“Beautiful Broken Thing”
The lights buzzed dimly overhead, casting a cold, sterile glow over the psychiatric hospital. Elena sat curled up in the corner of her room, knees drawn to her chest. She liked this corner—safe, quiet, where no one could touch her. It was easier that way. No one ever stayed long. People didn’t want what was broken.
But not him.
Luca Moretti wasn’t supposed to be here. Men like him—tailored suits, heavy rings on every finger, and eyes dark as a storm—didn’t belong in places like this. Yet, there he was, leaning against the wall with a cigarette tucked between his fingers.
“Hello, little bird.” His voice was a low purr, dangerous and soothing all at once.
Elena kept her gaze on the floor, her mind a tangled mess of thoughts she couldn’t sort. She hated the way she felt fragile under his gaze, as if he could see every crack and every scar she carried.
He crouched in front of her, and the smell of his expensive cologne wrapped around her like a net. “I missed you, tesoro.”
She flinched at the word—his word for her. Treasure. As if she were something precious instead of broken.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Elena whispered, her voice barely audible. “I’m not... I’m not supposed to see you anymore.”
Luca smiled, but there was no warmth in it—only possession. “That doctor thought he could keep you away from me. He thought a piece of paper could stop me.” His knuckles brushed her cheek, a tender gesture that sent a shiver down her spine. “He was wrong.”
Her mind spun. She remembered the sessions, the doctors telling her Luca wasn’t real. That he was a delusion—something her shattered mind had conjured up to cope with the trauma of her past. But he felt real. The heat of his touch, the sound of his voice—how could any of that be a lie?
“You’re not supposed to be real,” she murmured, her fingers curling tighter around her knees.
Luca’s smile widened. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m as real as the blood on my hands.”
He leaned closer, his lips brushing her ear. “And you? You belong to me. No matter what those doctors tell you, you’ll always be mine.”
---
Luca had found Elena six months ago, a ghost of a girl shuffling through the world with hollow eyes. She had been on the edge of a bridge that night, ready to jump, and he had saved her—not out of kindness, but out of fascination.
Elena was different from anyone he’d ever known. Fragile, delicate, like a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering. And Luca had never been able to resist beautiful things, especially broken ones.
But it wasn’t enough to save her. He needed to own her. To make sure no one else could ever take her away.
The hospital had been a temporary inconvenience, something he tolerated because Elena needed time to adjust. But when the doctors started talking about restraining orders and therapy that would “free her from the delusions,” Luca had known it was time to act.
---
Now
Elena trembled as Luca wrapped his coat around her shoulders. She felt small in it, dwarfed by the weight of the fabric and the man who draped it over her like a crown.
“You’ll come with me now,” he whispered, brushing a kiss against her temple. “You’ll leave this place behind, and I’ll take care of you. No more pills, no more doctors. Just me.”
Her heart raced with a strange mixture of fear and relief. The hospital was supposed to help her, but it hadn’t. They didn’t understand her mind, didn’t know how to put her back together. But Luca—Luca understood.
Or at least, he made her feel like she didn’t need to be fixed. Just kept.
“What if I’m too broken?” she whispered, her voice cracking.
Luca’s expression softened, but his eyes burned with something terrifying. “Then I’ll break anyone who tries to hurt you.” His fingers traced her jaw, as gentle as if she were glass. “I don’t care if you’re broken, tesoro. You’re mine, and that’s all that matters.”
Her breath hitched. Part of her wanted to run, to escape the intensity of his love. But another part—one she barely understood—wanted to stay. To fall deeper into the darkness Luca offered because, at least in his arms, she wasn’t alone.
---
The night air was cold when they slipped out of the hospital. Luca’s car was waiting, sleek and black, with a driver who didn’t even blink at the sight of a trembling girl in a hospital gown.
Luca opened the door for her, his hand resting possessively on her back. “Get in, sweetheart. No one’s going to hurt you now.”
Elena hesitated, her mind screaming that this was wrong. But her body betrayed her, sliding into the leather seat as if she belonged there. As if Luca’s world of shadows and violence was the only place she could truly exist.
He climbed in beside her, his hand immediately finding hers, lacing their fingers together. “See?” he whispered, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. “This is how it’s supposed to be. Just us.”
The car pulled away from the hospital, and as the lights faded behind them, Elena felt something strange stir in her chest—something dangerously close to peace.
Because maybe, just maybe, belonging to Luca was the only kind of freedom she would ever know.
---
The End
