So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
Passing his wand to Mrs. Potts, Miles herded his gaggle of tiny females into the MLE, heading for the corner office. It was one he’d visited daily in the first few months after Reese’s disappearance. Eventually, as it became apparent the Aurors weren’t finding anything useful, and balancing his vigil against the demands of work and his sudden role as parental figure to a small child became difficult, he’d cut his visits back to once a week. When Pansy had come to him with the information on Reese’s whereabouts and the Ministry’s inability or unwillingness to go get her, he’d come even less often, only stopping in out of idle hope the situation would change, and to keep up appearances. At this point, he hadn’t been to see Jonathan Savage in over a month and it would be a lie to say Miles wasn’t feeling rather bitter and just a little smug as he walked in, having retrieved the woman the authorities couldn’t or wouldn’t rescue.
Reese held Kiss in one arm and her other hand clutched his as they stopped in front of the Auror’s door. Anoush was wide-eyed and quiet, as she had been most of the time since Goldstein had arrived with them on Miles’ front lawn, her small fingers curled in Reese’s sweater.
Knocking smartly on the door, the barrister gave his fey friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze.
Jonathan, under normal circumstances, was able to ignore the throng of people as they passed by the one-way glass walls that made up his office. On other days, he had taken advantage of the illusion of privacy to indulge in voyeuristic fantasies. It had been a bit since he and Gwen had made use of his desk, however.
He couldn’t have explained what had made him focus for a split second, but when he did, his gaze froze on the three people making their way down the hallway toward his office. He’d been staring at a picture of the blonde plastered to Miles Bletchley’s side for a year now. She’d been the one case he’d been unable to close; despite numerous attempts to find a way around the political red tape, he’d been rebuffed by Ministries, foreign and domestic.
Leaning back in his chair, Jonathan watched their progression. He didn’t recognize the small girl clinging to Ashley. She had a beautiful dark complexion and hair. Exotic. Young. She reminded him of the girls he routinely saw bought and sold at Klaus’ ‘parties’. The same kind of party that he’d seen Reese at so many months ago. He’d known where she was, but had been unable to go and get her, not without risking himself and the ones he loved.
Jonathan Savage did not enjoy feeling helpless, and Reese Ashley’s face had been haunting him. To see her walking down the hallway toward him, knowing that whatever had transpired to free her from that man’s grasp had done so without his help despite it being his job to help her, made him feel even worse.
And it meant that Miles Bletchley was a much more weighty man than Jonathan had originally thought.
When Miles lifted his fist and knocked on the door, Jonathan rose. After taking a deep breath, whatever emotion - regret, anger, failure - had filled his features were replaced by the mask he so often wore at work. Words failed him as he opened the door. How to converse with a man you’d failed to help and a woman you’d failed to rescue from the clutches of a sadist who enjoyed keeping her on a gilded chain hadn’t really been discussed in Auror training, or any of the seminars he’d been to in his twenty-plus years of Auroring.
“Mister Bletchley. Miss Ashley. Please come in.”
With a slight nod, Miles and his brood followed the auror into his office, a place he hoped never to visit again after this day, though he knew that was unlikely. This was the first step. In all probability, his version of events would have to be gone over more than once for the MLE to be satisfied. That was alright. He’d do what was necessary, and chief among those things was keeping Reese’s interaction with authorities to a minimum. She deserved to be done with her ordeal, and if that meant Miles had to be the roadblock between the woman he loved and those who would want to know all particulars of her escape, then a roadblock he would be.
He got Reese and Anoush settled in the two visitor chairs that sat opposite Savage’s desk and stood beside them, his hand resting on the small blonde’s shoulder. “As you’ve no doubt deduced, we’ve come to inform you of Miss Ashley’s return. We appreciate the Ministry’s time and effort in searching for her, of course, but no further assistance will be necessary on that front.”
Reese just nodded in agreement and nuzzled her nose into Kiss’ blonde curls. Her thumb idly stroked back and forth over Anoush’s hand, a comfort for both of them in this place full of intimidating people, loud colors, and overpowering energies. The healthy thread of blackness weaving everywhere didn’t help things, but Reese had developed something of a tolerance for the ominous color after having been with Lukas for so long, and it didn’t make her tremble in fear the same way it once had.
Jonathan understood Bletchley’s attitude. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if someone had taken Tess, or Regan, or Gwen-
No. Thinking about how he would react if he were in the same position wouldn’t help here. As far as the Ministry was concerned, Reese Ashley had been missing and now she was back. Case closed. It was a cavalier attitude, and one the Ministry seemed to pride itself on. If a problem was fixed, regardless to the who, what, and why, then the problem was fixed.
