"Wait, so he had you taped up in his office like that? Jesus, what a creep! And he gagged you with your...wow...I don't know how you put up with that."

"I mean I didn't," Kayla said as she chuckled, "I protested and fought the whole way...but you know, I can only do so much."

She was out to coffee with her absolute best friend in the whole world, Madelyn. The two had met in college as roommates and had been inseparable ever since. While Kayla had majored in journalism and landed a job as a reporter, Madelyn had gone a different route majoring in art and landing a job as a model. The girl looked like a model too! She had this gorgeous blonde hair that came down just past her shoulders, a similar length to Kayla's in fact. No matter where they were or what kind of lighting they found themselves in, her bright blue eyes seemed to shimmer and sparkle regardless.

What had really brought the two girls close together was their absolute love for all things fashion. Their styles were fairly similar as well. Today, Madelyn had shown up to coffee wearing a nude colored turtleneck tucked into a pair of leather shorts. Adding to her ensemble was this large red coat she wore that came down and touched the back of her thighs. Speaking of her legs, on them she wore a pair of patterned tights tucked into a pair of black ankle boots.

Kayla had opted for a much simpler, but just as stylish look consisting of a black turtleneck tucked into a tartan skirt that she wore over a pair of dark pantyhose and loafer style black shoes. Together the two girls were quite the fashionable pair, but of course their friendship went much deeper than the clothes they chose to wear. Conversation flowed naturally between the two of them, and over the course of their many years of friendship there was hardly ever a dull moment.

"Well I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Madelyn said.

"It's alright, it wouldn't be the first time. Remember what happened in college?"

"How could I forget!? So that's the only other time then, huh?"

"So far at least, just that time and then what happened the other day."

"Well, it certainly has never happened to me."

"You're joking right," Kayla said as she stared at Madelyn who paused for a second before realizing that she had in fact been tied up and gagged before.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that! It was for those stupid middle school kids I was supposed to babysit."

"There you go."

"They were so upset that their parents called me in to watch them for the night that they tied me up and locked me in a closet until their parents got home...those little shits, I had totally forgotten about that."

"Seems like trouble really follows the both of us around."

"Hey," said Madelyn as she furrowed her brows, "I don't go walking into trouble, okay. You need to be more careful, Kayla! What happened to me was just a couple of boys being little stinkers. You could have actually gotten hurt."

"Yeah I know, well whatever, we didn't come to just talk about me. I want to hear what you've been up to! Tell me about your gig last week!"

"Oh my god, it was great. The folks there are such professionals and they make the cutest clothes! So I'll be doing a few more shoots for their Spring catalogue, but yeah I hope it turns into a long term thing. We seemed to really all hit it off, so yeah!"

"That's great!"

All of the sudden Kayla's phone rang. She hated taking phone calls on her day off or when she was with friends, but it was coming from the Tribune and so against her better judgment she decided to take it.

"Hey, it's Kayla."

"Yeah, listen, I hate to have to call you on your day off, but someone left a message for you here. They said they've got a big lead on the Peirce case and that it's time sensitive."

"Oh, okay wow, that's big news. Thanks for letting me know. Just go ahead and text me the details and I can go check it out."

"Sure thing!"

Kayla hung up the phone as excitement bubbled up within her. It had been about a week since the events at Peirce Enterprises, and so far there hadn't been any new leads. This was big, but Kayla felt bad abandoning Madelyn out of the blue.

"Hey so..."

"I heard," Madelyn said with a glimmer in her eye and a smile starting to form at the corner of her mouth. Kayla wondered what she was up to.

"And your reaction means that you're..."

"Coming with you of course!"

"Wait, but Madelyn..."

"No buts about it. Look, things could have ended up a lot different for you last time if you didn't have someone watching your back. Let me come with you on this one. I'll just tag along and sit there. You won't even notice I'm there!"

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Are you kidding me? Tagging along with the infamous Kayla Grace is the opportunity of a lifetime!"

"Okay, well, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kayla said as she chuckled. It was nice to have a friend like Madelyn. After all, trouble did seem to follow Kayla around, so maybe bringing some backup wasn't such a bad idea.

"It's settled then. I'll be your sidekick for the day!"

"Right, well, we should get going then. They just sent me the info and...oh wait, I know who this is!"

"You do?"

"Yeah," Kayla said as she browsed through the information on her phone. "She was the receptionist at Peirce Enterprises when I walked in. Her name is Lily. We only talked for like a few seconds, but if she's the informant then we might be onto something good. If Peirce's receptionist is willing to talk...this could be a big lead."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!"

