Captive of The Beast Alpha: Drugging the CEO Was a Mistake.-Chapter 40: Naya: No way out.

I didn’t sleep immediately.

I’d tried to reach out to Reese for the millionth time since I got my phone, but her number wouldn’t connect.

Like anyone whose mind isn’t settled, I decided to research about the Ward family.

In the beginning, I just wanted to find out basic information, like how many wives Adam Ward married, how many children he had, his baby mamas, and who the 22-year-old was that Fred had been talking about yesterday.

But from reading one news article talking about the influence and wealth of the Wards, I branched off to several blog posts.

The first was a strange confession from an anonymous account linking the Ward family to several missing-persons cases in Luxford city three years ago.

The writer had claimed that the Wards were not as normal as they seemed and needed to constantly feed their energy by sleeping with multiple women.

Another blog post said that all the women who have ever had a baby for any of the Ward men always ended up dying, missing or disappearing altogether. Another blog challenged the claim that no one can say they worked for the Wards.

They didn’t have people who had resigned or stopped working for the family, and that was proof that if you ever started working for them, you must work until you drop dead.

I read through each blog post, trying not to read too much into the posts or the comments left at the end of each.

Because at the end of the day, they were famous people and if i didn’t know how much scrutiny famous people go through, I would have believed everything.

There was a time when people had accused my mom of cheating on my Dad and that I wasn’t his daughter. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Others claimed that my mom only used her marriage to my Dad as a PR stunt, and that was why my Dad didn’t hesitate to divorce and remarry after she had an accident.

One of the blog posts challenged the Ward family to come forward and prove their innocence. The blog had given them seven days, or they would be exposed further. After seven days, most readers returned to remind the poster, but the poster has not responded to date.

I was casually scrolling through the comment section when I came across one. "Those who speak against the Wards would always meet their doom. I wonder what Hansel would do when he grows up to discover that his mom never wanted to keep him after discovering who the Wards were."

Then the user commented under their reply. "Watch out, now that Hansel has paraded Naya Rivers in front of the whole world, she will be the next Ward victim just like her mother."

My head enlarged as I stared at the comment. It was posted three weeks ago, meaning it was very recent.

I clicked on the profile of the user, but nothing came up, not even a picture.

For some weird reason, out of all the other comments, this one scared me.

After that, sleep vanished from my eyes.

How could I, after everything I’d seen?

No matter how I thought of it, it made sense. Their constant referral to me as human, the way everyone looked awfully young, and even the old ones barely had wrinkles on their faces.

Was I a sacrifice for something? A lot of wealthy families always had a family secret, but was Monster the Ward family’s secret?

Did they really have anything to do with my mom’s accident, and was this all a setup to trap me?

The more I thought about everything, the deeper my thoughts ran.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those glowing crimson-ringed eyes staring at me. I would hear that heartbreaking whimper that sounded so human when it wasn’t.

Maybe the plan was for the monster to attack me.

I sat on the edge of the bed, fully clothed, waiting for the first signs of dawn and for my chance to escape.

As soon as I could make out the shapes of trees in the forest beyond the compound, I would leave.

I’d walk to the nearest road, hitchhike if I had to, find my way to a town and get on the first bus or train or whatever transportation existed in this, whatever this place was—pack, clan, cult, whatever—

The sky was turning orange when I finally made my move. I grabbed my phone—which miraculously still had some battery left—and moved quietly to the door. My hand hesitated on the knob as I remembered Elon’s warning not to open it for any reason.

But that was at night. Surely it was safe now, in the early morning when everyone was probably asleep.

I turned the knob slowly, wincing at every small sound. The hallway beyond was empty and silent, no signs of the chaos from last night. No blood on the walls where that man had hit, or evidence that anything unusual had happened at all.

I crept down the hallway on silent feet, my heart hammering so hard I was sure someone would hear it. Every shadow made me jump. Every creak of the house made me pause

But I made it to the stairs, crept past it down to the first floor and then followed a door I’d seen the women shove the children through yesterday. One of the women had mentioned it led to the garden.

The door was locked, but it was just a simple deadbolt. I twisted it slowly and pulled the door open inch by inch, holding my breath.

Cool morning air hit my face, and I nearly sobbed with relief. I was out.

I’d actually made it out.

I slipped through the door and closed it carefully behind me, then started walking quickly across the manicured lawn toward the tree line.

I walked briskly rather than running since I would draw attention if anyone was watching from the windows.

The grass was wet with dew, and it soaked through my shoes within seconds. The air was crisp and clean, smelling of the earth and the flowers in bloom in the garden.

Under different circumstances, I could have stopped to smell the flowers, but all I could think about right now was getting away and putting as much distance as I could between me and that house as soon as possible.

When I reached the trees, I exhaled with relief and took off down the winding trail that led into the woods behind the house. I need to walk down a bit, find the road, and see if there’s a bus stop or another way back to Luxford.

The forest was dense and dark despite the rising light; the canopy overhead blocked most of the sunrise.

I ran blindly through the forest, untangling myself as I went from branches that caught my clothes and roots that tried to trip me.

I had no idea where I was going. All I could remember was the road Elon had taken on the way to the pack house, and rather than running on the road itself and exposing myself, I decided to use the push path. It was better than staying in that house.

I’d been running for maybe ten minutes when I heard footsteps running behind me.