Page 10 of Tied

I want to object that he’s the one strangling me, but I make an effort to bite my tongue. Pressing my lips together and standing motionless and stiff, I wait while he seems to untie the knot around my neck.

My breath speeds up in an instant, racing at the prospect of finally regaining my vision, fresh air, the ability to breathe freely, and see what’s going on around me.

But it almost stops when he finally removes the linen bag from my head.

I’m blinded by the bright light in this room at first, blinking rapidly as I attempt to become accustomed to my surroundings. An anguished spike of fear roars through me as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing.

It can’t be.

But it is.

The tall man standing in front of me is not a stranger. I have seen those dark blue eyes before, I know that brown, military-short hair cut, the angular jawline that is speckled with barely-there stubble—and I know the story behind that scar right below his left eye.

It’s him. It’s really him.

“Cain!” I exclaim in disbelief, and a shower of relief races down my spine.

He smirks at me, taking a step back and tossing the ugly linen bag aside. It lands a few feet away from us, a stark contrast to the clean, bright marble floor beneath our feet.

“What… what are you doing here?” I stammer, as a smile spreads across my face. “What is this? Did you change fields?”

The sinister chuckle with which he responds would have frightened me just a few moments before. But not anymore, not now that I know it’s him.

Cain would never hurt me for real. If anything, this is just one of his twisted games. A game that he took a little too far, if you ask me.

“So you do remember me?” he asks now, his dark blue gaze locking me in place.

His handsomeness is still unsettling, just like it was back then. After all, there’s a reason why I fell for him, why I became such an idiot.

It was reckless. It was stupid. And it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced.

I can’t help the smile illuminating my face as I recall those days. The way my heart accelerated out of control as soon as I stepped inside the office, the way he looked at me through those glass doors with the same ominous flicker in his eyes that I see now.

“Of course, I remember you!”

I step forward, following the instinct to embrace him, just like one would embrace an old friend after seeing him again after a long time apart. But I can’t wrap my arms around him. I can’t move my arms at all. It is now that I’m suddenly and painfully aware that my hands are still tied behind my back.

He removed the bag from my head, but he did not free my hands.

Cain seems to notice the distress that overcomes me. He raises an eyebrow at me. The intent of his expression appears to be sinister instead of one planning to offer help.

“Would you… Cain, would you please tell me what is going on? Why are my hands still tied? I can’t do anything like this. Is this part of the interview? I mean, I am a really good hacker, but even I can’t get myself out of this.”

He snorts and shakes his head, a condescending smile accenting his features.

“The interview is done.”

I gasp in surprise. “Oh! Did I… not get the job? Does that mean you’re just sending me home now?”

“There is no job, Riley,” he says, and the tone of his voice sends a cold shiver cascading down my spine. “And you’re not going home tonight. Or tomorrow. Or ever.”

---