FRIENDS AND RANSOM *PART 2 ADDED!* (FFFF/FF)

[ropeladygags]

FRIENDS AND RANSOM

(The beginning of the story involves a lot of background explanation. If you want to get to the bondage, go to the **** symbols. Hope you enjoy it and hoping I didn't miss any typos).


Sometimes your friends aren’t really your friends.

My wife, Jayla, and I had had good financial fortune in the last year. If I’m honest, she was more to thank for it than I was. She had started a tech business during the heat of the pandemic. Business was slow at first, but in the last twelve months, she had brought in over five million dollars in income. Being a small tech company with a small employee roster meant that we were left with a lot for our household. Needless to say, we took advantage by upgrading our housing from a small, two bedroom townhome in the suburbs to a much larger, four bedroom home in the country. We had our privacy, we had our luxuries and we had each other.

I was also a business owner, but a much more modest scale. She had encouraged me to branch out and start putting my photography skills to good use and I had taken her advice. While I wasn’t bringing in seven figures, I was definitely successful enough that I could have easily lived on my own and built a modest studio of my own had I desired. Jayla was a very supportive partner and made sure to get a house large enough to accommodate my photography business. She had given me complete freedom for the design and hired the best contractors and architects to make it happen.

Once it was finished in the early summer of the previous year, I was ecstatic and started taking clients immediately. Abby Moore Photography had never been so busy. The increase in clients and the positive recognition for my work had given me the chance to participate in an art exhibition in New York City in mid October. That particular show was only a month away and I had been spending countless hours preparing and editing my shots for them to be sent digitally to the curator. They were due in two weeks but I needed a brain break. I needed a night of frivolous enjoyment of food and alcohol and after a short phone conversations with three of my closest friends, I had one planned for two nights hence. One of my friends, Georgia, even asked if her new colleague could join us,

“She’s hilarious and I think you’d really like her. Interested in meeting her?” She asked. Normally I would have asked that we keep this between close friends, but I was feeling adventurous and responded with,

“Why not? The more the merrier!”

I was currently standing in my kitchen, having prepared a lovely fruit tray and charcuterie board as well as a nice dessert spread, waiting for my guests to arrive. I was excited for my wife Jayla to also join us but, she had just called me to tell me that a client was going to keep her for a few more hours at work and would be unable to join us.

Slightly disappointed, I took a swig of my wine and heard a knock at the front door. The disappointment went forgotten as walked across the large foyer area of the house and approached the front door. I was greeted by all four of them dressed comfortably in their jeans and t-shirts as I had directed them to. This was not meant to be a formal dinner. It was meant to be relaxing and causal. My friends Penny, Sandra and Georgia entered followed by the newest member who immediately came across as very friendly. Georgia’s friend held her hand out for me and introduced herself,

“Good evening, Abby, I’m Camilla. How are you?”

I smiled and returned the handshake, “I’m great, thanks.”

“Thank you so much for inviting me tonight. I didn’t want to intrude, but I just moved to town in the last year and Georgia was kind enough to make me feel welcome at work. I was absolutely tickled when she told me that she asked if I could join you all tonight. I means a lot.”

“Awww, it’s my pleasure, Camilla. Come here!” I pulled her into a tight embrace and then met eyes with her smiling. Her eyes lit up as she smiled back. When I hugged her I had noticed she was wearing a backpack and offered to place it in the closet for her.

“No, that’s okay. I have a couple games in here that we can play later.” I shrugged it off and waved them all into the spacious kitchen where the food was spread out on the island. Everyone loaded a plate with food, selected a glass of wine and then headed to the living room where I had set up a few game boxes on the large black coffee table that sat between the grey couches. We spent the next two hours enjoying the games, laughing till we cried and enjoying the food. Camilla’s phone went off about halfway through the games and she excused herself to take the call. Amidst my conversation with the Sandra, Penny and Georgia, I noticed her voice beginning to sound more frustrated and rushed. I thought nothing of it and resumed my activities with my friends as Camilla returned to the living room, her face showing evident annoyance.

