Kayla Grace approached the office building with confidence. After all, being a reporter for the Hazeldale Tribune was a big deal. If there was a major story in town that broke, it was because of them. Kayla was just getting started, but she was determined to climb the ranks and end up on some of the top reporting teams at the Tribune. Not only would it be a huge accomplishment for her as an individual, but given her Asian American heritage it would be a huge win for that community as well! For right now though, she was working smaller stories. Either way, she was going to give it her all no matter what.

Stepping into the building Kayla was met with a massive lobby, mostly empty, with a reception desk at the back end of it placed in front of the hallway that lead to the elevators. Kayla strode up to the desk, the heels of her white boots clicking on the marble floor of the lobby. She approached the counter and reaching into her purse presented her reporting credentials to the security guard behind the counter.

"Welcome, miss Grace. Please, Mr. Peirce's office is upstairs on the 29th floor."

Thanking the lady, Kayla headed toward the elevator and up to the 29th floor. Taking a deep breath in Kayla held it for a second before breathing out her mouth as she psyched herself up.

"You got this," she said to herself as she checked her reflection in the mirrored back wall of the elevator.

Reaching up she made sure the braids in her hair were symmetrical and staying put. She often wore her hair this way. What she would do is braid a little bit of her hair on either side of her face, and then pull it around her head before tying the rest of it off in a ponytail which joined the rest of her thick black hair that hung down past her shoulders. Kayla was very much a fan of all things fashion, and being a reporter was a great job for a person like that! She was able to wear all kinds of cute outfits and accessories, and the best part was it was all totally welcomed and encouraged. Obviously, the Tribune wanted their reporters to look professional and sharp, and so look the part Kayla did!

For her visit with Peirce she had opted for a loose fitting frilly black dress with floral patterns. To keep her legs warm against the cold March air, she wore a pair of tights, but it really didn't matter what time of year it was to Kayla, tights were practically a year round accessory for her. She was a little embarrassed at the sheer number (all the puns intended) of tights she had collected over the years. Completing her outfit of course was her white ankle boots that yes, she cleaned regularly to keep them nice and shiny as if she had just bought them the day before.

Taking in her appearance from every angle, Kayla made sure that nothing was out of place and that she was ready to go and meet with Mr. Peirce. Giving herself her own nod of approval, she pushed her glasses up on her nose, and took one last deep breath in and out before facing the elevator doors again.

Upon reaching the 29th floor, the elevator let out a small ding as the doors slid open. She found herself in another lobby type area, but this one was much smaller than the main lobby downstairs. In lieu of a security guard behind the reception counter, there was sat an actual receptionist who smiled kindly at Kayla.

"Hello," she said, "how may I help you?"

"I'm here to meet with Mr. Peirce."

"Yes, you must be Kayla Grace from the Tribune. I'll go ahead and let him know you're here."

"Ah, Lily, that won't be necessary!"

Kayla turned to see a tall man dressed in a smart black suit coming through the glass doors that lead to the main office area. He had to be at least 6 feet tall, and his suit practically glistened in the dull office lighting. She could tell it probably cost him a fortune. The material looked top of the line. His hair was also immaculately kept and well styled even for a being a man in his late fifties.

"Mr. Peirce," Kayla said as she held out her hand to him, "thank you for meeting with me."

"Of course! Come, we can speak in my office."

Kayla followed Mr. Peirce through the office past rows and rows of desks and sometimes cubicles. Apart from the white noise of the conversations being had on the phone, vigorous typing on a keyboard, and other office sounds, Kayla could also make out the very distinct sound of attempted whispering. She could feel the eyes of the workers there following her and Mr. Peirce as they walked to his office, and she could tell that they all had something to say about it, just not to her of course, but to each other in hushed tones.

Kayla wasn't surprised by this at all. She was a reporter from the Tribune after all. It's not like she was there for a friendly afternoon chat over drinks! Mr. Peirce was the CEO of Peirce Enterprises, a well known real estate company that not only owned a lot of property throughout the city, but also many of the buildings too. The problem was small businesses were struggling to compete with the speed at which Peirce Enterprises was able to acquire property. From apartment complexes, to business buildings, Peirce Enterprises was taking over properties left and right. While most might not think anything of it owing it to the fact that Peirce was just a powerful man with lots of money and influence, Kayla had a hunch something fishy was up. The numbers didn't make sense. Most of the landlords and other business people she talked to had to wait months at the very least to get approved on certain properties, but Peirce was snatching things up in record time over and over again. Now, while Kayla didn't have any proof yet, she was hoping to see if her hunch was right.

