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

“When I was at the top, none of them seemed inclined to want to speak to me. I wasn’t a person. I told them I would fetch the magistrate even though I expected them to laugh at me. They didn’t even bother to look at me. Nobody said anything to me. I was just shoved around like a piece of flotsam and jetsam.”

“Did you see Melrose?”

“No. I was put into a carriage and taken to Melrose House.”

“Did you see or hear anybody mention the name of the house?”

“No.”

“Was the house a large one like Melrose House?”

“Yes, I think so. I didn’t get to see much of it. I went out of a back door and was immediately shoved into a waiting carriage, which had blacked out windows.”

“Was the house white? Did you see brickwork? Was it Tutor-style? Did you see any defining features?”

“I would recognise it if I saw it again, but I have no idea where it is.”

“It must be an old property for it to have an oubliette.”

“It was old. It was built from stone, I think. It wasn’t Tudor or white, I know that much.”

“You didn’t see any staff, like liveried footmen or anything.”

Mallory shook her head.

“Well, we have something to go on.”

“How?”

“We know now that we are looking for the owners of estates old enough to have oubliettes built into them. They aren’t added once the property has been built. Properties with oubliettes were usually built in the 1200-1500’s. That snippet of information will help us to narrow down who is likely to be hiding the kidnap victims before they are moved on.”

“I was then taken to Melrose House, into the kitchens via the scullery. I was then told I was going nowhere and would be working for my keep. At first, I refused. I told them they were stealing my life and that I didn’t agree to it, but they beat me. Each time I refused to work for them I wasn’t allowed to eat. I was so hungry, but they told me that I couldn’t eat. They said that I was fat enough. When I gave in and started to work, purely because I needed something to eat, the captors punished me by giving me more and more work to do. They were vile. They kept calling me names, ridiculing me, and stopping me from eating by withholding food until I did as I was told. I was then threatened with going to see the master. The only person that kept me sane was Jemima. She was the only one in that house they treated the same as me. We never got to talk much but when we did, she confirmed that she too had been snatched. She had arrived several weeks before me. She told me that escape was futile. They had dogs outside, and plenty of guards. The place was a fortress. I knew then that the life I had been living had gone for good.”

“You knew how hopeless your situation was,” Callum murmured.

“I didn’t know how to get out of there. I wasn’t allowed out of the house at first so didn’t even know where I was. They kept me in the kitchen working from before dawn to after midnight every day. I was allowed one sparse meal and that was removed if I didn’t work hard enough, or argued with any of them, or objected to their spite.”

“They didn’t want you to defend yourself. Bullies don’t. Bullies hate people who defend their ability to have the same rights as the bully. It isn’t for people to think they can browbeat someone with malice, whether physical or verbal. Abuse is abuse. Nobody should steal a life and try to stop someone objecting by beating them in any way, either verbally, mentally, or physically. It is a crime of the worst kind, and something that shall never go unpunished.”

“Do you know what happened to the others in there?”

Callum went cold. “Others like you?”

“No, the employees?”

“Do you care?”

“Yes, but only because I don’t want them to appear in my life again. I don’t want to be going about my business at any point in my life and bump into them in the street.”

“If they didn’t die in that house fire, which is highly unlikely given the explosion and the ferocity of the flames, they are all going to be arrested by the Star Elite. You saw what we did with Melrose’s men in the street. There will be no mercy for anybody who helps Melrose.”

“The only consolation to that is that they are now incapable of ever being able to steal anybody else’s life,” Mallory whispered.

“The men still free right now won’t get to you,” he promised.

Mallory looked up at him. “Make sure they don’t get you.”

The words were so heartfelt that her voice trembled. She had no idea what she would do if Melrose captured Callum. He seemed so strong, so capable, but so had Sir Hugo.