“Everything alright?” Georgia asked, noticing her change in attitude. Camilla brushed it off and replaced her frown with a smile,

“Yeah. Just a bit of a hiccup at work.” She said. Georgia paused for a second, her face looking concerned,

“Anything I can do to help? We do work together after all.” There appeared to be a non verbal conversation going on between them as Camilla returned to her seat, and their eyes never parted.

“Nope. Everything is going fine. Don’t worry.”

Before I could ask if they were okay, my phone buzzed next to me on the couch cushion. I unlocked the screen only to be met with a message from my wife,

< Sorry, hun. Gonna be later. The client is being rather particular. Enjoy the games. I promise to make it up to you when I get home. >

Penny noticed my disappointment as I put my phone back down on the couch.

“What’s wrong, Abby?: she asked.

“Well, I was hoping my wife would be home in time to join us, but it’s. looking like she’s going to be held up at work longer than expected.” I shrugged my shoulders at Penny, “I guess we will just have to clean up all the food ourselves, huh?” I added jokingly.

We all giggled as we cleaned up the current game which we had just finished. As I added it back to the stack of other games, I turned to my guests and asked what we wanted to do now. I noticed all of them looking at each other back and forth but saying nothing. The awkwardness was becoming palpable and I was beginning to feel suspicious,

“Alright, ladies, spill it. Why are you all looking at each other like that? Is there something I missed?”

Camilla spoke up,

“I have an idea for a game.” There was a long pause and I noticed that the three other women were all looking at me now.

“Care to elaborate?”

“Well, it isn’t one of the ones you have stacked there. It’s a bit more…physical, if you will.” Her face was hard to read. She was smiling, but not maliciously. I narrowed my eyes at her,

“Go on.” I said.

“Well, have you ever tried an escape challenge?” she inquired. I met eyes with all of them and responded,

“Like an escape room?”

Georgia snickered, “No, not like an escape room. An escape challenge is when someone ties you up and you have to try to escape.” she explained.

I was taken by surprise, more by how naive I was than by the explanation. I shook my head and shrugged,

“No, I haven’t. I guess that makes more sense now that you explain it. Why do you ask, though?” I turned back to Camilla.

“Want to try it?”

I hesitated and met eyes with all of my friends again, looking for reassurance. They were giving me absolutely nothing. I turned back to Camilla,

“Is it safe?” My voice was laced with nervousness.

“Yes, absolutely! Camilla and I actually tried it last weekend and, it was a lot of fun.” Georgia said.

“So, how does this work?” As I asked that question, I realized how incredibly naive I actually sounded.

“Well, I have my backpack of supplies here,” Camilla grabbed her backpack from next to the couch and held it up, “We would go to a room of your choice and tie you up. Then, we set a timer you try to escape. If you can’t get out in that time, we untie you and someone else tries. Then, when it’s your turn again you try to beat your last attempt.” Camilla’s voice sounded calm and confident, like she had done this many times.

My friends could tell that I was apprehensive to accept this. Penny reached out and touched my shoulder in a gesture of encouragement,

“I can go first, if you prefer.” She offered. I paused for a moment as Georgia spoke up,

“Think of it this way, it can be a fun game to do with Jayla too. What do you think?”

After meeting eyes with each of the women one more time, I shrugged,

“Alright, what the hell. Why not?”

The room erupted in a chorus of cheers from my friends. I was slightly surprised by their excitement about being tied up, but figured I would find out why they were looking forward to it soon.

“Where shall we do this?” Sandra asked.

I stood from the couch and waved them all to follow me,

“Let’s head downstairs to the studio. I have a lot more space there.”

