A few days passed and Alexandria was sent back to her ward to heal.

Becky was making daily trips to see her and also to see roy, she'd convinced him to stop drinking so much and he reluctantly oblidged.

One bright morning she went to his ward looking pale and nervous.

Roy looked at her as she hobbled over crutch in hand and asked "Becky? is everything alright?"

Becky looked down before saying softly "there's... something i need to tell you... I've been putting it off for so long..." she looked at him with tears glistening in her eyes.

Roy sat staring at her unsure what to say so he placed his hand on hers and gently squeezed. She clasped his hand in hers and clasped it tightly.

"you probably already know who I am, the lounge singer for the ritz" she started shifting slightly.

"what you dont know is my momma was also a singer before I was and my father... he was our manager. I never had a choice. It was sing or get a beating or worse.

I learned to pretend to act like everything was fine. it took a little piece of me each time but I never let him break me. I still had my foolish pride." she paused for a moment her left hand loosening and tightening its grip on Roys and her still injured right hand picking at the edge of her gown.

"Things got really bad one night, I didnt sing high enough or something silly like that... after the set my father grabbed me and pinned me to the wall. he said if you dont do better next time I will throw you to the kurb... better yet I'll sell you to some young rich men for the night" Becky lowered her head down to the matress ashamed of her tears.

Roy was shocked, he gently rubbed her shoulders as comforting as he could. Becky took a shuddered breath before she continued.

" Not long after this I tried to run away from him, I was gone a week before he found me. He beat me so bad I had a broken collar bone, cracked eye socket, 3 broken ribs, fractured pelvis and a dislocated jaw."

Roy stared in horror at all the poor young woman had gone through but didn't have the heart to speak.

"when I turned 19 he told me that he was selling me off to a rich oil tycoon and that I had 6 months before our wedding, I hadn't even met the man. I couldn't do it... so I climbing onto the roof of our home and threw myself off. I just wanted it to end... and here I am."

Silent tears streamed down her face as she spoke, her lip quivered and in that moment she looked truly broken.

"Becky... I had no idea..." Roy said wiping away her tears his thumb gently caressing her cheek.

Becky leaned into the touch, relishing the warmth it brought. She climbed onto the bed by his side and embraced him which Roy returned gently stroking her hair.

Roy felt something stirr within him, something he didn't know he could feel. He felt the need to protect Becky, he didn't know how in his current state but he knew he had to.

He lay on the bed processing all the things Becky had told him as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep her head resting softly on his chest.