Grabbing her things, Kayla followed after Madelyn who was already bounding out of the coffee shop. She was usually like this. Always excited about life and ready for adventure! Provided it was the kind of adventure that was free of bad guys and being tied up of course!

The meeting was to be had at Lily's apartment. It was a 2 bedroom flat located high up in one of the apartment buildings downtown. It didn't take too long for Kayla and Madelyn to get there, and within no time they found themselves standing outside Lily's door ready to knock and start the interview.

"Okay," said Kayla, "just let me handle all the questions and stuff, yeah? I know you tend to get a little carried away with your excitement, but just let me do my thing."

Madelyn smiled and nodded as she gave Kayla a playful nudge in the shoulder.

"I'll be on my best behavior," she said.

Kayla smiled, took one last deep breath, and then knocked at the door. Within seconds the bolt was unlocked and the door swung open as Lily stood to greet them on the other side.

"Hey," she said, "thank you so much for coming at such short notice. I didn't know who else to call...I mean besides the police but...look, you should probably just come inside. I can explain everything to you."

Stepping into the apartment, Kayla and Madelyn watched as Lily closed the door and bolted it shut. She looked to be about their age, if not maybe a few years older, and had this gorgeous long blonde hair that tumbled down her shoulders. She was dressed very casually wearing a loose fitting sweater, black leggings, and white ankle socks.

"Oh, so sorry, but if you wouldn't mind doing no shoes in the house. I know...I just, like to try and keep things clean."

"Totally understand," Kayla said as she slipped off her loafers, "my family is the same way."

Madelyn followed suit, although taking a little longer since she had boots to untie, but soon her shoes were removed too and together she and Kayla followed Lily into the living room area and took a seat on the couch. Lily sat opposite them in an armchair. Right away Kayla could tell that Lily was a bit on edge. She could just see it in her eyes.

"Can I get you guys anything to drink?"

"Oh, no thank you," Kayla said, "we just came getting coffee actually."

"Ah, well if you don't mind I'm going to throw some tea on for myself."

"Sure thing...and hey, not to rush you or anything, but while you're at it, you can go ahead and start filling us in on what you know whenever you're ready."

"Okay, yeah, well...as you know I was the receptionist for Peirce. Now, I had no idea at the time that he was up to shady things. He hid it all very well. It wasn't until that day that I pieced everything together and realized that he had been up to all of this right under my nose the whole time!"

"And by up to this you're talking about..."

"Making crooked deals with the city," Lily had returned from the kitchen by now and sat back down in the armchair.

"Crooked deals?"

"Yeah, he had someone on the inside, I don't know who and I don't know how, but that's what was going on."

"And how do you know this?"

"Well, I don't mean to sound prideful or anything, but I put the pieces together myself. It all started when I began to arrange this meetings for Peirce with a woman who I knew worked in the city. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then when you came out with that story I put the two together. She and Peirce were working together in some capacity. She was getting him special favors and stuff with the city I'm sure of it."

"Wow...that's quite the discovery. But wait, just so we're clear, you don't have any solid proof of this, it's just a hunch, right?"

"Sort of...I mean, I have a name and some emails I can show you. I know I'm not a reporter or a detective or whatever...but I was getting some real shady vibes from this woman and Peirce. I was the only one who ever knew they were meeting. He never put it on his schedule that he was meeting with her, just that he was in a meeting. She never came by the office, and as far as I'm aware I don't think they ever met with anyone other than just the two of them. I never heard him bring her up in conversations with anyone, even though I knew the two were meeting quite regularly. It could be an affair, but that just seems like a convenient coincidence."

"You're right," Kayla said as she made sure to write this all down, "well I'd say that this is some pretty good detective work you've done! You don't always have to have a hard lead on things. A hunch is good enough to get you started!"

"Well thanks."

*knock knock knock*

Lily craned her neck toward the door where the gentle knock had come from.

"Sorry," she said, "I'm expecting a package today. I'll be right back."

As Lily hopped up to go answer the door, Madelyn leaned in and nudged Kayla.

"Not bad," she whispered, "this sounds like you've got a really good lead on this whole Peirce story!"

Kayla smiled. Things were going well. Lily was giving her a ton of information to work with. This new lead about the woman working for the city was huge. She was one step closer to taking down Peirce.