I led them toward the front door of the house where we took a sharp left and walked down to the end of a short hallway. When we reached the door at the end, I opened it and led them down a flight of stairs to the left. Seven steps down and around to the right was the entrance to my photography studio. A sign saying Abby Moore Photography adorned the wall above the frame. Entering the security code on the pad next to the door, I entered the front waiting room and switched on the lights. The girls followed me in and gave their reactions of surprise and admiration at the welcoming, yet very professional, atmosphere of my business entryway. The receptionist desk sat straight ahead from the entrance with a door to the right. I stopped at the receptionist desk and logged into the computer while the girls looked around.

“What’s on behind that door?” Penny asked, pointing to yet another door on the adjacent wall.

“That’s my consultation room. It’s where I take clients to talk about what services I offer and they order what they want. It’s basically just a big table with fancy chairs and a computer screen to show them their photos after the session.” I explained as I pulled up a program on the computer.

“What are you up to?” Camilla inquired.

“Well, I am going to take us into the studio, but I want to make sure the security cameras are off for this.”

“How come?” Georgia wondered.

“I don’t know, paranoia, I guess. I wouldn’t want video of me being tied up to get hacked and get out to my clients. It would ruin my reputation.” I said as I finished making a few more adjustments and then locked the computer down. “Follow me, ladies.”

I opened the door next to the reception desk and gestured for them to enter. Past the threshold was my photography studio. Lining the walls on the left side were four levels of shelves adorned with carefully organized photography equipment. The right side of these shelves included glass doors complete with locks to protect my expensive cameras. Against the other side of the receptionist wall was my own desk with the computer equipment needed to program my camera for photoshoots and to edit. Amongst the open space of large room was the backdrop frame, rolled up fabrics for backdrops, key lights on stands and tripods. Against he right will of the room I had several different types of chairs and “props” that I had used in past sessions.

(****)

“Alright, ladies. Shall we begin?” I said. After a minute or two of them googling over the toys I had in my studio, Camilla set her backpack on the floor on the edge of the current white backdrop.

“Choose a chair that you will be comfortable sitting in for awhile.” she said.

I proceeded to the collection of chairs and grabbed a leather cube complete with a nice cushion. I set it in the middle of the white backdrop and sat down. Camilla brought her backpack over and leaned it up next to the cube. I looked down and could see she had a collection of rope bundles and tape hiding in there and I began to feel a bit nervous.

“Are you going to tie me up with all of that?” I asked, my voice laced with obvious apprehension. Camilla chuckled and stood in front of me,

“Maybe. So, here is how this will work. All four of us will work on tying you up so we can get it done faster. Once we are done, we will set a timer for thirty minutes. The object of the game is to escape from your bonds before the thirty minutes is up. Sound good?”

“And if I don’t escape?”

“Well, we would untie you and let one of these ladies give it a try.”

I shrugged, “Okay. Have at it then.” I said.

“Okay,” Camilla reached into the backpack and grabbed four bundles of rope. She handed one to each of the my friends and then walked behind me, “I’m going to need you to give me your hands so I can tie them.” She said. I turned my head to the right and could see her in my peripheral vision. Apprehensively moving my hands behind my back, I said,

“Like this?”

“Perfect. Now just loosen your arms for me, okay?” I obliged as I felt her cross my wrists at the small of my back. “Now I am gong to start tying your wrists together with the rope. It is going to be tight, but I want you to let me know if it is too tight, okay? While I do this, Penny, I want you to tie her ankles together.”

The room fell silent as they went to work. I felt the rope begin to tighten around my wrists as the movement of them became more and more difficult. Once she had encircled them with eight bands, I felt the rope go vertically between my hands and get cinched tightly. As this occurred, I also felt the tautness of another set of rope bands going around my ankles. Penny similarly pulled the rope vertically between my legs and cinched it between my feet after enveloping my ankles in ten loops. When they were done, I tried to wiggle around to test their work. I could barely move my hands around behind my and, could do nothing to pull my feet apart. They had tied me well.

“Anything too tight?” Camilla asked.

I tried moving my hands and feet around again and, while I couldn’t, nothing felt too tight.

“Nope, it feels good. Alright. So do I try to escape now?” I asked. Camilla smiled,

“We aren’t done yet. We are going to tie your chest, waist and four more places around your legs. You can just sit there and let us work, alright?”

