Page 39 of Captive Heart

She really was quite beautiful, almost ethereal with her unique violet eyes and silvery hair. He knew the latter was an anomaly, a freak of nature caused by severe trauma, but it looked good on her.

Unfortunately, her mental health didn't seem to be quite so positive, and, although she hadn't woken him in the night since that first time, she seemed sad and withdrawn.

Micah knew it would take her a while to adjust to her new situation, but he was certain something else was eating at her. Plus, she'd become distinctly reserved around him.

That relieved him on the one hand, since he didn't want to encourage any awkward attachment issues and he was concerned Melody might be emotionally hungry, which wouldn't be surprising considering her history. But it also worried him, as she wasn't exhibiting the expected responses for someone who was adjusting from her kind of situation.

Not that the withdrawal and possible hints of depression weren't normal, but she did seem to be missing the processes of elation and relief which made him wonder if she was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Except she had chosen to escape, so that shouldn't be the case. It needed some closer investigation, that was certain.

In the meantime, since she was back on her feet, he had given her some light duties to perform around the club. Nothing too taxing; she wasn't up to that yet, but a little dusting and vacuuming. Breaking down the stock boxes and taking them to the recycling area to encourage her to venture outside.

Mostly, though, he found little tasks for her to perform so that she could feel like she was making a contribution to her upkeep, because he knew it was important to her, and also to give her a small sense of self-worth since she’d gone far too many years without it.

They had fallen into a comfortable living arrangement. Micah had chosen to keep Melody sleeping in the boudoir room. It inevitably meant late nights, but that would still have been the case if she used the employee lounge instead of him.

He wondered if that was why he hadn't heard her recently. The offices and private employee areas were soundproofed to some extent so that they had a quieter working environment during club opening hours. Those first nights, Micah had left all the connecting doors open in case there were any problems, but recently he'd been closing them all, in order to give them each a modicum of privacy. But maybe he just wasn't able to hear her.

Sighing as he checked through the last month's invoices before he sent them to the accountant, he made a mental note to sit down and have a chat with her when he'd finished.

When he searched her out an hour later, Micah was surprised to find her in the playroom, wandering around and studying the BDSM equipment.

The nature of the club had never been mentioned and Micah had decided it was best to keep it that way, concerned that Melody would be uncomfortable with it. Possibly even scared, after the incarceration and abuse she had suffered.

Now, though, he hung back in the entryway and watched as she ran her hands over a spanking bench, touching the various rings used for attachments and bindings with what almost looked like nostalgia.

She didn't notice him until after she’d moved to a display of crops and paddles on one of the walls. She started as she caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye and pulled her hand away from where it caressed a wooden paddle designed to resemble a hairbrush and turned away from the display to face him.

"Oh, hi," she murmured breathlessly, colour riding high on her cheeks as she attempted to move surreptitiously away from the wall that had intrigued her so much.

Micah moved further into the room, deciding it was best to tackle things head on. She was living here, after all, so it was time to find out if being in the club was disturbing her and whether or not they needed to come up with another solution.

Maybe she could bunk at Trinity's. Micah knew his assistant manager's apartment was empty for half the week now. Since she and Christian had gotten back together, she spent her days off at his place because of the distance.

Not that he was convinced that it would be healthy for Melody to spend too much time alone right now, given her fragile mental state. It would give her too much time to brood and maybe come to the wrong conclusions. But if she wasn't comfortable being at the club, he wasn't sure what other options there were.

"How are you doing, Melody?" Micah asked, coming into the dungeon and gesturing for her to follow him to one of the comfortable seating areas so they could get to the bottom of her current malaise.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said with a noncommittal shrug, avoiding eye contact as she perched herself on the edge of the seat opposite him.

Micah sighed silently. Her body language was saying anything but fine.

"We haven't really broached the subject of what type of club this is. I'm concerned that, given your circumstances, you might be uncomfortable here. You seem a little tense and uneasy."

"I know what kind of place this is," Melody admitted, looking out over the club floor and casting her eyes around. "Daddy used to take me to a place like this regularly." She looked down again, fidgeting with her fingers. "It's one of the things that drew me to stay close by… it was familiar," she finally acknowledged.

It wasn’t the response Micah expected, given her awkwardness. Clearly, there was something else playing on her mind.

"I see," Micah replied evenly, settling back into the couch with his ankles crossed and his fingers threaded while he tapped his thumbs together in contemplation. He watched her intently, even though his mind was reeling from the unexpected confession that she had been a kink club regular.

Melody was sitting stiffly, and the anxiety, which seemed to be rolling off her in waves, was impossible to miss. Micah focused himself to deal with whatever was clearly overwhelming her right now. He could contemplate her other little bombshell later on.

"It's fairly normal, you know, to find yourself grieving over the loss of a place or a person who is familiar to you, even if that situation was far from ideal. It's what we call Stockholm or Helsinki syndrome. Do you think that might be a problem for you? Are you missing V?"

"What? No!" she cried, aghast, swinging back to look at him, her pretty eyes wide with shock. "No way!" she emphasised, clasping her arms about her torso and recoiling back into her chair as if to protect herself from the very idea.

Micah resisted the urge to blow out a loud breath. His usual professional distance seemed to be severely lacking when it came to Melody. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to get things right with her.

Maybe it was just that her circumstances reminded him too profoundly of his ex as the anniversary of her death approached. Or maybe he was just too close to the situation. Either way, his normally very accurate insight was missing with Melody. It was frustrating.

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