But you know what they say...one step forward and three steps back?

"Hey what the helmmmmph!"

Kayla and Madelyn whipped around to look toward the front door as a group of men dressed all in black wearing balaclavas on their head stormed into the apartment. Two of the men were holding Lily tight as they dragged her inside and kicked the door closed. One of them was holding her from behind pinning her arms to her side and clamping his hand over her mouth.

"Nmmmmmph!" She yelled at Kayla and Madelyn from behind the meaty hand gag. Her eyes wide with fear.

She was carried away toward one of the bedrooms as the other men advanced on Kayla and Madelyn.

Kayla's fight or flight instincts kicked in as she tried to react, but with four burly men rushing toward her and Madelyn, there wasn't much the two of them could do. Besides, they didn't really have any time to react before the men were already bearing down on them. Two of the men scooped Madelyn up off the couch as the other two yanked Kayla off the couch.

"Hey let me gommph!"

Madelyn's protests were promptly curtailed as a hand was slapped over her mouth. The other man circled around in front of her and scooped her nylon clad legs up before carting her off to the bedroom. Kayla of course was carried over in a similar fashion with a man behind her clasping a thick hand over her mouth while a second one carried her legs.

As she trailed behind Madelyn, she watched her friend put up the fight of her life trying to break free, but of course there was no use in even trying at this point. Whatever was going to happen to them was going to happen whether they wanted it to or not...

Kayla was brought into the room where the other two men had already made short work of Lily. She was lying down on the bed on her stomach with her arms pulled behind her back and looped together with copious amounts of rope at her wrists and elbows. Her wrists were also now connected to her ankles which were pulled up behind her and tied together as well. She arched her sock clad feet in her restricting tie as she rolled around on the bed shouting through her already gagged mouth.

Kayla noticed a colorful and fluffy mass packed into Lily's mouth held in place by what looked to be a couple pairs of nylons.

"GGGGGMMMPH MMMMMMPH!"

The poor girl flexed and rocked back and forth, but even though the men had tied her up speedily they had tied her very securely and she wasn't going anywhere! Of course, for Kayla and Madelyn, they were about to find themselves in a very similar straight.

Kayla's captors ushered her over to a chair near the bed and plopped her down into it. Madelyn was wrestled to the ground and placed face first down onto the floor. From here, Kayla watched as the men grabbed what could only be described as miles worth of rope from their black duffel bags. She wondered if any of this was even remotely necessary...

As she watched Madelyn's arms and legs become enveloped in ropes, she too had her own limbs secured down to the chair with rope as well. Her arms were fashioned to the sides of the chair backing as they hung straight down on either side. More rope was then wound around the back of the chair and below and above her chest so as to pin her back to the chair in addition to pinning her arms firmly to her sides. They wrapped more rope around her stomach too just above her hips.

Adding insult to injury, the men decided to tie her legs in the most revealing of fashions. Her nylon clad legs were spread out and tied down to the front two legs of the chair respectively . This of course caused her skirt to ride up giving everyone in the room a very plain view of her underwear underneath her tights. Thankfully it was pretty hidden underneath her tights, but her face was already blushing bright red at the thought of any of those pervy goons checking her out...still, there was nothing she could say or do about it. The goon behind her still had has hand clasped firmly across her mouth, and her arms and legs had just been incapacitated...so she really just had to sit there and watch as her skirt crept higher and higher...

"Mmmmph," she grunted trying to fidget around in the chair to readjust her skirt. It was really only making things worse, so instead she just had to sit there and bear it while she watched the men finishing tying Madelyn up.

Unlike Kayla, who had quietly sat there and accepted the fact that this was their fate, Madelyn was still really putting up a fight! She wriggled and flopped around on the floor as the men held her down and tied her up with rope. Little by little her struggling was subdued as her body was further held in place by the ropes. Kayla wondered if the men used more rope on her due to her struggling, because she felt like poor Madelyn was being bound much more thoroughly than either her or Lily! There was rope circling her arms and legs at numerous points, and plenty of rope tied around her chest as well. They also took the liberty of placing her in a hogtie as well bringing her nylon clad feet up toward her wrists before connecting them with rope. Madelyn was fuming by this point, still shouting through the hand that gagged her.

With both Kayla and Madelyn now tied up, there was but one thing left to do to complete their predicament. Kayla knew it was coming of course, but she wondered if Madelyn was at all prepared. The poor girl was still struggling with all her might. Kayla guessed it would be easier if she just relaxed a bit, but Madelyn never knew when to quit! Only this time it was to her detriment.

