It had all started at 5:30 am sharp when Leila had called them in for more training, her hair was sticking up from every available angle and she didn't seem to have slept a wink- which after dealing with these four wasn't the most surprising thing in the world. "I know you all hate each other" she sighed, "And I get it because I hate you all too" there wasn't an inch of humour in her words. See, there was a very good reason why she hadn't had kids, having to deal with them just made it even more clearer that her choice hadn't been a bad one.

Mishti guffawed "But Ma'am, I and my sister aren't the problem, they are" she argued.

"Did you or did you not break Abir's nose?"

At that her face dropped, voice barely a whisper: "Well yes" her hands joined, body swaying uncomfortably, "But, but not on purpose" her cheeks turned red.

"It should have been" Zoya scowled at the two men, she had no doubt her sister's partner was just as bad as her own if not worse.

Pinching the brim of her nose, the older woman fell into her chair "Would you all just stop arguing? Just let me explain what's happening today and then if you would like to kill each other I can be safely out of the building and claim insurance for the trauma you've all CAUSED ME" exhaling, she rubbed her eyes, "I don't get paid enough for this and my therapist only agrees to see me weekly, working with you four makes me require help daily" she did not care that they all looked at her oddly, she was sixty-five and feeling ninety, they'd understand when they got to her age. "Today we have designed an escape room, you each have six hours to escape, but since you're meant to be the best of the best I expect you out in three" holding their gazes, she held the door open and pointed in both directions, "Do like a banana and split into your agreed groups, any more havoc and I'm cutting your paycheques" she shouted out to deaf ears, when did anyone ever really listen to her anyway? She was only the manager of this institution afterall!

Abir flicked through the pager "Says we have to go in the lift" the brown of his eyes lightened to a hazel in excitement, "Imagine all the things we could get up to if we got trapped" his brows waggled suggestively.

There was a multitude of problems in that possibility, one, was that as someone who'd lost her parents she'd had to grow up quickly, leaving her more mature than people her age and that in turn led to her relating more to older men who she'd always found more attractive- it so happened to be that Abir fell into that category and with his shoulder-length raven hair that flowed a bit too much in the wind, his muscly form and his dirty mouth, he'd very quickly became someone she fantasised about, purely because when she'd previously pictured her ideal man it was just like him.

The second both their feet landed atop the velvet carpet of the elevator the doors slammed shut, static buzzed and the lights turned out.

Mishti placed her hand on the wall, jumping when a flap fell open to show six different coloured wires lit up by a crackling miniature bulb.

Standing behind her so his chest was pressed into her back, he peered over her shoulder "Any ideas?"

Pursing her lips, her eyes narrowed "Red and yellow make orange" she joined the three wires so orange was beneath the first two. "Blue and red make purple" joining the blue to the red, she placed the purple beneath, "Yellow and blue make green" attaching the blue to the yellow, she slid the green below, hands clapping together when the light came on.

"How did you work that out?"

"Primary colours" she shrugged, a little pink in the face from the way he looked down at her proudly.

If he was honest he hadn't really thought she was a capable agent, let alone partner, but it seemed there was more to her than what first met the eye. "A smart woman is a very attractive woman" brushing his teeth against her ear, he smirked, "I wonder what colour we could make together, I think red".

"Why, why do you think that?" She gulped, leaning away from him.

"Well," his voice was throaty, "It's a very passionate colour and anything I do, I do so passionately" when his hand rested on her hip, she jumped away causing him to lean forward in laughter. "You sure do scare easily".

Crossing her arms over her chest, Mishti blew a strand of hair away from her nose "And that's funny because?"

His smirk curled up into his cheek "I like to make a woman squirm and you are just" his eyes shut, a groan escaping his lips, "So damn easy".

Abir's comment really hadn't sat well with her, in fact, she was quite offended, her older sister had always been labelled difficult and that had taken its toll, there was no way she'd allow a similar thing to happen to her. "If I was easy, wouldn't I have gotten into bed with you by now? Easy or not" she looked him up and down slowly, "At least I don't have bad taste".

"Is it bad that when you talk to me like that I find you even more irresistible?" He was a man who knew well what he had and what he didn't and it wouldn't be long until he had her exactly where he wanted her- in his bed.

Talking about beds, that's exactly where the other duo had found themselves.

Zoya huffed loudly as she led pin-straight upon a double bed with springs that would surely permanently edit the bones in her back, her right arm was locked to Aditya's left, her right leg tied to his and his right wrist was padlocked to the headboard whereas her left was free.
This was not and would not ever be her idea of a good time, she'd been through torture of the most extreme kind, but this had to be on a different level.

Turning his head to face her, he grinned against the pillow, a dimple indenting his cheeks "I knew I'd get you into bed someday".

She hated to be the one to prove someone else right and herself wrong, but certain events were unchangeable, regardless of how many times you begged, pleaded and fell to your knees just to gain a different outcome. Ignoring him, she groaned as she pushed herself over their joined arms and onto his chest.

"Zoya" he admonished, "What would people say?"

Leaning her head over to reach the key that was smack in the middle of the pillows, she slipped her tongue through the loop, held it between her teeth and proceeded to unlock the lock that kept his hand far too high up, her hair smacking his face with each turn and her other hand cramping uncomfortably till she dropped it upon his chest when half of him was free. Heaving a big breath, she smirked down at him.

"Wow" Aditya looked on gobsmacked, "That was hot, I wonder what else that mouth can do?" He pondered aloud.

"Bite your dick off if you carry on like that" she warned, rolling off of him.

"You really do have an obsession with my manhood, don't you? You know you could have used your hand to free me, but you didn't, if enticing me was your goal, congrats, colour me enticed" his lashes fluttered.

Her brows furrowed, eyes trailing down his body "What manhood?"

His jaw dropped "Always hit a man where it hurts, don't you?"

She smiled fakely "Unlock our hands so we can actually begin to get out of here".

He moaned loudly "I cannot tell you what it does to me when you tell me what to do like that".

"Scares you shitless I hope" Zoya's eyes rolled back. Massaging her ankle the second he removed the chain from it, she jumped off of the bed, eyes darting around the area "There has to be something off about this bedroom, a clever person would tie us to the bed to keep us as far away from the way out, an even cleverer person would expect us to think that so would-" not finishing her sentence or bothering to explain her train of thought, she fell to her knees and tapped the wood beneath the bed, kicked at it then slid beneath it.

Mishti gasped at the familiar legs dangling down from the ceiling "Zoya?"

Landing on her feet, her hands gripped the material beneath them "Hey, Mishti" she smiled.

"Where's Aditya?"

"Oh, I left him up there" she looked down at her nails as if bored.

"You do know this is a team exercise, right?" Abir's head shook, these sisters really were something else.

"If your best friend really requires that much help to get out you go up there and help him" the suggestion wasn't exactly one she expected him to follow, but she still admired his friendship towards Aditya when he jumped up to the top, pushing his hands on the edges so he could lift his body upwards and finally flinging his legs up, though it wasn't a sight she was interested in, unfortunately, she couldn't say the same thing for her sister who was practically drooling.

This chapter took me agesss! Any idea where the lift will lead them next?