Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

"Sophia..."

Dexter panicked, trying to explain. But he still seemed hesitant.

Frustrated, I turned around to find somewhere to be alone.

Just then, Dexter’s phone rang. It was a call from Eason. "Juliet’s missing. There are no clues. Just as you said, it was a bait. Something happened at the hospital, and Zion got injured. Thankfully, the culprit.

was arrested."

"You should come. Damien is causing a scene at the police station, demanding that we locate Juliet. Come help me locate her."

Dexter hung up on Eason, clearly having no intentions to comply. He was focused on explaining the situation to me.

I looked at him, waiting for his explanation.

"Sophia..." As he began, his phone rang again. It was Eason.

Dexter hung up his phone angrily and was about to block Eason, but I stopped him. "Answer the call. You took such a great risk to approach Peter in the asylum. Don’t let your efforts go to waste."

Silent, Dexter picked up the call.

"Dexter Black! Are you burning bridges on me now?" Eason yelled over the phone. It sounded noisy the background.

I could hear Damien’s angry voice, condemning the police for their lack of effort. Damien was angry about how Juliet, despite being under police protection, had gotten kidnapped!

"I’m burning you," Dexter replied before hanging up again.

It took me a while to realize that Dexter was cursing Eason. Eason said Dexter was burning bridges, and Dexter said he was burning Eason instead. I reckoned Eason would need some time to react too.

"Sophia..." Dexter said, but his phone rang again.

This time, he turned his phone off. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Sophia... I’m not saying that the murderer doesn’t matter. I’m investigating it. Everything is connected.I’m just not sure. My assumptions may not be accurate..." Dexter hurriedly explained.

But it seemed that he was a bad liar.

Though Dexter’s assumptions may not be correct, he must have a key suspect. Yet, he was hiding that from me...

I was not sure of the reason that he was hiding it from me. But looking at the chain of evidence, it seemed like he was... trying to "protect" the murderer.

I said after a long silence. "Dexter, my death feels like a dream to me. Before I died, I thought you were the murderer because you were so suspicious..."

Taking into account everything on the wall of evidence, I could conclude that Dexter was not the murderer. However, he was hiding something.

"Now, I trust that you’re not the murderer, but if you’re covering for the murderer or helping them get away, you’ll be responsible for my death..."

My voice was hoarse but determined. I was warning Dexter in case I found out that he was secretly helping the murderer.

Dexter panicked and lowered his head, his fists tightening anxiously.

"Sophia..."

"If I can forgive the person who so cruelly murdered me, what does that make me?" I laughed bitterly,then backed away from the wall of photos and evidence.

I said in a low voice, "Dexter, if we ever come to that, let’s get a divorce. Let me go."

Now that we had no baby, there was nothing that would keep us together.

I also came to believe that Dexter was not the murderer who killed me.

"Sophia, I don’t want to get a divorce." Dexter shook his head in panic, not wanting a divorce.

"But in my opinion, the murderer matters more to you than I do." I pointed toward the centermost section about the serial murder case. Two pieces of paper had a question mark on them.

That confirmed some assumptions about the outcomes of Dexter’s investigation.

Two people were involved in the planning of the serial murder case.

One was responsible for strategizing while the other handled the execution.

We could call that person the executor.

Meanwhile, Simon worked under the two, like a chess piece.

Dexter chose to take Simon in, even when he clearly knew that Simon was related to the serial murder case...

I didn’t think Dexter had done that to investigate the murder.

It didn’t seem like Dexter was trying to hide anything.

"Sophia, nothing matters more than you..." said Dexter, all choked up. "I’m just guessing that the murderer is intelligent... I lost, Sophia. I lost."

Dexter was saying something that I couldn’t understand. I guessed he meant that he had lost the game against the murderer when I died.

"You said you love me, but I don’t see any hatred toward my murderer." I shook my head. I couldn’t help but feel that something had come between Dexter and me. It was too obvious—he refused to tell me about what he knew.

He had the key information, but he chose to hide it from me and the police.

Dexter’s head drooped low, and tears welled up in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but he said nothing.

"I want to know the truth..." I looked at Dexter and was getting emotional. "I want to know how I died. I want to know why they hate me so much... I want the murderer arrested!"

In a panic, Dexter pulled me into his arms. After a while, as if he finally made a decision, he spoke.

"Okay... Sophia. I’ll help you... If it’s your wish, I’ll fulfill it. I’ll help you..."

I sighed in relief. I felt a little guilty for forcing Dexter to pick a side between me and the murderer. Right now, it seemed like Dexter picked my side.

"Sophia... I’ll help you." He tried to console me by repeating his willingness to help me.

"Okay..." I nodded, then slowly closed my eyes as tears welled up. "Dexter, we must not run away anymore. It’s time to fight back..."

"Okay." Dexter nodded hard as if he would obey everything I said. But the murderer was an exception.

I became increasingly curious about who the murderer was. I wondered why Dexter, somebody who would sacrifice his life for mine, would be willing to disregard my death to protect the murderer.

"Now, we must find Juliet. The mutilation case is not over. We can’t allow the serial murder case to continue."

I didn’t care about Juliet, but she had to live for the others to survive. I didn’t want more people to die.

"As for Peter, he’s too powerful and resourceful... We have to take it slow."

I looked at the wall of photos and pointed at Martin. "First, we must protect ourselves. To guarantee our survival, we must get rid of Martin, who’s a hidden danger."

Dexter nodded. "Okay..."

As Ewan stopped the car in front of the police station, Dexter tried to hold my hand.

Almost out of reflex, I avoided him and got out of the car.

Dexter looked a little hurt, but I avoided his gaze.

The truth revealed in the basement led to disappointment, especially over the attitude that Dexter had toward the serial murderer.

"I don’t care how, but you must ensure her safety!"

When we walked into the police station, Damien was still mad. Juliet’s disappearance must have triggered him.

"Mr. Coleman, didn’t you have Juliet under protection 24/7? How did you allow her to go missing?" I mocked Damien.

Damien paused when he saw that it was me. He looked nervous. "Sophia... I was just worried. The murderer is inhumane, after all."

Ignoring Damien, I walked up to Violette. "Any clues?"

Violette shook her head. "Bad guys don’t die so easily. I don’t think she’ll die."