“Not like I can get up and run away.” I said sarcastically. The girls chuckled as they went to work.

The pressure increased around several parts of my body as I watched my friends uncoil a number of rope bundles and begin wrapping them around me. Since all four of them worked together it did not take long for them to tie me up. My attention was focused mostly on what Camilla and Georgia were doing to my torso. The first long strand of rope was doubled up and brought over my head. I looked down as they pulled it forcefully back against my chest, just below my breasts. Camilla pulled more tightly and this caused it to shift up my torso a bit more, making my breasts lift slightly. They made sure that the rope went over my arms on both sides, pinning them to my body. I felt their hands work against my back and felt it become even tighter as the rope came around from the left again, adding another two bands over my torso. They repeated this action a few more times and then began to feed the rope under my armpit on my left side and bring it over my chest above my breasts only to feed it under my armpit on the right side too. Three more revolutions and the rope then went vertically under the ropes binding my chest, between my arms and my back and over my chest four times, creating a circle of ropes behind me. By the time they cinched it tight, I was so tightly embraced by rope that I could barely move my arms. Georgia completed the task by wrapping my waist in ten loops of rope that not only secured my torso more thoroughly, but pinned my bound wrists tightly to my back.

While they had worked on this, Penny and Sandra had successfully trussed my legs at my thighs, above and below my knees and around my shins. Each collection of rope contained at least eight bands and were completed with the rope going vertically between my legs and cinched tightly, just like Penny had done to my ankles. At that moment I was most certainly tied up and it was going to be very difficult to escape. I began to wonder if I had made a mistake and hoped they would keep their promise to free me if I could not escape. However I was also feeling a lovely sensation beginning to brew inside me. It was pleasurable, and the more I focused on how tied up I was, the sensation got stronger.

“Okay, so do I start now?” I asked, wondering what else could be left to do. Camilla appeared before me with her phone in her hand. I watched her thumbs type something quickly as I started to struggle against my bonds. She stared at the screen for a moment until a text notification interrupted the silence. A slight smirk grew on her lips as she met eyes with the rest of the girls who were standing behind me.

“Actually, nope you don’t start now. Or ever.” She said. I paused and looked up at her, my face showing evident confusion.

“What do you mean?” I asked, sounding nervous.

“Well, we have a bit of a confession make, Abby. You don’t start the game, because there won’t be one. This is actually a kidnapping and ransom, and now we gag you.”

I gasped as one of the three women behind me grabbed my chin and held my face tightly in her hand. Another hand appeared from the left and began to shove a wadded up cloth into my mouth. I protested loudly and then heard the sound of duct tape ripping off of the roll. Someone grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my head back, making me face the ceiling. I saw Sandra holding a long band of tape above me and screamed as she pressed it tightly against my mouth and wound the roll around my head five times, increasing the tightness of the gag with each revolution. I watched in horror as the pressure around my mouth increased with each layer of tape and my cries were muffled more and more. The tape was secured behind my head and the three women appeared in front of me again.

“NMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! LMMMMMMMMMMT MMMMMMMMMMM GMMMMMMMMMM!”

I screamed obscenities at them from behind the gag, but they just smiled and laughed with their arms crossed in front of them.

“WHMMMMMMMMMT DMMMMMMM YMMMMMMMM WMMMMMMMMNT???!”

Camilla laughed again and knelt down in front of me. I breathed heavily through my nostrils, scared to death of what she was going to do to me. She pulled out her phone and showed it to me,

“That ‘client” who was holding your wife? Yeah, that was my associate. Her entire purpose was to postpone her so we could set up the scene for when she returns. She has just informed me that your wife is on her way home. When she returns she will find you tied up and gagged here and the four of us will demand a ransom to prevent us from doing something horrible to you.” Her face and tone of voice became more and more menacing the longer she spoke.

“WHMMMMMMT???” I screamed.

