Somewhere around the city…When Lilliana’s eyes finally fluttered open, the first thing she felt was the throbbing rhythm of her own blood behind her ears. Every breath felt like inhaling ground glass. She tried to lift her hand to her head, but a sharp, metallic clink stopped her short.Her wrists were bound. Not with rope, but with cold, unyielding zip-ties that bit into her skin.“Don't struggle,” a familiar voice said from the corner of the room. It was smooth, devoid of the 'low rumble' she had found comforting only an hour ago. “... The more you move, the more the plastic eats into the nerves. You’ll want your hands later.”The girl's breath hitched. She squinted through the gloom, her vision slowly adjusting to the dim light of a single industrial bulb hanging from the ceiling.Darren sat on a wooden crate, tossing a small, silver object into the air and catching it with practiced ease. It was her mother’s ring, the one her father gifted her on her 16th birthday on behalf o
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