Smiling softly to the dark-haired girl and the woman he’d been helpless to assist, Jonathan nodded his head. “I’m glad you’ve returned safe, Ms. Ashley,” he said after a moment. He’d wanted to say ‘safe and unharmed’ but the former would be an assumption that he wasn’t sure would be correct. He’d seen the way Klaus had treated her; no one returned from a confinement with that man unscathed in some way. Very few, if any, returned at all.
“The Ministry will, of course, want a statement about where you were and how you managed to return home.”
Jonathan knew how the law worked. If Ashley told him that she’d been taken against her will by Klaus, then an inquiry would be opened up. There would be an investigation and reports; the bulk of both would probably garner little to no information. There was no physical evidence tying him, which had been part of the problem with this entire case in the first place. What they’d discovered had only been because Jonathan had happened to be in the right place at the right time.
A small part of his brain hoped that him seeing Reese had ultimately led to her retrieval. That hope was dashed, however, when he remembered his angry conversation with Potter. The head of the MLE had made it clear that doing anything with that information could jeopardize too many things - Ashley’s safety, Jonathan’s safety - and all they could do was wait.
And while they’d waited, Bletchley had found his own way to save her.
Tired green eyes lifted to the Auror and Reese studied the man. She was glad that her true sight had been restored, but it wasn’t his face she focused on. He was a deep green, like what she’d spied deep in the Forbidden Forest, the green life that rarely saw the sun, hidden away as it was in the darkness of the old wood. The Auror felt like that. Deep and still. Full of secrets.
The sickly green, almost a yellow, was like a contaminate against the darker mysterious forest that was the rest of him.
Reese lifted her eyes to his. “It’ll be okay. You’re heart’s in the right place.” A tired smile turned her lips. “I’m glad you were the one looking for me. Your colors are nice.”
Jonathan tried to puzzle out what the young woman meant, eyes dropping to the deep grey button-down he wore, but when he looked back up at her, he had the feeling he wasn’t supposed to understand what she’d meant. The fact that she was smiling, however, eased a little of the guilt he held. If she was able to smile after what she’d been through, then she was stronger than she appeared.
Miles couldn’t help but smile at the perplexed expression on the Auror’s face. He wasn’t inclinded to elaborate on his friend’s observations, though. People would make of Reese what they chose; it wasn’t his place to put words in her mouth.
“The majority of what occurred was outside the Ministry’s jurisdiction, I’m afraid. Miss Ashley was held by a foreign man. I was able to find someone willing to extract her and bring her home,” he told Savage. The Ministry hadn’t been able to do anything and the Liberi had been unwilling to expend any resources to help. He’d managed, with Pansy’s intel and some money spent, to do what they wouldn’t. The rest was none of their concern.
Jonathan nodded. He’d figured as much. He would have to find out for himself if Ms. Ashley’s extraction had meant that Klaus would no longer be holding reign over any auctions. It woudn’t matter; someone would pick up where the man had left off. It would just be run by a different monster. The least Jonathan could hope for would be a lull in time before the next one was held.
“Are you willing at this time, Ms. Ashley, to give us the name of the man who’d been holding you? If you give us his name, we’ll continue to look into your case. There will be an investigation into the man. We will attempt to find evidence and possibly bring extradition charges against him. It’s possible much of this could end up in the papers.”
It was in Reese’s nature to answer all the questions directly, but the tone of the Auror’s voice and the intensity in his eyes as he delivered the information made her pause. She didn’t know exactly what everything meant, but his mien made hesitant and she glanced up at Miles.
Miles pet down Reese’s hair as he debated how to respond to the Auror’s question. It wasn’t in Reese’s nature to lie and he didn’t want to add to the things already weighing on her from the past year. Just the same, he didn’t exactly want to get in a situation where Klaus’ murder was linked to him. Finally, he opted for a different sort of truth.
“Auror Savage, I know you’re already aware of his name. Given that information, I’m sure you’ll understand why Miss Ashley would like to simply put this behind her. We appreciate the Ministry’s offer, but I think it’s for the best if we leave well enough alone. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I agree that having your dealings with this man in the papers would not be advisable,” Jonathan answered with a slow nod of his head. He’d never made it known to Bletchley that he knew definitively who had Ashley. In any case, he’d gotten the information; whether from a mole inside the ministry or through a contact by other means. And through this contact, he’d been made aware that someone in the Ministry had known who had Reese.
