A shadow caught Anastasia’s attention, and it was thest person she would wished to set her eyes on at that moment.


    "I’ve always known you would look great in a cage." She heard Michelle say, her tone filled with so much mockery it pricked Anastasia’s skin with shame. "We should take you to a zoo."


    "How about youe closer and say that again?" Anastasia threatened with the courage she didn’t know where it came from.


    Michelle wore a green floral gown that cinched at her waist and flowed elegantly to her ankles, nearly concealing her heels. Jewelry adorned her wrists and neck, each piece catching the bright moonlight with a glint. Yet, despite the wless makeup on her face, it couldn’t mask the devilish gleam in her eyes—a reminder that her beauty was only part of the disguise.


    When Michelle heard Anastasia’s words, her grin of mockery only stretched further on her lips, then she chuckled softly.


    "I’m not an animal like you. You deserve to be in there, I don’t. And you know why?" She asked, her smile faltering, now wearing a solemn expression but her eyes were still ring at Anastasia with mockery etched in them. "It’s because that’s where you belong. You see this cage, it’s what suits you properly."


    Anastasia had always wondered what she’d done to Michelle, and although Elizabeth had told her what she knew, Anastasia still believed there was more to it. Sadly, her memories weren’t cooperating with her at all.


    "Why can’t you say anything anymore? Did the cat catch your tongue?" Michelle sighed as she sized Anastasia up. "You thought you could run away from here, huh? Did you think the walls didn’t have ears, Ana?"


    From Michelle’s words, Anastasia already concluded that she must have overheard her ns with Avery.


    Anastasia could only bite her cheeks, refraining from spouting the words that weighed on her tongue. If only looks could kill, Michelle would have been buried six feet under the ground already.


    "There’s nothing you’re going to do to me, so stop looking at me like that."


    Michelle turned and left to take a seat where the men had been before. Anastasia watched her grab a ss and pour herself a drink, while tears poured from her eyes.


    It was as if there was a loose tap and her tears kept flowing uncontrobly.


    It wasn’t long before Anastasia saw one of the men dragging a girl out of the forest. His suit was stained with blood that didn’t seem to be his own since he wasn’t wincing from any pain.


    The girl he was dragging on the floor had an arrow sticking to her back, her body coated with her blood, and she didn’t look alive.


    Then he dropped her in front of Anastasia, her head kissing the ground, making it difficult for Anastasia to know which girl it was.


    "This one was pretty weak. When she saw me, she was pleading instead of running, and I had to shoot her. You know I like to chase like a predator, Sam," the man said to Samantha.


    She held a smile that didn’t reach her eyes at all as she replied to the man. "It’s alright, Mr. Steven. I’m sure some girls must have survived the game and you can pick one of them. If you still aren’t satisfied, you can wait for the next crimson hunt game."


    Mr. Steven didn’t look satisfied with the other option Samantha had presented.


    "Naah! I’ll just wait to see if any suitable girl survives, then I’ll take her home with me. The one I got a few months agomitted suicide for a reason I don’t know." He shrugged off the death of his former girl as if he had no idea what could be the cause.


    Samantha ordered the men who had brought Anastasia from the forest to take the body of the girl away, but all they did was take her to an open space.


    Anastasia frowned in confusion.


    Another man came out, dragging another dead girl with an arrow in her body. She was taken to where the first dead girl was. Another man came with a dead girl and the same routine was performed. That was when Anastasia immediately realized what was happening.


    They were making a pile with the bodies of the dead girls. Her heart dropped, thinking what they would do to their body. It didn’t look like they would be wrapped up and buried in the ground normally.


    Two other men came out of the forest, with each of them carrying a dead body.


    When Anastasia’s gazended on the two girls, her hand instinctively mmed against her mouth as she tried to quieten her sob.


    "To the pile," Samantha ordered, and the men dragged both Angelina’s and Elizabeth’s bodies to the dead pile.