To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

Mallory huffed a laugh.

“What?” Callum couldn’t see anything funny in the situation.

“It is funny just how much your life can be dictated by little things. When there is nothing else to focus on, little things we shouldn’t worry about are built into huge problems. Rushing to work to take measurements for someone of significant wealth was a major event in my life. I would have felt like I had failed if I hadn’t arrived on time. In reality, a few minutes here and there wouldn’t have hurt anybody. I would have turned up, so would the client, and the job would have been done anyway. It was just that my life was dictated by work, and the people in it so much that it was a burden that caused a lot of stress.”

“You needed the money.” It wasn’t a question.

“Doesn’t everybody need money?”

Callum nodded. He had significant wealth he had partly inherited from extremely wealthy relations. Rather than squander it, he hadn’t touched it. Instead, he had added to it while he had been working with the Star Elite. Now, money was never going to be a major problem in his life. He could retire when he saw fit and never contemplate anything more stressful than deciding what he wanted to do with his days, but he understood that not everybody was as blessed as he was. Women like Mallory often worked to survive.

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

“I am sorry.”

“How can you be? You didn’t know them,” Mallory replied blankly. “My parents both passed away from a wasting disease within three years of each other. I couldn’t afford to pay the rent on the house so had to move. The property was too big for me anyway, so I moved into a smaller lodgings house and took the things I could carry. I worked to be able to pay my rent and eat. The wages weren’t a lot, but it was enough for me.”

“You got on with your life.” It wasn’t a question.

“Until I was snatched. One day, I was rushing to work just as I usually did. I didn’t get there.”

“Did they use a black carriage?”

“I think so. I was snatched from behind. All I can remember is that I was walking down the street thinking about getting to work before the wealthy client arrived. The next thing I know something appeared at the side of the road next to me. It was big and dark. I tried to move away from it but was lifted off the ground by hands that wouldn’t release me. Within seconds, I was inside the carriage, which increased in speed and was impossible to jump out of. I was held down. Hands covered my face so I couldn’t scream. I was stunned. There wasn’t anything I could do. I think they used some sort of chemical on me because a cloth was put over my face. The world started to swirl and then went blank.”

“Were you at Melrose House when you woke up?”

Mallory shook her head. “I was in some sort of dungeon or basement. It was dank, incredibly damp, and musty. There was water running down the walls on the inside. It was so very cold. I felt sick, dizzy, and scared. Even when I screamed as loudly as I could nobody could hear me. Nobody came to help me. I think I was the only person down there.”

Her voice broke at that.

Callum gathered her into his arms. He could hear the lingering fea

r in her voice; the helpless desperation.

“What then?” he pressed.

“They left me. I didn’t get anything to eat or any cloak to keep warm. There wasn’t even a bed I could lie on, just a cold stone floor. I paced for a while, once my voice had gone hoarse from all the screaming of course, but nobody came. I don’t know how long I was there.”

“It was meant to make you realise how trapped you were. They wanted to leave you in no doubt that they would come to fetch you when they wanted to. Your needs were not going to be taken into consideration,” Callum murmured.

He absently kissed the top of her head before resting his cheek on it.

Mallory didn’t think about what she was doing. She rested her cheek against the steady thud of his heart. Strangely, it helped her gain the strength she needed to probe deeper into her disturbing memories.

“One day, the door above me suddenly opened. I don’t know if it was a blessing or not. I was just as scared as I was the first moment I woke up and realised where I was. When I say it was a door, it wasn’t really. It was more of a hole in the ceiling. They had to put a ladder down. One of the men climbed down and shoved me up it.”

Callum scowled. “You were in an oubliette?”

“A what?”

“An oubliette. It is an underground chamber; a secret dungeon that can only be accessed through a hole in its ceiling. It was designed to keep prisoners in, although they wouldn’t ever be let out. Historically, prisoners would be dropped through the hole and left to die. Escape from an oubliette is impossible because it is underground.”

Mallory shivered at the thought of what might have happened to her had nobody ever come back to get her.

“Thank God they came and got you out,” Callum breathed.