Page 70 of Captive Heart

"Guthrie…" the swarthy, pot-bellied man began indignantly as he threw open the door without checking, obviously devoid of the slightest concern that someone unexpected might be standing on the other side.

He didn't get any further. Micah grabbed him around the throat, cutting off his words with a gurgling choke as he pushed him backward into the house.

"Where the fuck is Melody?" Micah demanded with a threatening growl, loosening his grasp only long enough to get a reply.

"I-I don't know who you m-mean," the repulsive jerk managed to stammer as he clawed at the bulging forearm gripping his neck.

"Wrong answer, asshole!" Micah snarled, backing him up until he hit the closest wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

"Now, I'm mighty pissed off that some thieving bastard has taken my girl and I want her back, so, for your own health, you'd better start talking."

"Your girl?" V spluttered, trying to get some traction under his feet as Micah lifted him off of the ground.

"That's right, my girl! So, you need to start giving me some answers, or you're not going to like what happens."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I swear!" the weasel implored, but his nervous gaze jerked off to the side toward an innocuous looking door on the left. Micah followed his gaze, and his eyes narrowed.

"You don't, huh?" he said silkily. "Then you won't mind if I just take a little look around then, will you? Why don't we start here?" he enquired, nodding toward the door.

"What?" Vinny's eyes widened and the look of guilt in them had Micah tightening his fist once more. "There's nothing down there," Vinny gasped around Micah’s constricting hold. "It's just the basement, nothing but an empty cellar."

"A basement, eh?" Micah replied with a scary smoothness. "You know, Melody had a lot to tell me about a place like that, where she'd been kept like some kind of animal. Let's take a look, shall we?"

Vinny tried desperately to shake his head, but Micah hauled him away from the wall and wrenched one of his arms harshly up behind his back in a hammerlock while he pushed the smaller man forward.

"Open it," he growled ominously in his ear, securing the man in a headlock when he resisted.

"Now!"

Trying to ignore the blast of frigid air that greeted their entry, Micah resisted the urge to push the bastard down the concrete steps. This was where his sweet Melody had been kept? In this dark, freezing hole?

"Light!" Micah barked and waited while Vinny scrambled around for the pull cord. "Now head on down, and you'd better watch your step. You wouldn't want to fall now, would you?" It was a threat, and it worked. Vinny headed meekly down the stairs, but it was when they reached the bottom that all hell broke loose.

Micah was briefly distracted by the sight of naked, welted flesh squeezed into an impossibly small cage, and Vinny took advantage of his momentary inattention to land an elbow jab to Micah's kidneys. Pulling free, V whirled around, his fists already flying. He landed a glancing blow to Micah's cheekbone, not enough to do much damage, but enough to pull him out of his shock at seeing Melody that way.

Micah gave out a heaving bellow and bore down on the smaller man, ploughing a fist into his face with an almighty punch that had the asshole stumbling backward and landing on his back, clearly dazed.

"You fucking cowardly vermin. You'd beat on a poor, defenceless woman while she's locked in a crate and can't even defend herself?" he roared. "Perhaps I should give you a taste of your own medicine!"

Micah lunged after Vinny Sutton, grabbing him by the arm to hold him steady while he pulled back his own and pounded his fist into the bastard's face once more. The man’s head flew back and blood spurted from his nose, which gave a sickening crack. His eyes rolled back in their sockets and he went limp as Micah geared up for another blow, able to see nothing but a red haze of rage.

"Micah, stop!" Shouts from above him and the sound of several sets of hurried footsteps pounding down the steps were the only thing that saved the piece of scum.

"Step away from him, Flynn." Micah recognised the voice of Detective Jason Scott and immediately dropped his hold on the other man. Vinny Sutton crumpled to the floor, but although Micah knew he was undoubtedly looking at some kind of investigation into his actions, he couldn't bring himself to regret any of it.

Even less so when he whirled around to check on Melody and noticed thin beads of blood oozing from a couple of the welts Sutton had inflicted on her.

Detective Scott was easing her out of the tight confines of the cage while another policeman stood by taking photographs. Micah wanted to rip the camera out of the man's hand to give her a little privacy, but he knew they needed the evidence in order to put the bastard away.

"Micah?" Detective Storer's voice travelled down into the basement from where his wheelchair was parked at the top of the steps. "Get your backside up here." Undoubtedly, the man wanted to read him the riot act. But not right now. They could throw the book at him later. Right now, he just needed to make sure Melody was okay.

"Sorry, Andy," he shouted back. "It'll have to wait."

Jason Scott was helping her up, and now Melody stood on shaky legs, her lower lip trembling and tears welling in her beautiful violet eyes as she shivered in the chilly winter air.

Without hesitation, Micah stripped off his cosy, wool lined leather jacket and strode over to settle it carefully around her shoulders.

"It'll g-get soiled," Melody objected between chattering teeth.

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