to the front desk. I had to tell them Claire was my sister when I brought her in, or they wouldn’t have given me any information on her.

  “Can you tell me if there are any updates on my sister?” I grit the words out as slowly as I can. I don’t want to cause a ruckus, but I need some answers before I explode.

  “Claire, right?” she asks like she doesn’t already know.

  “Yes.”

  She makes a couple clicks on her computer and then looks up back at me. “There isn’t anything on my side to share. When the doctor is ready, he will come out and see you.”

  I slam a closed fist against the counter, causing the woman to jump in her seat. “I want answers now. Is she okay?” I force myself to calm because if I don’t, I may rip this entire hospital apart piece by piece.

  “I’ll… I’ll call back to surgery and ask…” The woman squeaks. I nod and drag myself back to the chair, slamming down into it.

  I take my head into my hands. All I can think about is how she’s just a fucking kid, and now she has no one, I mean, she had shit before, but now she’s truly all alone. I knew the moment I brought her to the hospital, I would be the one to step up and ensure she was taken care of. Still, the mob isn’t any place for a child, and I’m not sure I’d be any better of a parent to her.

  The thought of letting her go kills me, though.

  “Mr. Torres,” someone greets, and I lift my head to find a doctor in a white coat standing in front of me.

  I must’ve been so lost in thought that I didn’t hear him approach.

  “Yes, that’s me.” My voice cracks. “Is she okay?” The beat of my heart drums in my ears, and my lungs burn as I hold my breath while awaiting his answer.

  “The surgery went well. There was a small amount of internal bleeding that we stopped. Her right arm is broken. However, we managed to set it, so that’s good to go. Our main concern is the damage sustained to her eardrum.”

  Panic claws at my insides. “What happened?” I barely withhold the growl threatening to pierce the air.

  The doctor raises his hand in an I’m-not-the-enemy-here kind of way. “She suffered extensive damage to
her inner ear. We fixed it as best as we could, but realistically, only time will tell if she’ll make a full recovery—”

  I shove from the chair, all the emotions I’ve been keeping at bay rushing to the surface. “What are you saying? There’s a chance she won’t recover?”

  “What I’m saying is that her eardrum might never heal, or it might not heal right. That means when she wakes up, she might be deaf or partially deaf. We won’t know until she is fully awake and can tell us.”

  Deaf? She might be deaf? I could handle that. Handle anything as long as she isn’t dead.

  “When can I see her?” I squeeze the arm of the chair to keep myself in place.

  “In just a few minutes. The nurses are setting her up in a room right now and once they’re finished, I’ll have them come out and get you.” He smiles, but I can’t bring myself to return the gesture. I’m thankful that Claire is okay, but I know she’s got a long road ahead of her.

  “Thanks, doc.”

  “You’re welcome.” He walks back through the double doors and disappears into the E.R. leaving me alone with my thoughts once more.

  All that matters is that she is okay. That she won’t have to return to that house or be hurt by her father ever again.

  Thirty minutes and three coffees later, a nurse finally comes to get me. I feel sick to my stomach when I enter the room and find Claire lying there, hooked up to a bunch of machines with an IV protruding from her arm.

  Her skin is ashen, in the spots that aren’t bruised, and she looks like a fallen angel. Battered and broken. I vow then, in that single moment, to never let something like this happen to her again, not as long as there’s air in my lungs and blood pumping through my body.

  Moving closer to the bed, I spot her tiny hand cradled near her cheek. I want to reach out and take it into mine, to let her know that she isn’t alone. Dragging my gaze from her hand, I return to her face and find her eyes open.

  They’re big and wide with the residue of sleep crusted to them. Recognition takes place in an instant, and the moment it does, she is easing as far back on the bed as she can, both terror and fear overtaking her features. The dread in her eyes, it shakes me to the core. Steals the air from my lungs and makes my heart skip a beat. She’s truly afraid of me. Afraid that I may hurt her the way I hurt her father.

  All I can do is stare at her, see her delicate face morphed with fear and pain, see the bruising. Her green eyes glisten with unshed tears, and I hate seeing them there, knowing that I’m the cause for them. It eats me up inside.

  I feel responsible for her, but knowing she is afraid of me, knowing that I can’t even get close to her, tells me everything I need to know.

  8

  Claire

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Lucca says. He is only a few feet away, but it sounds like he is at the end of a long corridor. His voice barely above a whisper.

  “Y-youuu…” I croak, feeling the vibration in my throat but having a hard time recognizing my own voice. It seems so raspy and far away.

  The nurse told me that I hurt my ear very badly and that I’ll have a hard time hearing, but it’s more than that. Everything feels wrong. All the sounds around me are off.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I pray that everything goes back to normal the moment I open them again.

  “Claire, look at me.” Lucca’s voice reaches me, but only barely.

