Page 18 of Captive Heart

And wasn't that just a colossal kick in the gut?

Micah had believed himself to be absolved of that particular guilt.

It wasn't his fault Sara had died.

He damn well knew that—had always known it—but it seemed as if his own subconscious was doing a number on him.

Or maybe it was simply the situation and how he was reading it.

Hopefully, that would change as he found out more pertinent facts about his new charge's circumstances.

Micah really hoped he was off base with his initial interpretations. Both about Melody and about his own motivations, because either one of them had the potential of being a train wreck waiting to happen.

Despite his reluctance, he instinctively knew the benefit of Melody's mental acceptance of him as her new master would be two-fold, and that was one small comfort at least.

Not only would it break her link with her previously abusive master all the quicker, but it would mean she'd be predisposed to automatically answer all of the very many questions he had.

Of course, the downside was he’d have to work a little bit harder to break her of this new dependence, but he realised that was something she was going to struggle with regardless.

Besides, he intended to be very careful of how much dependence he engendered in the first instance, so there was hope, at least, for a positive outcome.

Micah took a deep breath and quieted his noisy mind. There was no time like the present to get things started. Hopefully, some clarity in the information department would also bring him some peace of mind.

"Okay, what was the name of your…" Damn, he didn't want to refer to her abuser as her master. "…of the person you used to live with?"

"My Master?" she queried in obvious confusion.

Against his moral conviction, Micah decided to use her dependence to his advantage, at least in this small instance. "I am your master now, remember. We will need to find another way to refer to him, so what was his name?”

Melody looked blank, then fearful. "I don't know," she whispered. "Please don't beat me. I'm not being difficult; I really don't know!"

"Hey, hey, hey! There will be no beating going on, Melody. Everything I am asking you about is so that I can get a picture of what has been going on in your life, in order to help you move forward. There are no right and wrong answers here, sweetheart, only information. Understand?"

"Only information," Melody repeated, nodding. Then she whispered it again under her breath as if she was trying to convince herself of the fact, "Only information."

"That's right, and any little bit of information you give me will help me understand things better, so it's fine if you don't know, or you don't remember, but there might be something seemingly insignificant that may help us put the pieces together. Kind of like doing a jigsaw. There could be clues hidden in something you do know that may help us find out something we don't know."

He gave her a moment to digest everything that he had told her before he continued. "So, while you think you don't know his name, there might be a sliver of a memory perhaps, when you heard someone call him or saw a letter or a delivery, something like that. I'm not going to pressure you with it right now, just keep it in mind.”

"I can do that," she murmured cautiously, nodding her head.

"Okay, so what about where you lived? Do you know the address?" He didn't hold out much hope of that if she didn't even know the man's name, but she had managed to get here somehow, so it might not be a complete bust.

Her lip wobbled a bit as she looked up at him with striking violet-coloured eyes full of sadness. "I don't know that, either," she confirmed with a tiny quiver in her voice.

"Don't worry," he told her comfortingly. "The same applies as before, just think it over to see if we can come up with some clues."

"But I don't want to go back there," she suddenly shrieked, misunderstanding his interest. "You said I could stay here; you said you would be my master and that I could keep my name! Please don't send me back. He'll surely kill me this time!"

Her voice rose shrilly with every word she sobbed out and she started shaking uncontrollably.

Everything she said sent an ominous chill down Micah's spine. If he hadn't been certain about her incarceration before, then he was becoming more so by the minute.

"Melody!" He laced his voice with dominant command but kept the pitch low. "Calm down!" he directed firmly. "Just information, remember? I am not going to send you back, I promise, but I do need you to tell me everything you can."

"Just information, just information, just information…" She whispered it over and over, under her breath, as she rocked back and forth.

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