Entering Peirce's office, he walked toward his desk and took a seat. Motioning with his hand he offered Kayla the chair opposite his desk. Sitting down she pulled her notebook and pen out of her purse, and crossing nylon clad legs she placed the pad on her lap and clicked the pen open ready to take some notes.

"So, Mr. Peirce, I wanted to ask you about some of the properties you've acquired over the last couple of months. You and your team here have been incredibly busy. It's impressive!"

Mr. Peirce chucked as he leaned back in his chair placing his arms on the side rests.

"What can I say," he said, "we've got the best folks in the business working right here."

"It seems like it!  We wanted to do a piece in the Tribune about how successful you've been, and so to do that I wanted to ask you about some specific properties you've acquired that really stand out to me."

"Sure, go ahead!"

"So, the apartment complex down off of 13th. Can you tell me about that one?"

Mr. Peirce leaned forward now in his chair, straightening his tie as he did so.

"Well, it's simple really. They placed it on the market at a great price, we came in, purchased the property, and are looking forward to turning that lot into something really nice! The city has plenty of apartments after all. We're thinking a multiple story business building is just what that space needs!"

"Hm, well do you mind elaborating a little bit on how your business with the city has been? Most folks have to wait quite a while to get approved for construction permits, and even then the amount of red tape that has to be crossed is just incredible. You seem to be getting your projects approved very quickly! It's impressive, and I would love to include that process in our story!"

"Well now, I can't go out and give away all our secrets now can I?"

"Listen," Mr. Peirce said, "I'm flattered that you'd like to write a piece on us, I really am. However, I'm afraid there's nothing really all that spectacular going on here. I mean what can I say, we've got a great team of people working day in and day out to secure these properties as well as secure permits from the city. That's really all there is to it.

"I see, well do you mind if I ask about--"

*RING RING RING*

My speech was cut off as Mr. Peirce's phone rang. Holding up a finger to me, he answered the phone and after a brief conversation hung up and turned back to me.

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Grace, but I'm afraid something has come up. Can you give me just a moment while I go take care of something? We can wrap up our interview when I get back."

Stepping outside of his office he closed the door behind him as his footsteps trailed down the hall. Kayla looked behind her and noticed that the shades to the office were drawn. As long as she could act fast, this was her chance to do some snooping to see if she could find some dirt on Peirce and get one step ahead of him. She quickly hopped out of her chair and started rummaging through the files on his desk. There was nothing of interest she could find. It was all just a bunch of random business documents and stuff like that.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching the office again, Kayla rushed back to her chair, sat down, and pulled out her phone and pretended to scroll. Moments later the door opened as Mr. Peirce entered the room again.

"My apologies for that," he said, "I asked Lily to keep the phone lines off for me, but it seems she forgot. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, that's right, you were rifling through my desk trying to find something weren't you?"

Kayla froze.

Holding his phone toward her, Kayla saw what was a security camera recording of the very office they were sitting in. Glancing up to the top left corner of the room she noticed a small camera tucked into the ceiling. She hadn't thought to check for anything like that!

Peirce tucked his phone back into his pocket as he clicked his tongue and shook his head before standing up.

"You just had to go and stick your nose where it didn't belong, didn't you?" he said as he took of his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Kayla knew she was in trouble now! She had pepper spray in her purse though. If she could just reach in there and grab it before...

But it was too late. Peirce was quicker than Kayla was, and as she reached toward her purse he sprung at her and yanked her out of the chair.

"Hey let me gommmmph!"

Kayla's speech was cut off as he shoved his now removed necktie partially into her mouth.

"MMMMMMMMMMPH!" Kayla tried to scream, but with a mouth full of tie it was nearly impossible.

She was pretty much helpless now as Peirce grabbed both of her arms and pulled them behind her back before shoving her upper body down on the desk. Kayla heard the sound of tape ripping and afterwords felt it being wrapped around her wrists.

"fmmmmmmmph!"

She tried to dislodge the tie from her mouth, but Peirce had spared no expense in making sure as much was shoved in her mouth as would fit. No matter how hard Kayla tried, there was no pushing it free.

"Gggggggggnmph!" She grunted as she thrashed around trying to pull herself free from Peirce's grip, but this too proved futile.

After taping her wrists together, he lifted her up and wrapped tape around her chest and behind her back so that her arms were now pinned to her side. With Kayla's back to the desk now, Peirce was able to shove her backwards so that she fell onto it. Now was Kayla's chance to act!

