CHAPTER 22: HANSEL: THE SEARCH.

I couldn’t sit still.

For the past few hours, I had been pacing across my living room, unable to think about anything except the fact that Naya was gone.

I’d expected that. After all, she’d told me she would leave my house, so I shouldn’t worry, right? But for some strange reason, Naya was all I could think about.

Was I suddenly growing a conscience? I’d wanted to hurt her at the event and make her feel small and powerless, an action which I deeply regretted.

I checked my watch for the hundredth time.

It was three in the morning, and she’d been missing for over six hours now, assuming she’d left the venue right after our fight and came to the house, stopping long enough to take her things and leave.

The security man on duty had told me she’d been drenched when she first arrived and had left within a few minutes.

The question was, where would she have gone? She didn’t have any money or accommodation options. Until a few days ago, she was a waitress at a downbeat restaurant downtown, so it’s not like she could easily leave the country.

I’d gone as far as confirming with a few of my contacts if she had gone back to her family’s house, but no one had seen her there.

So where was she?

My wolf was going insane. That was the only way to describe the restless, clawing sensation in my chest that had started the moment I’d realised she wasn’t coming back.

It paced and prowled and whined in a way it never had before, not even during the full moons when the Raze threatened to take over completely. I’d taken double my usual dose of suppressants, and it hadn’t made a difference.

Something was wrong. My wolf knew it even if I didn’t want to admit it.

The thought that kept circling through my mind, the one I couldn’t shake no matter how hard I tried, was whether she’d gone back with Cahir Sterling.

The image of them together in that private box, standing so close, the way he’d looked at her... it set my teeth on edge and made my hands curl into fists.

I fell in love with you, Naya.

Cahir’s words kept echoing in my head. The sincerity in his voice, the way he’d looked at her when he confessed those words. But why in the name of the moon should I be concerned about Cahir’s confession?

"You look like hell."

I spun around to find Andrew standing in the doorway of my living room, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. He was still in his suit from the fundraiser, which meant he’d probably come straight here when I’d called him an hour ago.

"She’s gone," I said, hating how my voice sounded.

"I gathered that from your seventeen phone calls." He walked into the room and dropped into one of my leather chairs. "Aren’t you overreacting? It’s not like both of you are married or in a relationship? You’re acting like a man in love."

"Don’t start with your bullshit, Andrew," I snapped, pointing at him. "If you won’t help, then fuck off."

He wanted to say something else, but must have seen the expression in my eyes and decided against it.

"She’s a grown woman, Hansel; she could have gone anywhere. Who knows, maybe she finally got tired of your charming personality and decided to find somewhere less hostile to stay."

"She took her phone," I said, as if that explained everything. "I found it missing from my nightstand."

"And that means...?"

"It means she’s planning not to come back." I resumed my pacing, unable to stand still. "We still need to find out who tried to kill me, and she’s our only link. By the way, have you been able to sniff around?"

Andrew sighed, and I recognised that particular sound. It was his "I have bad news, and you’re not going to like it" sigh.

"I’ve asked all our underground connections," he said slowly. "The ones who’ve gotten back to me all said the same thing. No one has placed a bounty on your head. There are no contracts to kill you or hits. Nothing at all."

I stopped pacing. "What?"

"No one’s trying to kill you, Hansel. At least not through the usual channels." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Which makes me wonder if you actually believed what Naya told you. I mean, come on, someone arranging for your death over a random phone link? That doesn’t sound suspicious to you?"

"I saw the vial," I said defensively. "I saw what it did to her when she drank it. That was Lycantril, Andrew. You can’t just buy that off the street. Someone with serious resources and knowledge of what I am sent that."

"Or," Andrew said carefully, "she made the whole thing up. Maybe the link story was a lie to cover for whoever really hired her."

The suggestion made my chest tighten. "She wouldn’t—"

"Wouldn’t she?" He raised an eyebrow. "You barely know this woman. She tried to poison you. Then she shows up at your office begging for a place to stay, conveniently needing exactly what you can provide. And now she’s gone, right after meeting with Cahir Sterling and learning about some childhood engagement. Doesn’t that seem a little convenient?"

