Under his authority

SAMANTHA

A sharp sting lanced through my wrists as I struggled against the coarse rope binding me to a chair. The faint scent of damp wood and mildew filled the air, my head throbbed, disoriented by the dim light of the single bulb that I see swinging above me.

My breaths came short and fast as the situation became clear. I wasn't in her small, cramped apartment. ' I've been kidnapped'. ' By who?'. Questions rang through my head, the thought of the worse happening to me causing the throbbing in my head to deepen. Looking around the room, it reeked of neglect, the cracked walls and boarded windows letting in no light from outside.

"Good, you're awake," a familiar voice drawled, making my heart drop into my stomach.

I froze. Slowly, I turned my head, and there he was-Liam. My ex-fiancé. The man i'd once trusted with my heart, my future, and every hard-earned penny I had saved.

"Liam?," I whispered, my voice raw. "What... what the hell is going on?" " Why am I here?".

He leaned against the doorway, his tailored shirt rumpled, the buttons at his collar undone as if he'd been too lazy-or too desperate-to finish dressing himself properly. His once-boyish charm was gone, replaced by something sharp and dangerous.

"Relax, Sammy," he said with a smirk that made my stomach churn. "It's nothing personal. Just business."

"Business?" The word left my lips like a curse. I tugged at the ropes, my nails scraping the chair's edges as panic bubbled in my chest. "You tie me up in some godforsaken room and think you can call it business?" I said , my voice filled with venom.

He chuckled, low and humourless. "Oh, Sammy. You're so naïve. That's always been your problem."

"Sammy". I once loved when he called me Sammy, erupting butterflies in my stomach but now it sounds like daggers attacking me as the name left his filthy mouth.