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“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 they took care of her. 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 set it, so that’s good to go. Our primary 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 her father hurt her 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 unbruised spots, 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 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 eases as far back on the bed as she can, both terror and fear overtaking her features. The dread in her eyes 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.
9
Claire
My fear dissipates for a fraction of a second at Lucca’s appearance. He marched into the room radiating anger and fierce determination and has since sat beside me fuming.
Still, he is here, and before any of them had a chance to hurt me.
His negotiations with the men do not go as either of us planned, and when I find out I’m going to have to stay here, my anxiety goes through the roof. Lucca’s hand in mine is the only thing keeping me from having a full-blown mental breakdown.
