"The money first," the leader countered.
"Fine. But you untie her from the chair, and I get to check that she’s unharmed first," Hayden negotiated.
"Fine. But just you, and you can untie her yourself. None of you move..." the leader agreed but with a lot of caution.
As if he already knew what was expected, Hayden slowly lifted his hands up above his head. The leader nodded and two men approached Hayden and began patting him down probably to check for hidden weapons. What is he thinking?
I’m fine, although I couldn’t tell him that. Sure, it was a struggle being tied up and left alone in the warehouse, but my life wasn’t in danger and none of my injuries were anything serious. I thought all of that, but I had no way to communicate any of that to Hayden. He must be so worried about me. I blinked my eyes rapidly to keep my tears at bay.
This isn’t the time for you to start crying like a mad woman, Malissa!
Hayden’s eyes met mine and to my utmost surprised he smiled at me as the men continued patting him down. Although I knew that he was probably smiling to reassure me that everything was fine, his smile ended up making me feel more guilty for dragging him into this mess. Why wasn’t I more cautious and careful?
If I hadn’t drank that glass of water, we wouldn’t have ended up here in this extremely dangerous situation.
The men were done and with his hands still held up, Hayden took slow yet steady steps towards me. I could feel all eyes on Hayden along with my own. It was just a short distance, but it felt like forever before Hayden was anywhere near my side.
...
"Alright boys, your boss has just made a very stupid move. Be prepared for that scenario that I mentioned..." Ethan hissed through the microphone as his eyes stayed glued on the footage of what was happening inside the warehouse.
"Sorry that I’m late. Hopefully you didn’t wait for too long..." Hayden said as he crouched down until his face was at my level.
He smiled brightly as his blue eyes held mine. How can be so at ease in a situation like this?
Hayden still held his hand up to show that he didn’t intend to do anything funny. He was still very cautious and aware of the precarious situation that we were in.
"I’m going to untie her from the chair..." Hayden stated clearly.
Hayden was behind the chair and slowly he bent down and I felt the rope around my waist being tugged and pulled as he worked to untie the knot. The tall man standing next to my chair immediately pointed his gun at Hayden and I flinched before looking away.
"Are you, ok? They didn’t hurt you, did they?" Hayden spoke to me softly and calmly.
His voice was so soothing, and it reminded me of that time when we were at the amusement park, and he was trying to comfort the girl that he was helping. I had no idea how Hayden could act so calm with a gun pointed to his head like that. Whatever it was that he was doing, it seemed to work. All I could do was focus on him and what he was saying. Before I knew it, my fear had subsided.
Whatever he asked, I responded to by nodding my head. Slowly, the rope around my waist loosened before Hayden removed it completely from me.
When he was done, he slowly lifted his hand up again. Now that my body was freed, I turned to face him as I tried my best to speak to him. Hayden smiled down at me before he laughed a little at the weird sounds that I was making. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like Hayden could remove the tape from my mouth or unbind my hands and feet.
"We didn’t do anything to her. We just tied her up. We fed her food and water. She also got to go to the toilet and all that. Are you all good now?" the leader asked with clear annoyance.
--To be continued...