Using her free legs, she launched a kick toward Peirce which caught him right in the chest. He stumbled for a moment but quickly recovered.

"Why you little brat!" He breathed before roughly grabbing both of Kayla's legs by the ankles. Grabbing her white boots he promptly ripped them off her feet and threw them to the ground exposing the pair of cream colored ankle socks Kayla wore over her tights to protect them. With Kayla's main "weapon" of attack neutralized, Peirce moved to taping her ankles as well as her thighs.

After this, in one swift motion, Peirce spun Kayla around on the desk so that her body was perpendicular to his, and then pushed her over onto her side first before pulling her whole body back toward him so that he could flip her one more time onto her stomach. After doing this, he pulled her legs up by the ankles and brought them toward her rear where he then used tape to connect her ankles and her hands together.

"Nmmmmmph!" Kayla winced through her stuffed mouth as her ankles were forced toward her wrists. It was not a comfortable position to be in at all. Add to that the fact that Kayla was wearing a dress of all things! In all the commotion it had risen up well past her behind practically exposing the tops of her tights! Thankfully they were tinted so you couldn't see her underwear really, but it was still just absolutely humiliating!

Peirce finally stopped wrapped Kayla's body with tape and stepped back for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

"You foolish little girl," he said, "such a tragedy...I really hope this teaches you a lesson."

"Fmmmmmm ymmmmph!"

Kayla growled behind her makeshift gag.

"That reminds me," Peirce said, "I really can't risk you making any sort of noise in here. Let's make sure you're kept nice and quiet while I figure out what to do with you next, yeah?"

"Mmmmmmph," Kayla did not like the sound of that one bit, but she wasn't really in the place to argue with him.

Setting the roll of tape down on the desk, Peirce spun Kayla around so that her legs were closest to him. He then reached up and pulled off both of her ankle socks. Kayla, being new to this whole experience, was greatly perplexed by this. What on earth had possessed him to take off her socks like that?

Her question was answered when Peirce spun her back around so that she was now facing him. Sitting down in the chair, he reached up and pulled the tie from Kayla's mouth. There was no time for her to react whatsoever, for as soon as the tie was pulled free Peirce reached up and shoved both of Kayla's socks straight into her mouth.

"MMMMMMMMMMPH!" She sputtered and roared as the cotton wad of socks was packed inside her mouth followed by Peirce's necktie which was tied around her mouth and between her lips before being knotted firmly behind her head.

"Much better," said Peirce giving Kayla a couple rough pats on the cheek.

"Nmmmmph mmmmmmmmmph!"

But unlike when it was just the necktie in her mouth, her new gag was much more effective. Not only were both socks more than enough to pack out her mouth, but the necktie holding them in place pushed them back just enough that they were practically locked in place. There was nothing she could do to either spit the wad of socks out or even shift them around in her mouth.

"Ggggggggggnpmh fffmmmmmmmmmph!"

Kayla teetered around on the desk in her bindings grunting and groaning all the while. Peirce rolled his eyes at her as he pulled out his phone again.

"Hey...yeah it's Peirce. Listen, we've got a bit of a situation...a reporter from the Tribune was here snooping around...oh, yeah, don't worry, she's been taken care of, but it's only temporary. I can't keep her here. Do you think you can...okay, that's what I thought. Good. I'll leave her here then and you can pick her up later. Thanks."

"Nnnnmmmmph mmmmmmmph!" Kayla shot pleading eyes up at Peirce.

Siting back down in his chair, Peirce spun Kayla around to face him.

"Listen, and I want to make this abundantly clear...I am not to be trifled with. Let this be a lesson to you and anyone else at the Tribune."

"Fmmmph!"

And with that, Peirce spun her back so that she was placed long ways across the desk, before getting up and leaving the office. Kayla noticed the click of the lock behind him.

"Ggggggggnmph mmmmmmmmmph!"

Kayla continued to moan and grumble through her sock stuffed mouth as she tried to get free of the tape that bound her. No matter how hard she flexed her joints, the tape held fast. It was starting to look like she was in a real pickle. What was Peirce planning to do with her? She figured she'd find out soon enough, but did she really want to know?

Well, hours passed with Kayla taped up and gagged on top of that desk, but finally she heard the lock click again and the door opened. In walked Peirce, but with him were two other brute looking men.

"Alright, boys," said Peirce, "here she is."

"What do you want us to do with her?"

