𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡✦𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐱 𝐋𝐮 𝐒𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐠

Chapter 23: Where am I?

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A wolf is a wolf,
even in a cage;
even dressed in silk.

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I shouldn't have trusted him.
I don't even know how I got caught in this mess, or where it all went wrong. One minute, I was tailing Lu Si Cheng like the damn detective I was trained to be, thinking I could outsmart him. The next, I'm here. God knows where. My wrists scream from the rope biting into my skin, my arms twisted behind me, the knots so tight that my fingers are numb. There's a dull, constant ache in the back of my head from the blow that knocked me out. It feels like my skull is being split apart, like each thought I have only sharpened the pain.
I hate him.
How could I not? He's the reason I'm in this hellhole, tied up like some helpless victim. If it wasn't for him, I'd still be back at the office, sorting through case files instead of waiting for some psycho to finish me off. My mind loops back to him again and again, every part of me wondering why he showed up at that place today. Why was he so suspicious? Why didn't I walk away when I had the chance?
Damn it, Rachel, you should've left.
The thought gnawed at the edges of my mind as I sat there, bound to a chair in a room reeking of musty air and fear. Each time I moved, the rope dug deeper, a constant reminder of how utterly trapped I was. The duct tape stretched across my mouth stifled any sound, the taste of adhesive bitter on my tongue. I should've seen this coming. But I didn't.
I had followed him—Lu Si Cheng. Something about him never felt right, not after everything I'd seen, not after the subtle evasions and those piercing eyes that seemed to hold more secrets than truths. My gut had screamed at me that he was hiding something, so I did what any sensible person would do when trust had become too heavy a word: I followed him.
And look where it got me. Caught in a mess that wasn't mine, twisted in knots—literally—and now, all I could think about was how this was his fault. Lu Si Cheng. The man I once thought might not be entirely corrupt, but no. Now, the searing pain in my wrists was a testament to the fact that I had been wrong, horribly wrong.
I tried to shake the dizziness that clung to me like a thick fog. My head pulsated, the sharp sting from whatever they hit me with still pulsing at the back of my skull. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision, but everything was blurry, just dark shapes and shifting shadows, the room an indistinct prison.
And then there was that man—that man. Lu Si Cheng had gone to see. The memory flashed in my head, that brief glimpse of him as I trailed Lu Si Cheng into the morning light. Who the hell was he? The lines of his face were blurred in my mind, but his presence... lingered like a bad taste. He was important, that much I knew. Someone tied into the heart of all this chaos. Someone Lu Si Cheng trusted.