  I shake my head slightly, making the insistent pounding inside my skull worse. I’m so confused, so lost. None of this can be real.

  A few seconds later, I blink my eyes open again, hoping my surroundings have changed, but I’m still in the hospital bed. Lucca is still standing in front of me, looking at me like he knows exactly what I’m thinking of him now.

  “Please, don’t look at me like this. All I did was protect you. He could’ve killed you. Hell, he almost did.”

  “I… you’re a bad person. You work for bad people. My father told me. Told me that you would hurt me.”

  He takes another step toward the bed, and my entire body starts to tremble. Pausing mid-step, he says, “Claire, I would never hurt you.”

  “Don’t come any closer… or I’ll scream.”

  “Okay.” He lifts his hands like he is showing me he’s not a threat before he takes a few steps back.

  “I’m going to make this right…” The distance between us makes it harder to hear him now, but I don’t want him to come closer again. I have to look at his lips and watch them move to make out the words he is saying. “I will protect you, provide for you, and ensure you’re always taken care of.”

  His words are heartfelt, and if he had said them to me a week ago, I would have been over the moon. Now, everything has changed. Now his words make my skin crawl.

  I can’t shake away what I saw. I can’t forget the person he transformed into. He’s a bad man. A horrible man. Yes, my father hurt me, but he was still my dad, the only family I had. He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t deserve what happened to him any more than I did.

  “Claire, I know you’re scared right now, but I swear, I’ll make this right. I won’t ever let you down again. From now on, I’ll never let you out of my sight.”

  His words cause a shiver to run down my spine because I know he is telling the truth. He is never letting me go again, and right now, that’s scarier than anything else.

  Thank you for reading Fragile Wings, continue Claire and Lucca’s story in

  Broken Beginnings

  Keep reading for a sneak peak of Savage Beginnings…

  About the Authors

  J.L. Beck and C. Hallman are a USA Today and international bestselling author duo who write contemporary and dark romance.

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  Also by the Authors

  CONTEMPORAY ROMANCE

  North Woods University

  The Bet

  The Dare

  The Secret

  The Vow

  The Promise

  The Jock

  Bayshore Rivals

  When Rivals Fall

  When Rivals Lose

  When Rivals Love

  Breaking the Rules

  Kissing & Telling

  Babies & Promises

  Roommates & Thieves

  ***

  DARK ROMANCE

  The Blackthorn Elite

  Hating You

  Breaking You

  Hurting You

  Regretting You

  The Obsession Duet

  Cruel Obsession

  Deadly Obsession

  The Rossi Crime Family

  Protect Me

  Keep Me

  Guard Me

  Tame Me

  Remember Me

  The Moretti Crime Family

  Savage Beginnings

  Violent Beginnings

  Broken Beginnings

  The King Crime Family

  Indebted

  Inevitable

  Savage Beginnings Sneak Peek

  Chapter One

  Elena

  Slipping into my nightgown, I sit down on the edge of the bed and finish drying my dark hair while humming some pop song I heard on the radio earlier.

  I’ve asked my father numerous times for a cell phone or laptop, but he swears it’s for my own protection that I have neither, so the radio is all I’ve got. Dropping the towel, a shiver skates down my spine when my long wet hair brushes over my shoulder.

  Bending down, I reach for the towel. Before my fingers even touch it, a deafening knock booms through the room. It’s so loud and unexpected that a tiny shriek passes my lips.

  Who the hell is that?

  I glance at the clock on the wall and realize it’s after eleven. My father never calls for me this late, and besides him, who
could it be? No one, that’s who. Since my mom’s death two years ago, my dad is the only person I have left. I have no other family and no friends, thanks to my father’s overbearing nature.

  I wasn’t even allowed to go to school because he deemed it too dangerous for his little girl. Everything I’ve ever learned was taught to me through homeschooling. Covering my chest with one arm, I open the door and find Richi, one of my father’s personal guards, on the other side.

  “Miss Elena, your father wants to see you in his study.” There is a strange look on his face, a mixture of fear and remorse. He’s never looked at me in such a way. Seeing how uncomfortable he appears to be makes me suspicious.

  “Now?” I ask, still a little shocked, given the time. “Is something wrong?”

  “Just come with me, please.”

  Oh no, something is wrong. I can already feel it, something is definitely going on.

  “Okay, let me get dressed real quick.”

  “I’m afraid there is no time for that,” a deep, penetrating voice comes from behind the door, filling my ears. Opening the door a little wider so I can see who that voice belongs to, I almost gasp. There’s a man in a suit, a man I’ve never seen before, standing beside Richi.

  In the dim light, it’s hard to make out the man, but from what I can see, he looks down-right sinister. His gaze pierces mine, and his lips press into a thin line, impatience rolling off of him in waves.