"Take her to the docks by the abandoned warehouse...we'll stash her there for the meantime. I know of some great buyers that would love to purchase a nosy little snoop like this one!"

"Hmmmmmmph!? NNNNMMMMPH! MMMMMMMPH!"

Kayla shook her head as screamed as loud as the socks packed in her mouth would allow her. This did nothing to stop the men from rolling in a large black case which they place on the ground and opened up. It was the perfect size to fit someone into, and so lifting Kayla up they shoved her down into the case, still bound and gagged.

"Wait...wouldn't want to forget these."

Peirce picked up both of Kayla's white shoes and tossed them into the case beside her.

After her shoes were tossed into the case, the lid to it was slammed shut as Kayla was submerged into darkness.

"Hmmmmm mmmmmmmgggggph!"

If both of her socks stuffed into her mouth wasn't enough to keep her quiet, being locked inside this box sure did! She couldn't really even make out the voices of the men talking to Peirce either. They sounded like faint whispers now. She listened to them exchange a few words, and then was roughly jostled around as she felt the men pick the case up.

From here on out it was very bumpy ride as Kayla felt them take her downstairs, and load her into their car. After a fairly lengthy drive, she was once again retrieved and carried for a short distance before feeling the thump of the men dropping the case on the ground. The next sound Kayla heard was the case being unlocked before suddenly bright light came flooding in as the lid was flipped open.

It took her a while to adjust back to the light after being kept in darkness for so long, but when she finally did she found herself in the middle of a very large and empty warehouse. The men unloaded her from the case and dropped her back on the floor before latching the case back closed.

"So...we just leave her here then?"

"Yeah, I think that's what Peirce wanted."

"Hm, okay."

"I mean this warehouse is practically in the middle of nowhere. She'll be fine...we just leave her here until Peirce works out whatever he needs to work out with the buyer. Besides...who's going to find us out here?"

"FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR RIGHT NOW AND DON'T MOVE!"

"Ggggmph?!"

Kayla turned to see an army of police officers storm into the warehouse. The thugs stood there frozen with their hands up as a few cops ran up to them and shoved them down onto the ground before handcuffing them and dragging them away. A few more officers rushed to Kayla's side and began slowly getting her free from her binds.

It took them a good while, but she was finally set free and un-gagged. She left her socks there on the floor of the warehouse and opted to just slip back into her shoes in her nylons...the socks were drenched with saliva...there was no way she was putting those back on her feet!

The police officers were very kind to her as they escorted her from the warehouse and made sure she was okay, which she was, just a little sore. Other than that, Kayla really was okay. The only thing on her mind really was how in the hell had they managed to find her?

"Wow...you look like you've been through hell."

Leaning against one of the cop cars was one of her fellow reporters from the Tribune, Toby. She knew from day one that he had a crush on her, and while he was cute she definitely didn't want to just jump into things. So she flirted with him, and he flirted with her, but that was kind of all for now.

"How...I mean...what...I don't understand!"

"Please," Toby said as he crossed his arms, "I know your schedule, Kayla, you were supposed to return from your meeting with Peirce a long time ago. When I went to check up on you, I noticed those two guys carrying that case down to their car. So, I called the cops, trailed the car, and bingo...here we are."

"Wow, you saw two guys carrying a large case and got suspicious? That's quite the leap..."

"I wasn't wrong was I?"

"No, it's just annoying how spot on you were..."

"You're supposed to be thanking me you know."

Kayla smiled as she playfully punched his arm.

"Whatever," she said as she smiled.

"Okay, that about does it," said one of the officers as he approached Kayla and Toby, "we'll bring those two down to the station and see what we can find out. In the meantime, I had a unit raid Peirce's office. Looks like he left before my guys got there. Don't worry though, we'll track him down."

"Let's hope so," Kayla said as she and Toby thanked the officer.

"You think they're actually gonna get him?" Toby asked.

"Doubt it," said Kayla, "Peirce is big time...if he needs to get off the grid, I'm sure he'll find a way to do so. I get the feeling this is far from over..."

"Well what about Peirce Enterprises?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's toast. And it'll make for a great story too. I just hate the fact that Peirce gets away in the end, you know?"

"Yeah, well, a job well done anyway."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool, then you're buying drinks."

"Wait, what?"

"You said so yourself, it was a job well done. Don't you think I'm owed a drink after all I went through today? Oh, come on, Toby, it's the least you could do!"

Kayla batted her eyelashes and pretended to pout as Toby rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine, but don't count on me saving your ass next time!"