This, of course, put Jonathan in a very precarious position. It was possible that Bletchley was assuming, from the information, that Jonathan had been briefed on the situation and that was how he knew Klaus had Ashley. This would mean that he’d have to realize that it was not as easy as just storming the man’s estate and taking her back. It would do little to make him feel better about the situation, but maybe in time he’d come to understand why Jonathan’s hands had been tied.
The other option... The other option was that Bletchley had somehow found out that Jonathan was at one of the auctions that Klaus had been at. If that were the case, then it meant there were two scenarios that Bletchley could assume. The first would be that Jonathan was a member of the group that bought and sold girls, the same type of man that had taken Ashley. The same kind of man that Klaus was. The thought of anyone believing that he could do such things made his stomach roll, but it would work in his favor. That was exactly the impression Jonathan was attempting to display to that group.
If it wasn’t that, Bletchley could possibly be assuming the truth. Bletchley assuming the truth was far too dangerous. If Bletchley knew Jonathan was spying on those men, it would mean that Potter had somehow leaked the information. It meant that if anyone else found out, the family that Jonathan had never intended to form but could no longer live without could vanish.
Jonathan found himself in a situation with too many assumptions and too many possible and terrifying outcomes. The only thing that was under his control was to choose the story that would do least harm, to himself and the ones he loved. If Bletchley wanted to assume he’d known about Ashley’s whereabouts because the Ministry had discovered information but been unable to do anything about it because of poltical reasons, Jonathan was fine with that. He would play the Auror with their hands tied.
“The Ministry wishes they were able to do more to help you. In today’s political climate working between countries can be impossible. I had hoped the wheels of justice would have moved faster than they did. I know we failed you, Ms. Ashley, Mr. Bletchley, and you have our utmost and sincere apology that we were unable to do more than we did.”
He was simply a cog in a machine that had been unable to work fast enough to help. He would carry the guilt - that was something that wouldn’t quickly go away - but if he was able to maintain that story, was able to make Bletchley believe it, it was possible Jonathan’d be able to extract himself from the situation without further damage.
Savage said ‘we’, as if the MLE, the Ministry as a whole, was a single being. Were he not able to see a hint of regret in the other man’s dark eyes, Miles would have told him exactly where he could stick ‘their’ apology. As it was though, he believed Savage was sincere despite the institutional phrasing. It didn’t change the fact that the Ministry had failed Reese, but there was some comfort in knowing someone felt the weight of their impotence.
“I trust you’ll do a better job of ensuring these ladies,” he gestured to Reese and Anoush, “remain safe from their tormentor. And that you’ll assist us in finding this young girl’s family as quickly as possible.” Miles knew, of course, that Lukas was in no position to bother anyone again, but he wasn’t a fool. Letting on that he knew the man was dead when speaking to an Auror would not be a smart move.
Anoush leaned closer to Reese. The men had told her that her mama didn’t want her anymore and no one had come to find her like they had Reesey. What would they do with her if her parents wouldn’t come get her?
Satisfied that Bletchley had believed him, the knot of worry easing a bit in his gut, Jonathan cast his gaze to the dark-haired girl sitting to Ashley’s right. “She was being held where Ms. Ashley was being held?”
“I kept her with me as much as I could. It was best. I didn’t want her to be ...,” Reese trailed off, not sure how to finish that. Miles had told her to try to only say things that really, really needed saying. She wasn’t sure that she needed to say that she didn’t want Anoush to be with the other girls and boys that Lukas had.
Reese just needed... “I didn’t want her to be hurt,” she finally finished. It was hard trying to measure what she said, but she’d gotten a lot of practice the last year in Lukas’ home.
“Reese made sure Anoush was rescued along with her,” Miles explained. “It was a shock to have them both turn up, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to help her find her family again.”
Recognition lit Jonathan’s eyes. “Did you say Anoush?” He turned his direction to the girl again. “Is your name Anoush Avakian?”
He knew her name. Anoush didn’t know whether to be reassured or frightened. When the men had taken her from her home, they’d known her name, too. The little girl wiggled until she was nearly just a pair of big, dark eyes peering from behind the small woman beside her. In a voice almost too soft to hear, she answered, “Yes.”
Jonathan knew he’d heard that name before. Romilda Jones had been investigating the whereabouts of her younger sister for quite some time. “I know your sister, Anoush. She’s been looking for you for a very long time and I have a feeling she’s going to be very happy to see that you’re safe.”