Georgia stood beside Camilla,

“Basically, your wife had better be willing to pay, or I might have to use this at my discretion,” she reached behind her and pulled something out from the back of her pants. As her hand came back around, I was staring down the barrel of a gun. How the hell had I missed that?

I hoped Jayla would be home soon. I hoped she would be able to save me.


PART 2 IN PROGRESS

[ropeladygags]

PART 2 : JAYLA RETURNS HOME (from Jayla’s perspective)

The sun had disappeared behind the horizon by the time I was pulling onto the long dirt driveway to our house. The headlights illuminated the tree-line trail several yards ahead as it curved around to the left. Before long, I watched the house appear I in the clearing and gave a heavy sigh of relief. Pulling up to the garage, I noticed that an extra vehicle was parked on the left side of the driveway and assumed Abby must still be enjoying her time with her friends. As the garage door raised up slowly, I couldn’t help but think that I was going to regret telling her friends that it was time to go home, but looked forward to having some fun time with my wife.

I exited my car after I grabbed my computer briefcase from the passenger seat and shut the door tiredly. As I entered the service door to the house, I made sure to tap the button on the wall which initiated the closing of the garage door.

“Hey, Abby! I’m back, my love!” As I removed the jacket of my black business suit, exposing the nicely pressed white, button-up shirt beneath, I realized that I could not hear any voices from any part of the foyer. That was strange as I knew that Abby was a very vocal and energetic person when she was with her friends. Leaving my black bumps on, I walked around the corner, hearing the clicking sound echoing through the empty room.

“Hello?” I called out.

A door opened on the other end of the foyer and Abby’s friend Georgia appeared. She smiled and walked a few feet from the door, and stopped,

‘Hey, Jayla, good to see you!”

“Good, any you? Are you ladies enjoying your game night?” I asked, feeling slightly suspicious about why no one was occupying the living room.

Georgia motioned for me to follow her,

“Oh, yeah! Actually, we are in the middle of one right now and Abby wanted you to join us for it. You up for it?” Her voice was genuinely excited, but I still hesitated. I was tired and was not really in the mood to socialize. What I really wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed.

‘Well, honestly, I’ve got a few things I have to do before turning in. You have fun…” I started, but was interrupted by my wife’s persistent friend,

“Aww, come on. She really thinks you will like it.” She gave me a fat lip, trying to look disappointed. I narrowed my eyes at her, feeling even more suspicious. “Do it for Abby?” She added. I rolled my eyes and shook my head following her toward the door,

“Fine. Maybe you’re right.”

I followed Georgia through the door and down the stairs to the left. When we got to the bottom, I wondered why in the world Abby had decided to hold this get together in her studio and not in the comfort of the living room. Maybe she had decided to open up the conference room. As we entered the door to the reception area, that is where I headed, assuming I would see the games set up in there. After shutting the door behind us, Georgia stopped me,

“Nope, we are in here,” she said, leading me to the studio door. I paused, looking very confused.

“What? Why?” I inquired.

Georgia shrugged, “I don’t know. Abby thought it would be fun. After you, Jayla,” she gestured to the door and I walked through it.

“You know this is a weird place to have a…..WHAT THE FUCK???!” As I entered the studio, I was faced with my wife sitting on a black cube in the middle of her backdrop with several ropes enveloping her body and tape wrapped around her mouth. Upon seeing me, she began to scream loudly from behind the tape, her eyes showing absolute terror. A person I did not recognize stood beside her with a gun pointed at her head.

“Good evening, Jayla.” She said.

“What do you want?” I asked. Georgia appeared next to me and, as I felt the metal of another gun pressing against my cheek, my body tensed and I gasped.

“Have a seat by your wife, please.” She said. Penny had set another cushioned cube in front of Abby and patted it with her hand as if to be coaxing a child to take a seat.

“You know we have security cameras recording all of this, right?” I said.

The stranger laughed, “Oh, no you don’t. You can thank Abby for that.”

Abby shook her head and cried from behind her gag, “MMMMMMMMMM SRMMMMMMMMY.”