Kayla watched as one of the men opened Lily's dresser and fished out a handful of socks and tights. She was up first as the man tossed some over to the goons by Kayla. It happened in the blink of an eye really. The hand was taken away from her mouth, and just before she had the chance to gasp for air or say something, her cheeks were pinched forcing her mouth slightly open and in went a handful of Lily's ankle socks.

"Gggggnnmph!" Kayla grunted as the man shoved the socks in deep into her mouth before wrapping a few of Lily's pantyhose around Kayla's head to complete the gag. If she had to guess it felt like they'd shoved at least 2-3 socks in her mouth...either way, her speech was completely cut off now.

Madelyn was up next, and boy was she not going down without a fight. The intruders had to hold her down, one of them straddling her body and holding her head while another took a pair of thick crew socks and balled them up.

"Don't you darmmmmmmph!"

Her mouth was stuffed with the socks as Madelyn gagged and coughed into them.

"Lllllmmmph ggggggnnnmmph!"

Just like Kayla they were sealed inside with a pair of tights, the mass still clearly visible behind her pouting lips. The intruders work had been done. All three girls were now bound and gagged, but as Kayla chewed on the socks stuffed in her mouth she wondered what was it all for? Who were these goons and why had they bothered with all of this?

They didn't say anything either. After they finished stuffing Madelyn's mouth and making sure her hogtie was nice and snug, they made their leave. That was it. Kayla was greatly perplexed by it all.

"Nnnnnnnnmph!"

Poor Madelyn writhed around on the floor straining in her hogtie. Kayla truly felt bad for her friend. If only she hadn't been so adamant on coming with she wouldn't be in this mess with Kayla! As it was, there she lay on the ground, trussed up with rope. It would be a good long while that the three of them sat there bound and gagged, but thankfully, Lily didn't live alone. A few hours later her roommate came home and hearing them cry out from the bedroom she rushed in and helped set them free.

"Bleh," remarked Madelyn as she spat the large socks, now soaked in her saliva, from her mouth, "good lord...Kayla, are you okay?"

Lily's roommate was just getting around to unwinding the tights around Kayla's mouth who then proceeded to spit the numerous socks from her own mouth before answering Madelyn.

"Yeah...I'm good."

"Who the hell were those guys?"

"No idea," said Kayla, "but I'd have to think they're connected to Peirce in some way...how they found us I have no idea."

"I'm so sorry," said Lily now sitting up on the bed, her friend hard at work cutting her loose from the ropes, "this is all my fault."

"What do you mean," asked Kayla.

"Asking you guys to come meet me here...I just...I should have kept my mouth shut."

"Don't let them get to you. It's okay. This is fairly standard unfortunately...I mean these kind of intimidation tactics."

"Really? You've been through this before?"

"Sadly, it comes with the job...but hey, chin up, you gave me some great information to work with."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of some help."

Thanks to Lily's roommate, the three girls were finally free. Kayla and Madelyn were about to bid her farewell when they discovered a note left for them in the kitchen. Turns out the intruders hadn't left without a word after all.

"Consider this a warning. Drop the story, or else."

That was all that it said.

"Believe it or not," said Kayla, "this is good. This potentially ties Peirce to all of this. Granted it is circumstantial, but anything helps at this stage. I'll hold onto this for now. Who knows, maybe it'll come in use later."

"I hope so," Lily said, "and again, I really am sorry for all of this. I can't help but feel slightly responsible."

"Don't worry...it's okay. Trust me, we don't blame you in the slightest. You did the right thing in reaching out to me. I'd like to say we'll be in touch, but it's probably best to keep our distance for now."

"Well, thanks again...and good luck. I hope you're able to take Peirce down."

"Same. Take it easy, Lily!"

Grabbing their shoes, Kayla and Madelyn slipped back into them and headed off. It had been a riot of a day, and Kayla was exhausted. She was worried about Madelyn too.

"You good?" She asked her friend as they descended in the elevator.

"Yeah!" Madelyn responded surprisingly cheery, "I'm just glad I was there for you...I mean it wasn't fun, but friends stick together, right? Besides, I'm a lot stronger than I look! I'm okay, really. I just...I get the feeling this won't be the last time this happens to us, yeah?"

"Probably not," said Kayla.

"Hm, well...bring it on!"

Kayla smiled. It was good to have a friend like Madelyn.