How Natalia Grace's Boyfriend Neil Helped Her Escape the Mans Family Amid Abuse and Fraud Claims (Exclusive)

Viewers of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks were left in shock last January as Natalia Grace's sensational story revealed one final plot twist— something stranger than fiction.

The Ukrainian orphan appeared to have her happy ending with the Mans family when they adopted her in 2023 after she was abandoned by previous adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, in 2013. But the closing minute of the Investigation Discovery show revealed that Antwon and Cynthia Mans were also growing to mistrust their adoptive daughter.

Related: Final Chapter of ID's Natalia Grace Series Promises 'New Set of Challenges and Upheavals'

“Something ain't right with Natalia. This girl is tweaking," Antwon said to producers in a voiceover last year. "I feel like she's the enemy in the house. And she said to us, we have held her hostage. Made us look like we're the enemy."

In this week's PEOPLE cover story, Natalia speaks out for the first time since 2019 about her life today after having to flee the family she loved for over a decade. As she grew into adulthood at age 21, tensions developed between her and the Manses over her independence and romantic life that she couldn't ignore any longer.

After her father Antwon discovered she was exchanging messages with a man named Neil on Facebook — including alleged sexually explicit videos and photos he seized— he took her phone away and forbid her to continue her budding relationship. “Something ain’t right with Natalia," he says in the docuseries. "She’s got this dude online. He turned her against us. She’s ready to go to hell with gasoline panties on.”

Meanwhile, although Natalia declines to confirm or deny it, several witnesses including neighbors and friends claim on the show's new season—The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter, premiering Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 on Investigation Discovery and streaming on Max— that they saw the Manses whip Natalia with a belt, slap her in the face, lock her in a room and assault her.

Anna Newlin, who once lived with the Mans family with her child, alleges in the show that Natalia was kicked down the stairs and abused. Her ex-husband Matthew claims he witnessed Antwon brutally beat Natalia with a belt in the basement of their church. “I kept telling [Natalia], ‘You need to get the hell up out of there,” says Matthew, while crying on camera in The Final Chapter. “You need to go before you get killed!”

Days before Christmas in 2023, Natalia escaped from the Manses, who by then had moved to Nashville, Tenn. Following complex arrangements made through Neil, Natalia’s new U.K.-based boyfriend, Neil contacted Nicole DePaul—an old friend who, with her husband Vincent, once tried to adopt Natalia but were turned down in 2009—and asked her to drive from the DePaul family home in upstate New York to secretly pick up Natalia at a church in Nashville.

Nicole and Natalia then drove back to New York, where Natalia is currently living with DePauls.

As seen in the new season, Natalia is nervous about challenging her parents’ authority by running away. “Once I got in [Nicole’s] car, I had to text my mom to let her know I wasn’t kidnapped or dead,” she says. “It was an emotional time. I had to spread my wings.” (Watch a clip of Natalia's dramatic rescue in the middle of the night below.)

"Hey babe, I'm so, so thankful you found me," Natalia tells her boyfriend in a phone conversation from the DePauls' car. "I love you so much."

The two first started messaging each other on social media. "At first it was just like a small message and then I grew feelings and he grew feelings," Natalia says. "I just opened up my heart. It felt really good."

Soon after, Neil reached out to producers and told them that he believed Natalia was in danger and needed to get away from the Manses. At the same time, he reached out to the DePauls for help.

"At first, I was like, 'I don't know who you are,' and I just thought it was just some person, and so I ignored Neil," Nicole tells PEOPLE exclusively. "He finally sent me some proof that he was really him — then I believed that I was talking to an actual person that knew Natalia."

"It was probably a month of communicating with him daily and he was communicating with her — then I knew we had to do something," Nicole continues. "[The Manses] took everything from Natalia. They go and change the payee to take all her social security money. It just all gave me the heebie-jeebies. It wasn't right at all."

Says Nicole, "I know for a fact they kept her secluded. She told us she got whippings by them."

Several other people who appear in the docuseries claim that the Manses stole Natalia's money, using some of it to buy a new home. Neil—whose face is concealed in the docuseries—claims to have called the police on them. But PEOPLE was unable to confirm with authorities that the Manses were investigated. They were never charged with a crime.

Cynthia Mans says in The Final Chapter, "The first thing that popped in my head was [Neil] was either going to ask for a ransom—because it's not a secret that, you know, we got a little bit of money—or he's going to get [Natalia] over there and traffic her."

Since Natalia left Nashville and moved to New York state, the DePauls—who, like Natalia, are little people and have a daughter, Mackenzie, 19, close to her age—have provided her with a long-sought sense of stability.

Nicole candidly confesses that while their life together today is usually harmonious, there are times when they don’t trust Neil and the family doesn't always get along with Natalia. But that's to be expected, she says, especially with someone like her, who has been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, a behavioral condition common in orphanages, along with her having anxiety, ADHD and PTSD.

“Did she probably do weird things in the past? Yeah,” says Nicole. “But when you take in a child, you take that child as your own. You don’t just get rid of them when they don’t fit into your puzzle. Natalia's been through so much."

Looking back on her journey, Natalia admits, “It’s been a big learning curve for me. For the most part, I’ve made peace. It is definitely a blessing to be alive today. And there’s nothing I can do to change the past.” Now that's she's has fallen in love, moved out of the Manses household and can deposit money into her own account— Natalia says she finally feels free.

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter premieres January 6 and January 7 on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max.

Read the original article on People