Looking in my wife’s eyes, I walked cautiously over to the cube and sat down facing her. She continued to try to talk from behind the gag, but I couldn’t make out her words. She was attempting to break free of her bonds, wiggling her shoulders back and forth, trying to pull her hands out of the ropes and trying to shuffle her legs out of the loops as well. She was unsuccessful as I could see there were a lot of ropes binding her.

“Hands behind your back, dear.” The stranger said. My head shot in her direction, my eyebrows knitted in anger,

“I beg your pardon?”

The woman pushed the barrel of the gun into Abby’s temple, “Hands. Behind. Your. Back. Now.” She over annunciated her words, firmly, her face not changing in its expression. Abby began to cry and I reached out and touched her face gently,

“It is going to be okay, Abby. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.” I said. I slowly crossed my wrists behind me a the small of my back, continuing to look at my wife.

“Come on now, Jayla, don’t make promises you know you can’t keep.”

I ignored her comments as I felt several bands of rope winding around my wrists, pressing them together tightly. As the rope moved vertically between them, my heart dropped to my stomach as I realized that getting out of this was going to be near impossible. The rope was tied in a knot out of range of my fingers. As my captor backed away, I tried to twist my hands and wrists around within the bonds but failed.

Penny then moved in and began to tie my ankles together with lightning speed. Within a minute my ankles were trussed together with another eight bands of rope and cinched tightly in between with four more bands to keep my feet immobile. Now I couldn’t run away or defend myself and my level of fear grew exponentially in my gut.

“Back to my original question. Who are you and what do you want?” I asked the stranger firmly, very much aware of the heavy breathing of my frightened wife in front of me. Her muffled whimpers just enraged me further, making me want to strangle whoever this bitch was.

“Oh, sorry, where are my manners? My name is Camilla.” She reached her hand out and then chuckled, “Oh that’s right you can’t shake hands.”

I glared at her but she continued to laugh as she readjusted her grip on her gun.

“Well, you have been really fortunate in the last year, haven’t you?” She said. I shrugged,

“So?” I said curtly.

Camilla paused, seeming unsure of how to answer that. I saw her eyes wander to the faces of her accomplices and egged her on, “What, you can’t remember?”

Camila waved Georgia over and they swapped places. Georgia pressed the barrel of her gun to Abby’s temple, causing her to whimper from behind the tight tape gag. Camilla knelt down next to me and made sure that her gun was aimed in the direction of my head.

“You see, I am in need of little financial help.” Camilla confessed.

“You realize that you could have just asked instead of tying up me and my wife and threatening us. Now you have kidnapping, what is sounding like burglary charges. Why go throMMMMMMPH!”

Sandra came up behind me and slapped her hand over my mouth. Camilla smiled and nodded at her,

“Thank you for that,” she looked me straight in the eyes, “I don’t just need a couple thousand bucks, Jayla. You see, I seem to find myself in a bit of trouble with a very powerful individual. Kane Wiley.

My eyes widened at recognition of the name. I had heard his name on the news numerous times for contributing to the opioid and drug epidemic in town. He was suspected to be the cause of death of more than ten people, but could not be convicted due to lack of sufficient evidence. I couldn’t believe she was dumb enough to get involved with that psycho. I rolled my eyes at her as she continued,

“He offered me a chance to show him that I could lead one of his cohorts in the city and well, let’s just say I didn’t do what I promised. Now I am out a fuck ton of money…that was his. He’s desperately wanting my head on his desk as restitution so, I would very much like to disappear from the country, but not before paying him what he is owed.”

I moved my head around vigorously, releasing Sandra’s hand from my mouth,

“How much money are you talking?” I asked, somewhat nervous to hear the amount.

“Three million.”

I laughed out loud and shook my head, “Three million? What are you insMMMMMPH!” Sandra silenced me again, but this time pulled my head back against her while she stood behind me. I felt her fingers weave into my hair and hold my head still.