Anoush’s small brow creased. Her sister? She knew she had a sister; Vasy spoke of Romilda sometimes. The young girl had no memory of her though, and Mama got mad when they asked questions about her. Why would Romilda be looking for her?
SUMMARY: Miles takes Reese and Anoush to the Ministry to see Jonathan and close the case concerning Reese’s disappearance.
Reese held Kiss in one arm and her other hand clutched his as they stopped in front of the Auror’s door. Anoush was wide-eyed and quiet, as she had been most of the time since Goldstein had arrived with them on Miles’ front lawn, her small fingers curled in Reese’s sweater.
Knocking smartly on the door, the barrister gave his fey friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze.
Jonathan, under normal circumstances, was able to ignore the throng of people as they passed by the one-way glass walls that made up his office. On other days, he had taken advantage of the illusion of privacy to indulge in voyeuristic fantasies. It had been a bit since he and Gwen had made use of his desk, however.
He couldn’t have explained what had made him focus for a split second, but when he did, his gaze froze on the three people making their way down the hallway toward his office. He’d been staring at a picture of the blonde plastered to Miles Bletchley’s side for a year now. She’d been the one case he’d been unable to close; despite numerous attempts to find a way around the political red tape, he’d been rebuffed by Ministries, foreign and domestic.
Leaning back in his chair, Jonathan watched their progression. He didn’t recognize the small girl clinging to Ashley. She had a beautiful dark complexion and hair. Exotic. Young. She reminded him of the girls he routinely saw bought and sold at Klaus’ ‘parties’. The same kind of party that he’d seen Reese at so many months ago. He’d known where she was, but had been unable to go and get her, not without risking himself and the ones he loved.
Jonathan Savage did not enjoy feeling helpless, and Reese Ashley’s face had been haunting him. To see her walking down the hallway toward him, knowing that whatever had transpired to free her from that man’s grasp had done so without his help despite it being his job to help her, made him feel even worse.
And it meant that Miles Bletchley was a much more weighty man than Jonathan had originally thought.
When Miles lifted his fist and knocked on the door, Jonathan rose. After taking a deep breath, whatever emotion - regret, anger, failure - had filled his features were replaced by the mask he so often wore at work. Words failed him as he opened the door. How to converse with a man you’d failed to help and a woman you’d failed to rescue from the clutches of a sadist who enjoyed keeping her on a gilded chain hadn’t really been discussed in Auror training, or any of the seminars he’d been to in his twenty-plus years of Auroring.
“Mister Bletchley. Miss Ashley. Please come in.”
With a slight nod, Miles and his brood followed the auror into his office, a place he hoped never to visit again after this day, though he knew that was unlikely. This was the first step. In all probability, his version of events would have to be gone over more than once for the MLE to be satisfied. That was alright. He’d do what was necessary, and chief among those things was keeping Reese’s interaction with authorities to a minimum. She deserved to be done with her ordeal, and if that meant Miles had to be the roadblock between the woman he loved and those who would want to know all particulars of her escape, then a roadblock he would be.
He got Reese and Anoush settled in the two visitor chairs that sat opposite Savage’s desk and stood beside them, his hand resting on the small blonde’s shoulder. “As you’ve no doubt deduced, we’ve come to inform you of Miss Ashley’s return. We appreciate the Ministry’s time and effort in searching for her, of course, but no further assistance will be necessary on that front.”
Reese just nodded in agreement and nuzzled her nose into Kiss’ blonde curls. Her thumb idly stroked back and forth over Anoush’s hand, a comfort for both of them in this place full of intimidating people, loud colors, and overpowering energies. The healthy thread of blackness weaving everywhere didn’t help things, but Reese had developed something of a tolerance for the ominous color after having been with Lukas for so long, and it didn’t make her tremble in fear the same way it once had.
Jonathan understood Bletchley’s attitude. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if someone had taken Tess, or Regan, or Gwen-
No. Thinking about how he would react if he were in the same position wouldn’t help here. As far as the Ministry was concerned, Reese Ashley had been missing and now she was back. Case closed. It was a cavalier attitude, and one the Ministry seemed to pride itself on. If a problem was fixed, regardless to the who, what, and why, then the problem was fixed.
Smiling softly to the dark-haired girl and the woman he’d been helpless to assist, Jonathan nodded his head. “I’m glad you’ve returned safe, Ms. Ashley,” he said after a moment. He’d wanted to say ‘safe and unharmed’ but the former would be an assumption that he wasn’t sure would be correct. He’d seen the way Klaus had treated her; no one returned from a confinement with that man unscathed in some way. Very few, if any, returned at all.
