Captive Heart (Club Risqué Book 6)

Chapter 43

Melody had been drifting in and out of consciousness. Her brain was a bit fuzzy, but she was aware that she seemed to ache all over, especially her head.

She tried to move, to put a hand to her face, but she couldn”t budge. When she squirmed around, it became apparent that her entire body was restrained… No, not restrained, she realised as a small amount of clarity trickled through her senses.

She opened her eyes tentatively, looking out through tiny slits at her surroundings. Swimming in front of her vision were thin blurry silver wires and the horrific reality hit her aching brain that she was, in fact, stuffed into the tiny cage that Master crammed her into when he was particularly displeased.

No, not Master!she thought, even though her mind was decidedly woolly. The brute was no longer her master, she had escaped.

But somehow, he’d managed to find her, to bring her back. The details were hazy, but she knew without a doubt that she had severed that link.

Melody closed her eyes as she tried to compose her thoughts and regain her strength, taking in every tiny bit of information that she could.

She was naked again. That was the first thing she realised. A tear formed in the corner of her eye. Why was that so much more humiliating than the vicious beating she knew V would deliver?

There was a crack of light still coming through the boarded slats, so it wasn”t nighttime yet, but it was muted, so either the weather had broken, or it was getting later in the day. Did it matter? Yes… because it meant she hadn’t been here that long.

Micah. The name wound its way through her consciousness. Of course! Micah had saved her. Beautiful, gentle Micah. Would he have realised that she was gone yet? Would he even realise what had happened?

Or would he just think she”d taken off again?

No, her things were still there. He would know she hadn”t left willingly, and he would have alerted the police… for all the good that might do her. To her knowledge, they had no way of knowing where she was. Had come no closer to making sense of the information she’d given them over the past few weeks.

Melody tried hard to keep tears of despair from falling. They would give her away, and she knew from harsh experience that V wouldn”t bother with her while she was unconscious. He liked tormenting her too much. He”d want to watch her suffer and hear her scream. Playing dead was her best ploy to keep him away until she got her wits about her.

She almost laughed out loud at the irony of her thoughts. It was only staving off the inevitable, she knew. He”d surely kill her this time and take as much time as he could to make her suffer along the way.

But if she was going down, then she”d at least like to start out fighting and not be as weak as a newborn kitten.