Chapter 183

Nobody tells you that cutting a zip tie with a nail is basically the most tedious form of torture ever invented.

In the movies, the hero always gets free in about four seconds of grunting and then they’re off saving the world. In reality, I have been sawing at this plastic for what feels like a geological era, my wrists are burning in a way that suggests I am removing several layers of skin along with the tie, and the nail keeps slipping because my hands are at an angle that my shoulder socket was not designed to accommodate.

Every single millimeter of progress requires an agonizing amount of leverage from my stomach, my muscles aching from being held at such an awkward unnatural angle.

I hear something near the door.

I straighten instantly, pulling my arms back into position behind the chair and dropping my chin, making myself look exactly like a girl who is still very much restrained and very much defeated. The door opens and a man steps through, and I g