Broken Beginnings (The Moretti Crime Family 3)

Prologue

Claire

6 Years Ago

Pain. I feel it in every cell of my body.

It’s all I can feel while I lie on the floor, unable to get up. I try to make sense of what is happening. Why is my dad so angry? Why is he hurting me? Is he going to kill me?

All the questions swirl in my head, but the pain won’t let me conjure up an answer.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Who he is?” my father spits, confusing me even more. “He’s going to tell his boss where I am. He’s going to kill me because I can’t pay back the money. Is that what you want, Claire? Do you want me dead?”

The feeble attempt I make to shake my head and tell him no sends a sharp pain shooting down my neck. I open my mouth to speak, but my throat is so raw from crying for help. My lips are dry and cracked, and I taste the coppery tinge of blood on my tongue.

“This is all your fault. Everything was great before you were born. Your mother loved me. We were happy, and then you had to come along.” He says it like I chose to be here.

He paces through the room, a beer bottle in his hand. I follow him with my eyes since that’s the only part of my body I can actually move without causing more pain.

I want to tell him I’m sorry, beg him to forgive me and stop hurting me, but my body is so weak that I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone speak.

Everything hurts, and all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep.

“You destroyed my life!” he yells.

My eyes fly back open just in time to see the beer bottle fly my way. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to turn away, but I’m too slow. The bottle hits me in the side of the head, the glass shattering around me.

Agonizing pain erupts, like a million little bombs going off, crushing my skull, and turning my brain to shreds. The room spins around me, and all I can hear is a loud ringing in my ear.

My vision blurs, and I feel myself fading. Something in the back of my mind tells me to hold on, to keep fighting. Forcing myself to blink and keep my eyes open, I stare at the ceiling and try to think of anything but the pain. There’s a loud pop in my ear, and the pressure is so great, it feels like my head will explode.

Above me, my father slams his fist against my head. Saliva clings to my skin as he spits words of hate at me. Something warm and wet trickles down the side of my face. One more punch, and I can’t contain the scream that’s lodged in my throat.

Fracturing like a piece of glass, I don’t even recognize the sound that escapes me. I let my eyes drift closed then, and the darkness becomes a comforting balm.

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

Then, as if God can hear my unspoken prayers, the weight against my body lifts. I force my eyes open, even though it feels impossible to do. The pain in my face is overwhelming, but for a 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. I’m drowning in the chaos. My eyes drift to a dark spot forming on the floor beneath my father’s head.