The scent emanating from Joanna Lawrence acts like a calming balm, capable of putting him at ease more successfully than any medicine he's ever taken.
The sweet fragrance of fruit and soft scent of flowers wafting at his nostrils, at this moment, his entire being is in such a relaxed state. With his eyes closed for a moment, he drifts into sleep.
*
That night, with Joanna at his side, Ashton Heath is besieged by the same nightmare again.
In his dreams, he's taken back to the day he was kidnapped.
Bound hands and feet in a damp and dilapidated basement, a piece of dirty cloth stuffed in his sinewy mouth, his delicate face covered in filth to the point where his natural looks were indistinguishable.
Guarded by a group of ruthless, gun-toting criminals, surviving each day on spare steamed buns, those thugs who kidnapped him did it out of an animosity towards the wealthy. After kidnapping him, they gave him only a bare piece of steamed bun each day, and beat him regularly.