“Maybe I am insane, but your’e going to give me what I want. Then, you’re gonna add another million to that so that me and my girls here can leave the country and live comfortably.”

“That’s right!” Georgia exclaimed as the rest of the women cheered.

Camilla brushed Sandra’s hand away from my mouth as she grabbed my face and squeezed it tight. Moving in, she taunted,

“I’m going to set up the transfer on my phone and then you are going to give me the account number.”

“And if I don’t?”

Camilla shook her head,

“Tsk tsk tsk. Penny? What will happen if she doesn’t give us what we want?”

Penny reached into the backpack next to my wife and pulled out a long, slender object. With the push of a button a blade appeared and she slashed Abby across her left arm. The room erupted in my wife’s muffled screams of horror.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!” I screamed and tried to stand from my seat. Sandra’s hands pressed down on my shoulders, forcing me to sit again.

Penny placed the blade against Abby’s throat and she began to scream even louder,

“NMMMMMMM! NMMMMMMMM! NMMMMMMMMM!”

“I don’t think you want to know what will happen if you don’t give it to us, Jayla.” Camilla threatened, “So, what do you say now? Keep the money for yourself and watch your wife die, or give us the money and we will be on our way?”

I hesitated, looking Abby in the eyes, trying to communicate a non verbal message of hope to her, but failing. Penny grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back while pressing the blade more harshly against her flesh.

“Okay! Okay, I’ll do it, just leave her alone!” I screamed. Penny released Abby’s hair as she sat there sobbing behind her tape gag. Tears streamed down her face, smearing her make up and leaving streams of mascara behind. When we met eyes, I mouthed to her, “It will be okay. I love you.”

Camilla pulled her phone out of her pocket and her thumbs moved quickly across the screen. Within seconds I was faced with a banking app that showed several boxes. One showed a three million dollar total and another showed a bank account I did not recognize. The box at the top remained empty.

“All I need is your bank information so I can begin the transfer.”

As I looked reluctantly into my wife’s eyes, I gave the account number and watched her type it in. Her face changed as she continued to type something into her phone. After a minute or so, her expression involved into that of absolute satisfaction as she smiled and placed her phone back in her pocket,

“Wonderful. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Jayla. Ladies, finish tying her up so we can get the fuck out of here.”

Penny and Sandra each grabbed a roll of duct tape from the backpack and approached me while pulling the ends of their rolls. Penny began at my knees, wrapping a good five bands around my legs just above and below them, making sure it was fastened nice and tight. As I watched her helplessly, I saw another long band of tape come over my head and being winding around my torso, pinning my arms more tightly to my body with every revolution. At the fifth go around, Sandra moved the roll upward and begin wrapping my around the top of my chest and my shoulders, increasing the embrace. By the time she as done with that, I noticed that Penny had finished creating loops of tape below my knees and around my shins. At the current moment, she was working on taping up my thighs. Sandra finished off her work by wrapping the tape around my waist and my tied hands, pinning them to my back. Once both of them had torn off the tape from their tape rolls, I could not move, despite my attempt at a struggle.

“You guys will never get away with this. How the fuck do you expect to get out of the country so faMMMMMMMPH!!!” The tape was pressed forcefully against my lips, sealing my protests in my mouth as it was brought around my head five times and sealed off at the back. As I screamed my protests at my captors, Camilla laughed,

“We are on our way to our private plane and will be out of the country in the next hour or so. You two, on the other hand, will have to wait until someone finds you here tied up and gagged and hope that they will be able to free you.”

“MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPH! LMMMMMMMMMMMMT MMMMMMMMMMM GMMMMMMMMMM!!! YMMMMMMMMM BMMMMMMMMMCH!!!” It was useless for me to try to yell obscenities at them since the tape was gagging me so well, but I was pissed off and wanted her to know it.

Georgia, Penny and Sandra finished packing their things into the backpack as it was handed off to Camilla. As she tossed the strap over her shoulder, she looked at me and waved playfully with a final, “Buh-bye!” And they all disappeared out the door of the studio.