“The Ministry will, of course, want a statement about where you were and how you managed to return home.”
Jonathan knew how the law worked. If Ashley told him that she’d been taken against her will by Klaus, then an inquiry would be opened up. There would be an investigation and reports; the bulk of both would probably garner little to no information. There was no physical evidence tying him, which had been part of the problem with this entire case in the first place. What they’d discovered had only been because Jonathan had happened to be in the right place at the right time.
A small part of his brain hoped that him seeing Reese had ultimately led to her retrieval. That hope was dashed, however, when he remembered his angry conversation with Potter. The head of the MLE had made it clear that doing anything with that information could jeopardize too many things - Ashley’s safety, Jonathan’s safety - and all they could do was wait.
And while they’d waited, Bletchley had found his own way to save her.
Tired green eyes lifted to the Auror and Reese studied the man. She was glad that her true sight had been restored, but it wasn’t his face she focused on. He was a deep green, like what she’d spied deep in the Forbidden Forest, the green life that rarely saw the sun, hidden away as it was in the darkness of the old wood. The Auror felt like that. Deep and still. Full of secrets.
The sickly green, almost a yellow, was like a contaminate against the darker mysterious forest that was the rest of him.
Reese lifted her eyes to his. “It’ll be okay. You’re heart’s in the right place.” A tired smile turned her lips. “I’m glad you were the one looking for me. Your colors are nice.”
Jonathan tried to puzzle out what the young woman meant, eyes dropping to the deep grey button-down he wore, but when he looked back up at her, he had the feeling he wasn’t supposed to understand what she’d meant. The fact that she was smiling, however, eased a little of the guilt he held. If she was able to smile after what she’d been through, then she was stronger than she appeared.
Miles couldn’t help but smile at the perplexed expression on the Auror’s face. He wasn’t inclinded to elaborate on his friend’s observations, though. People would make of Reese what they chose; it wasn’t his place to put words in her mouth.
“The majority of what occurred was outside the Ministry’s jurisdiction, I’m afraid. Miss Ashley was held by a foreign man. I was able to find someone willing to extract her and bring her home,” he told Savage. The Ministry hadn’t been able to do anything and the Liberi had been unwilling to expend any resources to help. He’d managed, with Pansy’s intel and some money spent, to do what they wouldn’t. The rest was none of their concern.
Jonathan nodded. He’d figured as much. He would have to find out for himself if Ms. Ashley’s extraction had meant that Klaus would no longer be holding reign over any auctions. It woudn’t matter; someone would pick up where the man had left off. It would just be run by a different monster. The least Jonathan could hope for would be a lull in time before the next one was held.
“Are you willing at this time, Ms. Ashley, to give us the name of the man who’d been holding you? If you give us his name, we’ll continue to look into your case. There will be an investigation into the man. We will attempt to find evidence and possibly bring extradition charges against him. It’s possible much of this could end up in the papers.”
It was in Reese’s nature to answer all the questions directly, but the tone of the Auror’s voice and the intensity in his eyes as he delivered the information made her pause. She didn’t know exactly what everything meant, but his mien made hesitant and she glanced up at Miles.
Miles pet down Reese’s hair as he debated how to respond to the Auror’s question. It wasn’t in Reese’s nature to lie and he didn’t want to add to the things already weighing on her from the past year. Just the same, he didn’t exactly want to get in a situation where Klaus’ murder was linked to him. Finally, he opted for a different sort of truth.
“Auror Savage, I know you’re already aware of his name. Given that information, I’m sure you’ll understand why Miss Ashley would like to simply put this behind her. We appreciate the Ministry’s offer, but I think it’s for the best if we leave well enough alone. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I agree that having your dealings with this man in the papers would not be advisable,” Jonathan answered with a slow nod of his head. He’d never made it known to Bletchley that he knew definitively who had Ashley. In any case, he’d gotten the information; whether from a mole inside the ministry or through a contact by other means. And through this contact, he’d been made aware that someone in the Ministry had known who had Reese.
This, of course, put Jonathan in a very precarious position. It was possible that Bletchley was assuming, from the information, that Jonathan had been briefed on the situation and that was how he knew Klaus had Ashley. This would mean that he’d have to realize that it was not as easy as just storming the man’s estate and taking her back. It would do little to make him feel better about the situation, but maybe in time he’d come to understand why Jonathan’s hands had been tied.
