Captive Heart (Club Risqué Book 6)

Chapter 45

The clang of a heavy metal pole against the bars of the cage caused Melody to start despite her best efforts to keep quiet.

”Ah, so you are awake,” said a familiar, malevolent voice. He heaved the bar against the sides and the top of the cage a few more times, but Melody closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, resolutely refusing to be intimidated by the cowardly bully, despite the noise that clamoured around her aching head.

The reverberation of the metal resounding off of the concrete floor signalled he’d thrown the baton aside. A more familiar sound hissed through the air and a distinctive thwack slashed onto the ground beside her as V reverted to the use of his favourite tool of correction. This time, she couldn”t help but flinch, a motion that didn”t go unnoticed, and the sound of malicious laughter echoed off of the basement walls.

”So…” His footsteps sounded eerily loud as he walked deceptively slowly around the area where the cage stood in the middle of the room. ”You thought you could escape me, did you?”

A whistle spilt the air mere seconds before the vicious quirt in his hand slashed across the outside of the cage. The enclosure provided little protection to her bare skin, wedged as she was inside the tiny enclosure so her flesh pressed flush against the wire. The weight she’d gained ensured she had even less space than before, providing an ample target for the brute”s wrath.

White hot slices of pain seared across her skin in any place he could reach, her shoulders and back, her buttocks, thighs, and the tops of her arms as he thrashed her pitilessly, never lightening a single one of his strokes.

Melody screwed her eyes tight shut, biting her lip so hard she felt the metallic tang of blood on her tongue, but she wasn”t going to give him the pleasure of hearing and knowing her misery until she could no longer hold it back. He really was a coward, she thought hazily. His aim was clearly to ensure she was suitably subdued before he freed her from confinement for his final torment.

V paused while he caught his breath. He wasn”t the fine specimen of a man Micah was. He was unfit and out of shape and, thankfully, tired easily, despite having his irrational rage to spur him along.

”You should know better than to think you can outmanoeuvre me, you little slut,” he spat as he sucked in breath and shook out his whip hand.

Melody tuned him out and retreated inside her mind. It was a trick she’d perfected long ago, the ability to hide inside the recesses of her mind, moving to a different place within herself. A place which did much to mitigate the physical effects of pain. A place where no one else could reach.

It used to be a cold place, empty but for her own pitiful anguish screaming to be silent as she internalised her pain and hid it from her tormentor.

But she kept a secret there now, and it warmed her right to her very soul. Recently, it had been filled with so many wondrous things, and those things became her armour, her refuge, her protection, her sanctuary.

Now, all those secret places within her were filled with wonder and fulfilment, pleasure and happiness and, of course, the greatest among all of them: love.

Melody crept so far inside her mind she didn”t acknowledge the loud hammering on the door upstairs. In fact, she barely heard it. Neither did she pay any heed to V as he threw down the weapon with a curse, causing it to clatter against the side of the cage.

”Damn Guthrie,” V muttered under his breath, although Melody only vaguely heard. ”His timing stinks as usual… except where running into you was concerned.” He cackled as he stomped up the stairs, ”I might just let him have at you as a reward.”

Melody quieted her mind in resignation and let the beauty of the past few weeks be the balm to all her hurts.

She was ready to leave this life now.

Funny how such a short space of time - just mere weeks - could change a person”s perspective so completely. But she knew she could never live like this again. She had only one regret, and that was that she’d never told Micah she loved him.

He was a single shining star, a brightness within the gloom of her life, and for a little while, Melody had known what it was to love. She had known joy and rapture, and she had felt cherished.

That was enough.

She could die happy. She just wished she”d been able to tell him.

Sadly, she”d been hobbled by the notion that he wouldn”t accept her feelings. That he”d tell her they were false, just a reaction built from gratitude. But in a sudden moment of clarity, Melody realised it didn”t matter. That love was something freely given without expectation of it being returned.

So now she was ready to leave this mortal coil.

She could accept it; Micah had given her that, at least. By showing her the best there was in life, she knew that she could finally face death.

She was just sad that Micah would never know just how deeply he had touched her. How he’d given her the strength to finally let go, clutching that little oasis of wonder and perfection to her heart, so she could fly free in spirit, rather than be chained to a life of misery.

”I love you, Micah,” she whispered out loud so she could say the words, hear them told, just once.