1

Eleanor was packing her things, she was skipping town.

A knock on her front door halted her movements. She walked to her door and opened it. A man around 6'1 stood in front of her.

"Are you Eleanor Madison?" He asked.

"I might be, who're you?"

"Detective Colton."

A damned detective, just as she was about to get away. She kept a straight face, "What can I do for you?" She asked.

"I'm going to need to come inside, and search the place."

"Do you have a search warrant?"

"I do." He showed Eleanor the file he was carrying.

"Then come in I guess." She opened her door all the way and stood off to the side. He brushed past her on his way in.

He walked straight towards her bedroom and looked around, "Going somewhere?" He asked.

She closed the door and moved to join him.

"Yeah, I'm spending the weekend at my mother's." She lied, leaning against the door frame. She crossed her arms over her chest, "What is it you're looking for anyway?" She inquired.

"I'm not at liberty to disclose that with you at the moment." He answered.

"Well, this is my apartment you're tearing apart, I think I'm owed some kind of explanation."

She watched the detective pull a special little box out from under her bed. It was a rookie mistake hiding it out in the open like that. In her defense though, she hadn't thought anyone would find her this quickly. She ran a hand through her hair and grabbed the empty bottle of wine still sitting on her dresser from a few nights ago. She bashed the bottle against the detective's head just as he opened the box, knocking him out. She put the still intact bottle back on her dresser and walked into her kitchen, dragging over a chair.

She set the chair down next to the detective and lifted him onto it (she won't admit it, but she did struggle a little). She patted him down looking for any weapons or handcuffs. When she found a pair of handcuffs she cuffed him to the chair. She set his Glock down on her dresser and grabbed her pack of zip-ties (zap-straps, whatever). She strapped his other hand down, and strapped his legs down as well. She used multiple zip-ties, she didn't want him getting out of that chair anytime soon.

She then sat on her bed and waited for him to wake up. She didn't have to wait long, he woke up twenty minutes later. Which had been enough time to figure some things out. "Honestly detective, I was expecting better from you," she said, "turning your back on a potential murderer? What a rookie mistake."

"You're Switchblade." He accused.

"Aye, that's me. I took the liberty of looking through your wallet, Wyatt. The photo of your little sister is just so cute, or maybe she's your daughter?" Eleanor gave a small chuckle. "If you're wondering if I'm going to kill you, I'm not. At least, not today."

"Why not?"

"You can still be useful, it'll be nice having someone on the other side."

"What makes you think I'd help the likes of you?"

"I know where you live, I know where your daughter Grace goes to school, I know where your wife works. I can get a lot of information in twenty minutes and a quick phone call you know. A couple stabs with my knife and they'd be dead, you'd be left all alone." She held the picture of his family in front of his face.

He glared at her. "I'm not lying Wyatt. In fact, why don't we give your wife a little call?" She snatched the detective's phone off the bed and said, "Hey Siri, call Hannah."

"Calling Hannah Colton." The electronic voice replied.

"Wy? Is everything alright?" a lady's voice answered. Eleanor switched on the tv in her room and turned on a specific channel, tapped into the security cameras at Hannah's work. The detective stared at the tv, watching his wife speak into her phone.

"Wyatt?" Hannah questioned, "you there?"

"Yes, sorry, everything's fine. I was just calling to check up on you. Is everything alright?" The detective finally spoke, all the while still staring at the tv.

"Yeah, I'm starting a new project soon though, so I might be home later than usual."

"Ok, dinner without you then?"

"Yeah, you also need to pick up Grace from school in an hour, sorry I know you're working on a case right now."

"That's fine, I love you Hannah."

"I love you too, bye bye."

"Bye."

Eleanor hung up the phone and turned off the TV. "Believe me now?"

The detective nodded his head.

"Good, I've already put my number in your phone, under the name 'Mistress'. If you change it I'll know, if you address me as anything else, well, you know what will happen. You work for me from now on, if you disobey me, your family will be hurt. As far as anyone else is concerned, Eleanor Madison is innocent, and the trail ran cold. Understand?"

The detective nodded again.

"Hmm, we'll have to work on that, vocal responses always, do you understand?"

"Yes... Mistress." he whispered.