I wanted to argue and tell him he was wrong. But doubt crept in anyway.

Had Naya been playing me this whole time?

The door to my office opened, and Lucas, my head of security, walked in carrying a tablet. "Mr Ward. I have the security footage from the DOE Foundation venue. And Mr Sterling’s office responded to our inquiry, Ms Rivers is not with him."

I felt both relieved and worried at the same time. If she wasn’t with Cahir, then where was she?

"Play the footage," I commanded, Lucas, trying to distract myself.

Lucas set the tablet on the coffee table and pressed play. The screen showed the front of the venue, the grand entrance where we’d walked in hours earlier. The timestamp read 9:47 PM, about twenty minutes after our fight.

Naya appeared in frame, standing alone outside the hall. Even through the grainy footage, I could see she was hugging herself. She looked small and lost.

My chest ached watching her stand there, and I hated myself for putting that look on her face.

A car pulled up in front of her.

"Pause," I said sharply. "And zoom in on the driver."

Lucas complied, and my blood ran cold when I saw who it was.

Caleb Moore.

That bastard. That bastard had picked her up.

"Mina," I called out, loud enough that she’d hear me from wherever she was in the penthouse. "Get in here. Now."

She appeared within seconds,

"Call Caleb Moore," I said without preamble. "Ask him if Naya is with him."

Mina’s expression flickered with disapproval before settling back into neutrality. "Mr Ward, it’s three in the morning—"

"I don’t care what time it is!" The words came out sharper than I’d intended, but I was past the point of controlling my temper. "Call him. Now. And who’s the boss between us, Mina? Who gives the orders here?"

Her jaw tightened, but she pulled out her phone and dialled.

"Put it on speaker," I called out to her.

She complied.

The phone rang three times before a sleepy voice answered. "Hello?"

"Mr Moore, this is Mina, Mr Hansel Ward’s assistant. I apologise for calling at this time, but I need to ask you a question. Is Naya Rivers with you?"

There was silence on the other end before Caleb finally spoke. He sounded baffled. "No. Why would she be with me?"

"We saw footage of you picking her up from the DOE Foundation event last night," Mina said. "We’re trying to locate her."

"Oh. Yeah, she was standing outside in the rain looking lost, so I offered her a ride." Caleb replied casually. "She begged me to drop her off somewhere. I did. That was the last I saw of her. Is everything alright?"

Mina glanced at me, and I nodded for her to end the call.

"Everything’s fine," she said. "Thank you for your time."

"Wait," Caleb said before she could hang up. "I’m just checking the family group chat, and—oh. Oh no."

"What?" I demanded, grabbing the phone from Mina. "What is it?"

"It seems Naya’s been arrested," Caleb said, and I could hear papers rustling in the background. "My stepmother just posted about it in our family chat. Something about unpaid medical bills from the hospital. They’re holding her for failure to pay."

The phone slipped from my hand, clattering against the table.

Arrested.

Naya had been arrested.

While I’d been pacing my living room, worrying about her safety, wondering if she’d gone to Cahir Sterling, she’d been sitting in a jail cell because of medical bills that I could have paid with a phone call.

Medical bills for her mother. The mother who died while Naya was unconscious in my penthouse. The mother whose funeral Naya missed because I’d kept her here for three days.

"How much?" I asked, my voice coming out rough.

"What?" Caleb sounded confused.

"How much does she owe?" I was already moving, grabbing my jacket from the back of the chair. "How much is the bill?"

"Uh, according to this, it’s about a million dollars or more. But Mr Ward, you don’t have to—"

I hung up before he could finish and turned to Lucas. "Find out which station they took her to nd report back to me immediately."

"Yes, sir." Lucas nodded and left.

When I turned, I saw Andrew and Mina watching me with strange expressions on their faces.

"Hansel," Andrew said quietly. "What are you doing?"