I woke up to find both of my arms bound to a bed frame, when I tried to scream I realized that a piece of tape had been placed over my mouth, preventing me from making anything louder that an annoyed grunt.

Oh god it was happening all over again, I spent so long trying to free myself and I only got to experience freedom for a few hours. Now I was back to square one but with a whole different person. I didn’t even get to enjoy the little bit of freedom that I got to experience, it was filled with the anger and stress of me trying to ensure that my freedom would become permanent. Now I was right back to where I was all because I decided to rob the wrong place.

I struggled against my restraints but they were too strong, on my right arm I was firmly duct taped and on my left arm I was handcuffed. Maybe if I was a little stronger I could have broken out of the hastily made duct tape restraint but I was still too thirsty and weak.

Once again I was at the mercy of some sick and twisted asshole.

He thought I was sent there to kill him, what kind of man is he to have people who want him dead? God that just made me even more worried, he wouldn’t treat me like the girl I am he would treat me like the girl he thought I was. How would I be able to convince him that I really didn’t mean him any harm? How could I get out of this.

Before I even had a chance to think of a way out I heard footsteps approaching the door, I flailed my legs hard against the bed and tried to break myself free but once again my efforts were totally and completely futile.

The door opened and the man stepped inside, he looked at me even more sternly than he did when he held me against the wall of the bar. Oh god what did he have in store for me?

He walked into his kitchen and picked up a stool, bringing it over to me and setting it beside the bed.

He reached over and grabbed the end of the duct tape on my mouth, it was already starting to become loose from the sweat on my cheeks. He slowly peeled it off, for whatever reason he took special care to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt me, despite that care he still kept me bound to the bed.

I could have screamed, I could have screamed my heart out until someone came to help me, but when I looked in his eyes I could tell that me screaming would be the last thing I would ever do. He had a purpose when it came to me, he wanted information that I just didn’t have, and now all I could do was try to convince him that the only thing I was guilty of was trying to steal that money.

I opened my mouth to try and reason with him but he placed his finger over my lips.

“Before you say anything you need to tell me your name, I want your real one too, I can already tell that you’re gonna try and weasel your way out of this so let me tell you that all of this will be much easier if you’re honest from here on out.”

I took a couple of deep breaths as his eyes explored my body, I could feel my skin tingle whereever he looked as shivers went up and down my spine. How was he able to do this to me?

I took a gulp and told him.

“Hannah, my name is Hannah.”

He gave me a little smirk, the same kind of smirk he gave me at the bar, I looked in his eyes and I could tell that he believed me.

“Ok Hanna, now tell me why you came into that bar this morning with a gun pointed straight at me. What were your intentions?”

I didn’t want to talk to him about the reason why I was in this situation, I didn’t even want to think about it. Just remembering the past few years of my life made my blood boil and my skin crawl, but how else would I get him to believe that I wasn’t there to hurt him specifically?

“Please sir” I pleaded. It almost felt weird calling him sir, he looked like he was in his very late 20s so he was only a few years older than me, or at least a few years older than how I felt. I’m sure every girl my age says this but I felt older beyond my 19 years of age. Although at this point I wasn’t even sure if I really was 19, the past few years just all felt like a blur.

“I really can’t say why I was there this morning, it’s something that will haunt me for the rest of my life and… and to even acknowledge the actions that led to me being here would be like a knife in my heart.”

“I’m sorry Hannah, I really am, but the safety of my club is at stake here. I need you to tell me why you walked in.”

I stayed silent, pressing my lips together as I felt tears begin to build up in my eyes. I looked down to see I was still wearing this stupid, ugly, frilly, cheap, piece of shit dress that asshole forced me to wear. It just made all of this even more humiliating.

He got a little closer, looking at me deep in my eyes, they were eyes that I could get lost in. In any other situation I would have been all over this man, but with everything that’s happened to me not only in the past day but in the past few years I just wasn’t so sure anymore.

“What does the same Scorched Satans mean to you?”

He stared at me intensely, not breaking his gaze, trying to read every minor movement that I made. Every uncomfortable shift, every time I looked away, every time my lip quivered, every gulp and every short breath, he saw it all and he was more than willing to use it against me.

“I’ve never heard of that in my life.”

“Were you sent here by any MC to try and get to me or my club?” he said moving a little closer to me.

“No, I did this on my own, I’m not tied to anyone else I swear to god!”

“Then where did you get that Mercedes from? It doesn’t have its original plates, excuse me if I’m wrong but I don’t think a young girl like you would take the time out to switch the plates on a car before stealing it. Not to mention you just abandoned it in the road.”

Switched out plates? I didn’t know the car had different plates, how could I have known? More importantly why did the asshole who I stole it from have different plates on his car?

“Look” I said trying to get him to believe me. “I don’t know how anything about any switched out plates or anybody trying to kill you, I’m just a girl who’s lost and who ended up stealing a car without a full tank of gas. I tried to rob you because I needed the gas money…”

He sighed and leaned back a little bit.

“I believe you, on some level... but you’re still not telling me the whole story. I need to know that whole story or else I can’t let you go in good conscious. I really doubt a pretty thing like you just dressed up in that outfit, jacks a Benz, and then throws her shoes away into the desert without a good reason.”

I stared back deep into his eyes but his opinion of me was unwavering. If I told him right then and there why I had stolen the car and the situation I had escaped from he wouldn’t believe me.

Now not only would I have to relive telling the story, but I would have to go back to where it all happened. I was hoping I would never have to see that place again but it was starting to look like it was the only way I’d get him to believe me and truly let me go.

“Before I tell you anything… what’s your name?”

He seemed a little surprised, I guess he figured that if I was sent here to really kill him that I would have at least known his name. Seems like I just unintentionally got him to believe me a little more.

“Axel, my name is Axel.”

“Well Axel” I said trying to fight back the tears caused by the memories of what happened. “You’re not gonna believe what happened to me, and even though I hoped I would never go back there it looks like I’m gonna have to show you why I walked into your life this morning.”

He looked at me and raised and eyebrow, boy was he in for a treat.