"Ah good boy!" Eleanor pat her detective on the head, "See, it's not so hard. I'm going to untie you now, don't try anything, I've got a friend of sorts near your daughter's school." She cut off the zip-ties and unlocked the handcuffs.

"Now get out of here, you wouldn't want to keep your daughter waiting would you?"

The detective grabbed his gun and wallet. He shoved his phone in his pocket and left Eleanor's apartment.

Eleanor grinned. A hot detective obeying her every command? Now that's something she was happy about. Sure he could have this place swarmed with police, but she'd be long gone by then and his family would suffer dearly. She was confident he wouldn't try anything this soon. He loved his family too much for that.

-+-

Wyatt was sitting in his car in the parking lot of his daughter's school. He was staring intensely at the new contact in his phone wishing it away. He knew he couldn't tell anyone, not with his wife's and daughter's lives on the line.

His head was throbbing and his vision was slightly blurry. He probably shouldn't be driving, but he can't do anything that seems suspicious. He doesn't want his family to know about his new predicament.

He shut off his phone and threw it in the passenger's seat. Not even a minute later Grace opened the back door and shuffled in the car. "How was school today?" Wyatt asked, watching her in the rearview mirror.

"It was good." She said simply.

Wyatt wasn't convinced. He was a bloody detective, he could pick up on slight vocal changes and eye movements. "Did something happen?" he asked gently.

"No." Grace lied.

"Grace-" He started.

"Can we talk about it at home?" She cut him off.

"Yeah, sure kid." Wyatt's eyes shot around the parking lot. He didn't see anyone suspicious but that didn't mean there was no one there. Wyatt looked down at his hands firmly gripping the steering wheel. He was shaking slightly. He couldn't break down in front of his daughter. 'Get it together Wyatt.' he told himself.

"Why are we still here?" Grace asked impatiently, "I wanna go home."

"Sorry sweetie." Wyatt said. He put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot. He moved slowly and kept looking through the rear window, and at his mirrors; careful not to hit any kids. He turned his car and shifted to drive. When they cleared the school zone Wyatt pushed down on the gas pedal wanting to get home as fast as possible.

"Daddy you're speeding." Grace said from the backseat, "Mommy says men shouldn't speed."

Wyatt looked at his speedometer, he was in fact speeding. He slowed down.

"What about women?" He asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"You said Mommy said men shouldn't speed. What about women?" Wyatt clarified.

"Mommy says they can do what they want."

'I suppose they can.' Wyatt thought, thinking back to what transpired a little over an hour ago.

He continued to ignore the light throbbing in his head. He knew he would wake up with a major headache tomorrow. The only reason the pain wasn't bothering him as much right now was because of the paralyzing fear running through his veins.

He parked the car in his driveway, and Grace ran in the house. Wyatt took a moment to calm himself. His eyes traveled back to his phone in the seat next to him. His hands once again tightened on the steering wheel. He reluctantly let go of the wheel and grabbed his phone; leaving the car.

He locked the car and entered the house. "Grace, are you hungry?" He called.

"No." She called back.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Wyatt asked.

"No." She answered again.

"Will you tell Mommy?" He asked.

"Maybe."

"Alright." Wyatt sighed, Grace always wanted to talk to her Mother first. He didn't claim to understand why, but he wouldn't question it. He tossed the car keys on the shelf and kicked off his shoes. He walked up the stairs and entered his and his wife's bedroom. He tosses his phone face up on the bed. He wasn't naive enough to think Eleanor wouldn't contact him. He'd have to change his phone password and change the notifications, so his wife wouldn't be able to see the contact.

Before he did that he changed out of his work clothes into sweatpants and a t-shirt. His work clothes got insanely uncomfortable the moment he stepped into his house, he was always happy to change out of them.

He grabbed his phone and did the necessary things to ensure his wife wouldn't find out about his little problem. He shoved his phone into his pocket and walked back downstairs to make a snack for his daughter. He placed the plate of food in front of his daughter. She was sitting in the living room, her eyes were glued to some silly sitcom playing on the TV.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" He asked.

"I finished it all." Grace responded, "When's Mom coming home?"

Wyatt sighed, "She's caught up with a work thing, she'll be home late."

Grace nodded slowly, "Is that why you picked me up today?"

"Yeah." Wyatt responded.

Thoughts?

I don't really know where this is going, but I kinda like it ngl.