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“Google knows all. Got it.”

“You got olive oil?” she asked Lainey.

Lainey carefully nodded.

“Then we’re in business.”

The blonde eventually came back with a cloth, a bowl of warm water, and the olive oil. “This is going to hurt somewhat, but if I use the oil to loosen the adhesive, then it shouldn’t be too bad, and you might still have lips by the time we’re done.”

Lainey zoned out while Amanda used the oil to remove the duct tape. Having Amanda touch her made her skin crawl.

Crack!

Lainey’s cheek stung where Amanda smacked her, and her eyes went wide. “What?!”

“You weren’t paying attention. You weren’t listening to me. I said, are you ready to talk now?”

“Yes.” Lainey knew she said yes, but it was so raspy even she couldn’t understand it.

“Make sense!” Amanda said as she held up her hand as if to slap her again.

“Water.” Again, the word was indecipherable.

“Jesus, I can’t make heads or tails of what you’re saying.”

“She said water,” Ivan said with his mouth full, then continued to chew.

“Oh yeah, your throat’s probably dry.”

Lainey tasted copper and her lips were on fire. Guess olive oil didn’t work after all.

“Open your mouth, you stupid bitch.”

Huh?

She felt water trickling into her mouth, mixing with the blood. She opened her mouth and tried to gulp.

“Now you’re being stupid. You’re going to throw up if you drink too fast.”

The water stopped coming, and Lainey opened her eyes. Oh yeah, the blonde woman. Amanda.

“Are you ready to talk now?”

Lainey nodded, and fire went through her scalp. Oh yeah, her hair was duct taped to the back of the chair.

Crack!

Her head whipped sideways from the blow.

“Are you ready to talk now?

Lainey bit her lip and whimpered. What was she supposed to talk about?

Money. Oh yeah, money.

“You want to know about the deposit that came in from India, right?”

“There you go. Now you remember.” Amanda turned to the man who was now eating some kind of dessert. “Did you hear that, Ivan? The bitch remembers what we’ve been talking about.”