"No, I can't go! Not without you and Ma!" Nathasia defiantly said as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Nathasia!" William sternly said in a low voice as he continued in a gentle tone, "This is not the type for you to be willful. If you are still here, your mother and I won't be able to take care of those people without thinking about your safety. But if you at least escape, for now, we can do things without worrying about anything else. Do you understand me?"
Nathasia bitterly nodded and bit her lips as she asked, "B-But when should I come back…?"
William shook his head, "You shouldn't. I will come and find you. I promise. Now here's the key. Quickly pack and go quietly without making a sound. I have to return now and see how your mother is doing," William took one last look at his daughter, and with a smile, he hurriedly left.
"Laina, did you serve the snack?" William's voice sounded out as he came out of the corridor, and Ray suddenly let go of Laina's wrist, allowing her to let out a heavy sigh of relief inwardly.
She quickly moved towards the kitchen and glanced at William for a moment before going in.
William saw the shaken expression on Laina's face and guessed that someone tried to do something to her. But seeing that none of them were causing trouble for her now, he decided to play along and buy as much time as possible for Nathasia.
Meanwhile, Nathasia was sniffling as she quickly packed a few things and got out of her room quietly along with Marcus.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})William had given her the key to open the backdoor and get out through that. But she had no idea how long she should run for and when she should return.
Apparently, William had told her never to return back to this place since he would come and find her personally.
She followed Marcus' lead to get out silently, and soon enough, they were already running away from the house.
Nathasia saw the big jeep parked just outside the house and couldn't help but feel more guilty and worried, thinking about how her parents were all alone with those scary men.
Meanwhile, Ray saw Laina going into the kitchen and got up, walking towards William, and whispered, "Hey, William. Can I have a word with you in the kitchen? It's not something you would want me to say here, and Laina is quite involved too."
William frowned but hearing the subtle threat in Ray's words, William grudgingly nodded and went inside the kitchen.
Ray smiled and briefly said to the other men, "Hold on, guys. I will just quickly arrange something for you guys and come back."
The other men only curved their lips and nodded while saying, "Don't take too much time."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Ray entered the kitchen and smiled, seeing a visibly nervous Laina and Wiliam with a serious expression.
"William, William...you have no idea how much work I had to go through just to find out your whereabouts. I won't twist my words here. I suppose you know the real reason why my men and I are here, don't you?" Ray asked as he gave a peering gaze.
Laina's posture sagged at her words while William caught her hand and continued to look at Ray with a narrowed gaze.
"Well, if you find it hard to remember. Let me refresh your memory," Ray said with a slanted smile and continued, "Five years back, do you remember our friend Timothy? You should. After all we served together in the army. But you know right after you left, something bad happened to poor Timothy and few others right at a place where you were staying with your family at that time."
Ray took a peek to see whether William's expression was changing or not. But he was disappointed to see that William's face still remained impassive.
However, he inwardly smiled, seeing how Laina was fidgeting her fingers. Still, he decided to continue, "But right before poor Timothy died, he managed to send us a precious message...a message concerning how special your daughter is."
William and Laina's hearts sank as their worst fears apparently came true, and these people did indeed know about their daughter's uniqueness.
"Well, you might be thinking that your daughter is not powerful enough for us to come all the way here and waste our time. But…" Ray went on with an intense gaze, "...when the doctors examined her blood sample stored in one of the hospitals, they found out that she had the potential to be an Alpha."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Ray waved his hands with an expression of disbelief, "Can you believe that? An Alpha? We had only five Awakened Alphas throughout our history, and three of them were already killed by that abominable Crimson Devil. The world already saw how only these Alphas stand a chance to defeat him, but they would have to fight together to stand a chance. Or why else do you think they are not sending these Alphas after the Crimson Devil? They are waiting for more Alphas to join!"
William and Laina were inwardly shocked to hear this since they never thought that their daughter had the potential to be an Alpha!
But this was no news to rejoice since it would only make things worse for them, and now they realized why these men were here. At first, they were confused, wondering if these people were too desperate to take away any Awakened Ones, including the ones without useful abilities.
"So even if these scientists and their flimsy research tell us that Nathasia could be an Alpha in the future, who wouldn't want her to be one in the future? If she turns out to be one, imagine how good our chances of killing the Crimson Devil would be! The world will finally get its justice, and peace will return," Ray said in a passionate tone as if he was the messenger of peace.
He then looked at William with a fake smile and continued, "And I know you silenced Timothy and his friends to keep this fact from reaching the ears of the military, especially General Alberto. You know how he is. He will hunt for her across the world and even punish you for what you did. Tsk, tsk, things look bad indeed for your family."
William still didn't utter a word, while Laina couldn't help but feel her back going cold due to constant sweating.
She was feeling more and more anxious as she felt that they had been cornered and the things they had to do to protect their daughter were somehow uncovered by the military.
Now there was no way to escape their punishment, and their daughter would continue to be hunted till they found her.
She could only take comfort in the fact that her daughter had already escaped through the backdoor and would not get caught for now, at least.
"No need to be anxious or scared since I have a proposition. I can falsely report that Nathasia has been found dead, and her parents have disappeared as well. I don't think the higher-ups would then waste any more resources and time in searching for her. But all I am gonna ask is a simple thing," Ray said with a crude smile which made the two feel even more uneasy.
"I don't personally care about bringing Nathasia back since I don't believe even if she becomes an Ascended Alpha, the chances of killing the Crimson Devil would get any better. That monster is not something we mortals can defeat. And my men share the same sentiments as well."
Ray then blatantly ogled at Laina's curves as he continued, "So, why don't you give your wife and me a chance to get close...you know...I can shower her with some warmth in these hard times. What do you think?"
"Go to hell, bastard!" Laina finally spoke with gritted teeth, feeling utter disgust at his words.
William didn't say anything, but his hands were slowly moving towards his gun. However, the burning anger he was feeling was apparent in his eyes. He knew Ray had his filthy eyes on Laina for a long time and knew he was going to blackmail them.
But he knew better than Ray was not going to at all keep his words. And Ray indeed had no plans in doing what he said.
He only wanted to enjoy some time to make his trip worthwhile before dragging Nathasia back towards General Alberto.
He knew he and his men were 'thirsty' after traveling for a long time, so they planned to have some fun time with Laina and Nathasia. They only had orders to bring Nathasia back, but it didn't mention that they were not allowed to have their fun time with Nathasia.
So how could they miss out on two beauties sitting here for their choosing?
