Amanda was slumped forward, blonde hair curtains around her face, tied down in a chair. It was the sole thing in the room other than herself.

"Amanda," I whispered to myself. I ran to her, taking note of the iron shackles around her wrists and legs. "Oh my god." I pushed her face up, no damage to be found. They haven't touched her. "Hey, come on, wake up. Wake up."

She stirred lightly in my hands, a dazed look in her eyes. "Rachel?"

I let out a relieved breath. "Oh thank god." I hung my head.

My hands dropped from Amanda's face as she looked around. "W-where are we? What is this place? What's happening?!"

I pulled my head up to look at my best friend sorrowfully. "I'm so sorry," I murmured.

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm the reason you're here, Mandy." I put my face in my hands. "I'm so sorry."

"Could you stop blubbering and get me free?!"

I sniffled. "I can't."

"Rachel, what's going on?" Mandy howled.

"Something that I never wanted you in."

She struggled against the chains. "We were stalked, Rachel. Men in black injected me with something and knocked me out."

"I know, I got ambushed the same way."

"Why is this happening?"

I swallowed. "You know why, Mandy."

Her mouth parted in horror. "No. No, that can't be right. There's no proof that he's really back!"

"T-there is. He's here, Mandy. He led me here to see that you were okay."

"I'm not okay!" she screeched, rattling her restraints. "I've been abducted in London, and I'm stuck in this chair! I'm far away from home, and I don't know what's going on! I just want answers, Rachel. That's all that I want."

"We'll get them. We're going to get through this, together. We'll get out of this place, we'll find our way back to our friends, okay?"

"Aw, look at all the god-awful bonding!" Moriarty chimed in.

I scowled, turning myself around so that I shielded Mandy from his view. He looked so smug right now that I felt disgusted inside. "Let her go."

"Can't do that, I'm afraid." He crossed into the room. "Defeats the whole purpose of leverage, darling."

"Leverage?" Mandy squeaked.

"How else am I to get Rachel to cooperate?" He stood toe-to-toe with me now, shark eyes lifeless and piercing through mine. "Truth be told, Rachel, she was collateral. She just happened to be at the wrong place, wrong time. A stroke of luck when those things happen."

"Stay away from her," I said fiercely.

"Oh, you know I won't touch her. I don't—"

"Get your hands dirty, I know." I rolled my eyes. "It's one of the few things I remember about you."

"Ouch, kitten. You don't remember my charisma and sexy charm?"

"More like toxic manipulation."

"Call it what you want, we both know what it really is." Moriarty peered around me to look at Mandy. "We were never properly introduced. Jim Moriarty."

Mandy didn't say a word. Moriarty looked rather disappointed.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" He pouted. "No need to be shy, I'm more than approachable. Rachel can vouch for that."

"What's your angle this time, Moriarty?" I folded my arms over my chest. "You've bided your time, and now the new game starts. What's my part in it? What's Amanda's?"

Moriarty's eyes lit up. "Amanda. The Amanda?" He chuckled. "I don't know how much Rachel told you about me, Amanda, but she told me a good deal about you. How you despised the idea of us together." I shied away when he reached for me. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name."

"Go to Hell," Mandy growled under her breath.

"I've been, it doesn't really agree with me."

"If Hell spat you back out, that's pretty bad," I quipped to him.

Moriarty frowned. "Visiting hours are up, Rachel. Time to say goodbye."

"Wait, wait!" I exclaimed as I was being removed from the room. I locked eyes with Mandy, who looked petrified, until Moriarty shut the door. "She has no part in this!"

"Can't reverse what's been done, kitten," he said sharply.

"You never answered my question from before."

"Oh, right, yes, your part in this whole grand scheme," he said dramatically. "Well, I can't tell you that, because that spoils it. For now, you're going to be holed up in this wondrous place, while I play out the rest of the game in the real world. You be a good girl, and nothing goes wrong. Amanda doesn't get harmed, and you get to live. Time to time, I'll let you stretch your legs, but under extreme supervision. I don't want history to repeat itself, and I'm sure you don't either."

I remembered my past captivity with him. I'd tried to kill him, once, back before Sherlock and my dad were more than just strangers to me. I'd paid for it with a wounded shoulder. I'd been put to work, strapping up civilians with explosives. I still thought about that elderly blind lady, she hadn't done as she had been instructed.