Abby and I were left in the empty room struggling against the tape and rope and trying to communicate with each other with our mouths taped shut tightly. Abby kept looking past my shoulder at the desk to the right of the door.

“PMMMMMMMMMMMMN CMMMMMMMMMMMM!” She mumbled. My brow knit in confusion, I responded with,

“HMMMMMMMMMMMM??” I turned my head and tried to look at the desk, but the tape pulled against my face and made it painful. I had to turn my body around on the leather cube to face it, but I still was unsure what she was trying to tell me. In my peripheral vision, I saw her struggle to get to her feet and begin hopping past me toward the desk. She moved slowly, being careful not to fall as she moved. With each hop, she let out a grunt of frustration. By the time she reached the desk, she pushed the wheeled chair out of the way and backed up against the front of it. With some maneuvering of her hands, she pulled out the wide drawer and rustled around in it, trying to find something. I watched as her face showed an expression of triumph and she was able to show me a pair of scissors.

“YMMMMMMMMMMM!” I cheered behind my gag.

She worked carefully and slowly to get the scissors open and against the ropes that held her hands together. I watched her patiently as she worked. It took several minutes, but she was eventually able to get the ropes around her hands and waist cut and to pull them free. Then she worked at the ropes around her chest. I saw them loosed and fall off her body as she moved to the ones around her shoulders. Once her waist was free, she put the scissors down on the desk and worked at pulling off her gag. Carefully, she worked the end off of the back of her neck and began to pull it off layer by layer.

“Oh, god! Finally!” She took a deep breath as her mouth was freed of the tape and rubbed her face of the discomfort it had caused. I watched her quietly as she composed herself, taking deep breaths as she looked at the floor.

“MMMMMMMMMMM! HMMMMMMMMMMP PLMMMMMMMMMMZ!” I brought her attention back to the fact that I was also tied up and needed her help. She flinched and, after meeting eyes with me grabbed the scissors and approached me.

“Oh, shit, so sorry.”

I giggled and shook my head. “MMMMMMMM MMMMMMK.”

First, she worked the scissors between my cheek and the tape and snipped it. The tape stung my skin as she pulled it away and I too breathed deep when my mouth was freed.

“Are you okay, baby?” I asked her. She continued to cut me free of my bonds, but she didn’t answer. I watched her face change from expressionless to breaking down in tears. Her lips curled into a frown as the sobs escaped, “oh no, baby, it’s okay. We are safe now. It’s going to be okay.” My eyes wandered to the blood soaked fabric around her arm and my heart sank. “That fucking bitch hurt you. I am so sorry, Abby.”

She continued to cry, but shook her head as she finished up cutting away the last of the ropes around my legs. As soon as I was free, I took the scissors from her, put them on the floor next to me and wrapped her in a tight embrace. She continued to sob into my shoulder and I just held her against me.

“What are we going to do, Jayla?” she cried, her voice breaking.

“Don’t worry. I have a few people to call, but they won’t get very far.” I pulled her from the embrace and took her face in my hands, making her meet eyes with me. “We will bring those bitches down.”

Her eyes suddenly went wide as she jumped up, “Oh! I forgot!” She ran over to the desk and fiddled with something. I watched her pull a pen out of the cup next to the monitor and run back to me. She held it up in front of her, “Pen camera.”

My heart pounded in my chest as the sudden realization hit me. I looked at my wife and flashed her an enormous smile as I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her off the floor into a tight embrace. She returned the embrace with her arms around my shoulders as I spun her around,

“You need to start believing me when I tell you how smart you are. Those bitches won’t know what hit them.”

We had a lot of work to do, but I was confident that everything would get back to normal soon. Once I contacted the police, my lawyer and my bank, we would be able to put these women away for a long time and hopefully get our money back before they spent too much of it. I smiled as I imagined the look on Camillas face when she would realize that her plan had been foiled before she could enjoy the spoils of her theft. She had messed with the wrong people.