24Yulia My pulse racing, I hold my breath as I listen to the sound of Lucas’s departing footsteps. He’ll be back soon, he said. Does that mean he went to take a shower, or did he leave to go somewhere? No matter how much I strain, I can’t hear the front door opening, but that doesn’t mean anything. The bedroom is probably too far away from the entrance. After a few more minutes of silence, I shift on the blanket, trying to ease the strain in my shoulders. With my hands tied to one leg of the bed and my ankles to the other, I can’t move more than a couple of centimeters in any direction, and the stretched-out position is only a shade more comfortable than sitting in the chair. Growing frustrated, I test my bonds. As expected, there’s no give in them, and the wooden king-sized bed is so h

