Angel

Chapter Two

third pov.
five years later.

A scream rang out through the empty and dim hallway. A corner of the corridor was shrouded in darkness and a small palm was brushing and trailing the old, dusty wall. On the other hand, a brown teddy bear was dangling from it. A few splatters of blood were visible on it. The girl was holding it, walking through the long corridor - the wooden floor creaking.

A scream echoed in the hallway again, making the small girl flinch back. Her hand lifted to bring her bear into her chest and she clung to it. She shivered again, her naked skin having nothing to protect from the chilly air. All she had on was simple white underwear, courtesy from the Masters.

Her body was exposed to the world, meaning her scars was, too. Wounds from sharp glasses could be seen. The jagged scars, both new and old, on her back from whip wounds, were seeping with blood. Her ribs were painted purple and blue. Her throat had a hand mark wrapped around it. One of her fingers was broken and she couldn't move it for a long time.

The sounds of screams from her mother's lips were nothing new to Angel DeLuca, a five years old girl who had spent her whole life in this place. Neither did the scars that ran over her body.

Her entire body shook as she tiptoed towards the screams, hunching down to make her already tiny frame even smaller. In the years she had grown up here, she had long ago learned to hide in the shadow where people tend to overlook her.

Not enough for them to leave her alone completely, though.

She reached the white door and turned the doorknob hesitantly and slowly. Her nose appeared before she stuck out her small head inside the room, her wide brown eyes filled with fear.

Ava DeLuca was on her knees, screaming with a man holding her arms back. Angel held her bear tighter and tears glinted in her eyes as she saw that there were three men around her brother, kicking him again and again.

"Leave him! Do not touch him!" Ava screamed and jerked her body in an attempt to free herself to no avail, desperation and anger bursting out of her yet there was nothing that she could do to act upon it. "Stop!"

Matteo DeLuca looked furious, refusing to allow his kidnappers to break him. He spat out blood on the floor as two of them held him up by his arms.

He no longer had the baby face or the cheerful smile plastered on his face like botox as he had at thirteen years old. In all those years, he had grown larger and muscled, thanks to all the fighting and boxing he was forced to do. His eyes were hardened and his head was full of dark curls. His jaws were sharp and his nose a bit jagged from the previously broken noses he'd received.

The third man tabbed Matteo's hem of his shirt and raised his arm to strike him again, gaining strength that would knock him into unconsciousness with one blow. He, however, stopped when he heard a small scream and tiny hands grabbing he tugged it. The man looked down to find the little girl with doll-like wide eyes looking up at him in anger and determination.

The man let go of the DeLuca boy's shirt as the girl started kicking and hitting him with her small fist that couldn't manage to cause any damage. He grabbed her arm and lifted her in the air. Angel kicked her legs in the empty air and thrashed in his hold.

The man scoffed and slapped the girl, earning a pitiful whimper from her. He smirked as he heard Ava and Matteo scream at him to leave her alone.

His smirk was quick to fade when his head suddenly was thrown to the side and Angel fell to the floor, scrambling off to somewhere. He lifted his head with his eyes blazing as he relaxed the De Luca boy managed to free himself and punched him.

He didn't have time to dwell on it for Matteo's fist came pummeling at him, making him stumble back and fall on his back.

"Do not touch my sister." Matteo snarled as he threw himself on him and punched him again and again. Five seconds didn't pass before the man passed out, his face covered with blood.

He looked up to find Angel had crawled under the bed with fear-filled eyes. He blew a relieved sigh. She was safe for now. Anger stirred inside him when he saw the forming handprint bruise on her left cheek, a new bruise to her already growing collection.

A kick to the back of his head almost sent him to a world of darkness and he groaned.

The men left the room, locking the door behind them. Ava, finally free, ran to his son and brought his head to her lap.

"I'm fine, Ma." Matteo gritted out and she shook her head.

He was far from fine, Ava thought. Nothing was fine.

When Ava quickly determined that Matteo was going to survive and walk around, she turned to the bed.

"Angel, sweetie, come here," Ava said and her daughter came out crawling on her knees. Ava smiled gently at her wide eyes peering up at her. "It's okay."

Angel ran into her mother's arms who instantly enveloped her arms around Angel. The latter buried her face into her mother's long raven hair and inside her fists, she clutched Ava's shirt and started sobbing. Ava rubbed her back up and down, whispering sweet nothings in her ears and rocking back and forth.

"Sorry," Angel whispered to Matteo who had gotten closer to them and pressed his hand on her shoulder blades that felt too thin and bony underneath his palm. Angel was a girl with few words, never speaking to anyone except to her mother or brother. It was rare that she spoke.

"It's okay," Matteo reassured her. "But don't do that again." His voice turned stern. "You know you need to hide and stay away when something like this happens."

"But you fight for me." Angel's brows pulled down in confusion. Her sobs had turned into hiccups and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"That's different. I'm bigger and stronger so I can protect you." Matteo replied. "Come on here."

He extended his arms and Ava let Angel go for her to jump into his arms. He clutched her little sister's small frame to him, afraid that someday she'd slip and disappear.

"I love you," Matteo whispered into Angel's hair.

Angel wiped her eyes away and peered up at his brother, her chin still pressed to his chest.

"I love you, too."