To this day, her death felt like it was on my hands. I put those explosives on her, I aided Moriarty in killing an old woman.

"They'll know," I hissed to him. "They'll look for me, and for Mandy. They'll stop you."

"Well, until that day comes, you get to live here."

"She's not going to be tied down to that chair this entire time."

Moriarty raised a brow. "Is that a request?"

"A demand."

"Rachel, you're in no position to be making demands."

"You should've known you'd receive a little push-back. I guess you forgot just how much I despise you."

"Despise, secretly still have a thing for, it's all the same." He shrugged. "I'll make you see reason, by all means necessary." He let go of me and began to walk down the hall. "Oh, and if you think about escaping, I can assure you that you won't."

Oh, we'll see about that.

* * *

Moriarty was right, the Irish bastard.

The windows were barred in my room. All the windows were throughout this place, and certain doors I couldn't access because of the retinal scanners. I found no other workers in this place. Must be for a reason. He must know that I'll try anything to get out of here.

I was in a large dining room, with a long, rectangular table. The tall windows were—surprise, surprise—barred. I touched the glass of the one I stood before. Rain pelted outside, the occasional rumble of thunder boomed overhead. My lips trembled. I was back in the hands of a man who nearly killed me, twice. My best friend got caught in the crossfire, and now she was suffering in her own room, chained to a chair like an animal.

I screamed in outrage, punching the glass. I howled, cradling my fist to my chest as I saw the slight crack that I made. I whimpered, moving some of my knuckles. Not my finest hour. I sobbed, resting my head against the cool glass.

I need to get an edge on him. I need to get Mandy and I free, and out of here. There has to be a way. There is always a way, it's finding the drive to find the solution that's key. I exhaled shakily. Sherlock could figure this out in his mind palace within an hour if he fired on all cylinders.

"Enjoying the view?"

"Better than looking at you," I mumbled, seeing his reflection in the window.

"I beg to differ, but to each their own."

"You brought me here to kill me, didn't you? That's my end in all of this."

"Oh, darling, time hasn't changed your views of me. I'm doing this to protect you."

"How is abduction protection?" I scowled.

"I've got things going on out there that you could easily get harmed by. I'm keeping you in here so you don't get in the way."

I snorted. "What, afraid that I'll foil those dastardly plans of yours?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Rachel. You may be John Watson's daughter, but you haven't been in the business as long as he has."

I cringed. "So you do know about that."

"During my hiatus, I made sure I had plenty of informants to keep me up-to-date on all the current events. You could only imagine my surprise when I heard that gem of a plot twist. Rachel Simpson, the daughter of John Watson. I had been dating the blogger's daughter."

I swallowed. "That's what that was? 'Dating'?"

"Come now, it felt like something, didn't it?"

"A betrayal," I said coldly.

Moriarty sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You were fun, Rachel. I miss that, what we had."

"What we had was nothing." I stiffened up. "I was the mouse that fell into your stupid trap and failed to get out before it was too late."

"I'm disappointed to hear that. I thought there might've been an inkling of something beautiful." His reflection got closer to me, I could just feel his breath touch my skin. "You just don't see it yet, Rachel. You will, in time."

"What about Mandy? Is she here for her protection too?"

"I already explained her situation to you. A shame, because she's a pretty one."

I spun around. "You lay a finger on her, I'm—"

"Going to kill me?" He smirked. "Oh, darling, you and I both know you aren't capable of murder." He grabbed my chin delicately. "The day you become a murderer is the day I stop being who I am. And that day will never come." He mock-pouted. "I suggest you accept the terms now, my dear. If you break them, you won't like the consequences. If you think I'm bluffing, go ahead and try me."

"She doesn't deserve this."

"If you didn't befriend her, she wouldn't be here."

"Don't make a shitty excuse for something you did."

"My, my, someone has grown up to be a foul-mouthed spirit." His eyes widened in surprise. "I can't imagine what turned you into this."

"Personal experience." I knocked into his shoulder, storming out of the dining room.

"You don't want to stick around? I've got the best food coming soon."

"Not hungry."

"Don't say that I never offered you anything!"

**God, I always loved Rariarty, though how little it was in Rachel's first book. It's a big part of why he's in this one.**