Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

"Where did she go missing?" Dexter asked.

Damien rushed forward, trying to grab Dexter. However, Dexter dodged.

"Say what you need, but don’t touch me," Dexter said in annoyance.

Eason scoffed. Then, he pointed at the whiteboard full of clues.

"Juliet went missing around 2:00 pm at IF Plaza. Before she went missing, she was shopping with Damien."

There was footage from the surveillance camera.

"Damien left earlier for the hospital. Later, he received news that Juliet had gone missing in the shopping mall. Soon after, Damien called the police."

Dexter watched the surveillance footage and saw how Juliet disappeared after entering the women’s washroom. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air. Someone had kidnapped her.

"There are no secret passages or doorways near the washrooms. The surveillance camera didn’t capture anyone suspicious or footage of Juliet leaving. We’ve interrogated the janitors, but none of them saw Juliet," Eason said grimly.

Damien scoffed.

"Is that the best that the police can do?"

"If you’re so almighty, why did you leave your beau behind at the shopping mall? If you loved her so much, you should’ve accompanied her shopping and bought her luxury gifts. Jerk."

Violette rolled her eyes. "Don’t bother Sophi–Sofia anymore. I get nauseous when I see you."

Damien glared at Violette. He was about to say something when I stopped him, "Mr. Coleman, we should focus on locating Juliet."

He scoffed, then explained, "Well, Juliet was helping me pick a gift for you. She encouraged me to pursue you again and suggested buying something you’d like..."

Frowning, I signaled Damien to stop.

Damien wanted to explain further, but Dexter pulled me into his embrace and warned Damien.

"She’s mine, and we’re married. Who do you think you are to pursue her? How shameless of you."

Dexter said it so seriously that it made Violette laugh.

I wanted to laugh too, but I was angry and didn’t want to acknowledge him.

Dexter looked at me woefully. "Sophia, we’re legally married. He’s trying to seduce you, so he’s a bad guy. He’s immoral."

Damien clenched his jaw. He was pissed at Dexter.

"Excuse me, sir."

Meanwhile, Eason was going crazy.

"Can you get your mind off dating for a moment? Help me locate Juliet. If something goes wrong under my watch, I’m going to have to direct traffic with Zion!"

On the other hand, Zion, who was not on duty, was relaxed. He raised his brows at the statement.

"The Traffic Enforcement Unit welcomes you."

Eason ignored Zion.

Dexter looked at the surveillance footage again, then said, "She won’t die. She left on her own."

"What do you mean?"

Eason took a closer look at the footage. He had watched it numerous times.

"Pause at 38 minutes 47 seconds," Dexter said.

Eason paused at a specific part of the video, which showed a middle–aged woman with long hair and a hat.

"This is Juliet," said Dexter determinedly.

Juliet had put on a disguise and left of her own accord. That meant she was not kidnapped. The investigation started on the wrong foot.

"The murderer may not have done anything. This is Juliet’s plan."

Eason frowned.

"How do you know that’s Juliet?"

"Her fingers. Juliet’s fingers are slender and long, yet she’s deliberately wearing old, bulky clothes. Also, if you look at the footage before that, there are no records of when this woman entered the washroom."

Dexter had a photographic memory. That was the scary part of being a prodigy.

"Aren’t you the genius of the investigation squad? You couldn’t tell?" Zion provoked Eason.

Eason sulked a little. "I have my specialty in other things, not this..."

"That’s enough. Let’s stop taking advantage of police resources. Mr. Coleman, your beau had run away on her own," said Violette, rolling her eyes.

Damien frowned.

"Is that how you plan to conclude the case? What if she was blackmailed? Where did she find the clothes to change into? Somebody must’ve threatened her to put on those clothes and leave.

"She’s timid, so she would’ve complied. Shouldn’t you first locate her?"

I looked at Damien with a sneer. Back when I was captured by the killer, he refused to believe that I was dead. He believed that I schemed the entire plan to confuse them.

He even stopped the police from investigating, which eventually led to my death.

Yet now, he firmly believed that Juliet did not plan everything herself but was threatened instead. The double standards that he held were baffling.

"Mr. Coleman, I remember when all evidence pointed to the fact that Sophia had died, you were certain that Sophia wouldn’t die," Zion said plainly to mock Damien.

Damien paused, then looked at me out of reflex.

I sneered and looked away.

"Sophia..."

Damien tried to explain.

"Sophia, Juliet rescued me, after all..."

I rubbed my ears in frustration. I was getting sick of his excuses about how she rescued him.

"Are you crazy?"

I would tell him that Juliet wasn’t the one who rescued him, but I knew that he would not believe me.

After all, I had already told him before.

Not wanting to entertain Damien, I looked at Dexter. "Can you figure out where she’s hiding? Since she’s distracting the police, she must be an accomplice of the culprit behind the mutilation case."

"Sophia... What does this have to do with the mutilation case? You can’t..." Damien tried to defend Juliet.

I glared at Damien in silence, and he went silent.

"The victims of the mutilation case are still receiving intensive treatment at the hospital. The police force was distracted by her disappearance. That’s why Zion got injured!" Violette snarled.

She pulled at Zion’s injured arm and continued, "Look, he was stabbed in his arm. If he had gotten stabbed in his chest, he would’ve died!"

Zion grimaced. "Hey, careful! Watch out for my arm."

Violette awkwardly let Zion go. "Sorry."

Tired, Zion rubbed his brows.

Damien frowned. He still believed that it was a coincidence. "It was just a coincidence. Anyway, the police must locate Juliet first."

I said to Dexter, "Some people just refuse to believe it until they see hard facts."

Dexter nodded. He went over all the evidence and surveillance footage from the streets near IF Plaza. In the end, he locked down on Juliet.

Juliet got into a black car voluntarily.

"Check this."

Dexter took a screenshot of the license plate, and the police immediately looked it up.

"It’s a ghost car with a fake license plate," Phil reported.

Eason frowned.

"As expected, it’s an organized and premeditated plan."

Dexter looked at the traffic map near IF Plaza. "Ghost car. Rewind for 30 minutes and check the surveillance footage near the overpass. Look out for this car."

Within moments, Phil said, "I found it! Oh my god! How did you know that it would take 30 minutes for them to get here?"

Dexter looked at the car. "Ghost cars wouldn’t dare to openly drive around the city. If they get stopped by the police, their driver’s license and license plate won’t add up."

Zion observed the car. "They drove out of the city, so they may have switched out the license plates. There are surveillance blind spots there."

"Juliet is vain. If she left voluntarily, she wouldn’t be able to stand how demolition areas have neither electricity nor water, where she can’t shower."

"These parts outside of the city are demolition areas. You should search for areas where you can hear generators. That should be where they’re hiding," Dexter said softly.

Shocked, Phil gave Dexter a thumbs–up.

Eason nudged Phil and said, "Hurry and go search."

Dexter glanced icily at Damien. "Let’s make a bet. You don’t believe that Juliet hid away voluntarily, do you? If we find her at the demolition area, what are you going to do?"

Damien frowned. "What do you want?"

"Stay away from my wife and stop bothering her," Dexter warned coldly.

Damien tightened his fists.

"In that case, if Juliet can’t be found in the demolition area, you should divorce Sophia. I’ll take her home."

The atmosphere between Damien and Dexter was tense. It was as if a fight was about to break out.

I felt a little upset. Why did they have to get me involved in their bet?

"Sure..."

To my surprise, Dexter agreed.

I frowned. I wondered if Dexter would actually divorce me if they could not locate Juliet.