Eran POV
I checked the hallway one last time, my shoulder brushing the frame as I leaned out. No footsteps. No voices. Nothing out of place. Still, the feeling crawled along my spine, an awareness that wouldn’t settle.
I closed the door quietly and turned back into the room.
The female eyes found me immediately. She was already shaking her head before I reached for the tape. She didn’t scream again, she knew better but the sound she made was worse, a broken plea caught in her throat. I told myself not to look at her mouth, not to linger on the way her lips trembled as she whispered my name.
“I have to,” I said, more to myself than to her.
She tried to pull back when I stepped closer, wrists straining against the bindings. Her breath came fast, uneven. I pressed the tape over her mouth
