Hjmo-108

Mira’s face went scarlet. Fifty thousand strangers now knew she was a liar with a savior complex. Leo didn’t look at her. He just picked up the second lockbox with his free hand and carried it to the table.

She typed into the briefcase’s keypad. The lock clicked. Inside lay a single index card and a roll of duct tape.

Mira blinked. “That was fast.”

The card read: Attach your free hands together. Then proceed to Box 2.

Leo’s jaw tightened. He didn’t laugh now. Mira squeezed his fingers through the tape. hjmo-108

Box 2 required them to stand on opposite sides of a painted line while using only their taped-together hands to press three buttons in sequence. It took nine agonizing minutes. They knocked over a lamp. Leo’s elbow caught Mira’s chin. She laughed—a sharp, involuntary bark—and he laughed too, and for a second it wasn’t torture.

The final frame of the episode showed the empty apartment. On the coffee table, the briefcase sat open and harmless. Mira’s face went scarlet

Leo rubbed his wrist where the cuff had been. “Yeah, well. Theater kid. We’re good at reading people.”