The other option... The other option was that Bletchley had somehow found out that Jonathan was at one of the auctions that Klaus had been at. If that were the case, then it meant there were two scenarios that Bletchley could assume. The first would be that Jonathan was a member of the group that bought and sold girls, the same type of man that had taken Ashley. The same kind of man that Klaus was. The thought of anyone believing that he could do such things made his stomach roll, but it would work in his favor. That was exactly the impression Jonathan was attempting to display to that group.
If it wasn’t that, Bletchley could possibly be assuming the truth. Bletchley assuming the truth was far too dangerous. If Bletchley knew Jonathan was spying on those men, it would mean that Potter had somehow leaked the information. It meant that if anyone else found out, the family that Jonathan had never intended to form but could no longer live without could vanish.
Jonathan found himself in a situation with too many assumptions and too many possible and terrifying outcomes. The only thing that was under his control was to choose the story that would do least harm, to himself and the ones he loved. If Bletchley wanted to assume he’d known about Ashley’s whereabouts because the Ministry had discovered information but been unable to do anything about it because of poltical reasons, Jonathan was fine with that. He would play the Auror with their hands tied.
“The Ministry wishes they were able to do more to help you. In today’s political climate working between countries can be impossible. I had hoped the wheels of justice would have moved faster than they did. I know we failed you, Ms. Ashley, Mr. Bletchley, and you have our utmost and sincere apology that we were unable to do more than we did.”
He was simply a cog in a machine that had been unable to work fast enough to help. He would carry the guilt - that was something that wouldn’t quickly go away - but if he was able to maintain that story, was able to make Bletchley believe it, it was possible Jonathan’d be able to extract himself from the situation without further damage.
Savage said ‘we’, as if the MLE, the Ministry as a whole, was a single being. Were he not able to see a hint of regret in the other man’s dark eyes, Miles would have told him exactly where he could stick ‘their’ apology. As it was though, he believed Savage was sincere despite the institutional phrasing. It didn’t change the fact that the Ministry had failed Reese, but there was some comfort in knowing someone felt the weight of their impotence.
“I trust you’ll do a better job of ensuring these ladies,” he gestured to Reese and Anoush, “remain safe from their tormentor. And that you’ll assist us in finding this young girl’s family as quickly as possible.” Miles knew, of course, that Lukas was in no position to bother anyone again, but he wasn’t a fool. Letting on that he knew the man was dead when speaking to an Auror would not be a smart move.
Anoush leaned closer to Reese. The men had told her that her mama didn’t want her anymore and no one had come to find her like they had Reesey. What would they do with her if her parents wouldn’t come get her?
Satisfied that Bletchley had believed him, the knot of worry easing a bit in his gut, Jonathan cast his gaze to the dark-haired girl sitting to Ashley’s right. “She was being held where Ms. Ashley was being held?”
“I kept her with me as much as I could. It was best. I didn’t want her to be ...,” Reese trailed off, not sure how to finish that. Miles had told her to try to only say things that really, really needed saying. She wasn’t sure that she needed to say that she didn’t want Anoush to be with the other girls and boys that Lukas had.
Reese just needed... “I didn’t want her to be hurt,” she finally finished. It was hard trying to measure what she said, but she’d gotten a lot of practice the last year in Lukas’ home.
“Reese made sure Anoush was rescued along with her,” Miles explained. “It was a shock to have them both turn up, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to help her find her family again.”
Recognition lit Jonathan’s eyes. “Did you say Anoush?” He turned his direction to the girl again. “Is your name Anoush Avakian?”
He knew her name. Anoush didn’t know whether to be reassured or frightened. When the men had taken her from her home, they’d known her name, too. The little girl wiggled until she was nearly just a pair of big, dark eyes peering from behind the small woman beside her. In a voice almost too soft to hear, she answered, “Yes.”
Jonathan knew he’d heard that name before. Romilda Jones had been investigating the whereabouts of her younger sister for quite some time. “I know your sister, Anoush. She’s been looking for you for a very long time and I have a feeling she’s going to be very happy to see that you’re safe.”
Anoush’s small brow creased. Her sister? She knew she had a sister; Vasy spoke of Romilda sometimes. The young girl had no memory of her though, and Mama got mad when they asked questions about her. Why would Romilda be looking for her?
SUMMARY: Miles takes Reese and Anoush to the Ministry to see Jonathan and close the case concerning Reese’s disappearance.