Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

I stared at Dexter in shock. He had just confirmed it.

This meant that it was really true. I had won first place in the genius competition that was held at Delmany. This also meant that it was true that I had worked as a tutor for those missing teenagers.

My fingers felt numb. I suddenly found myself feeling unsteady on my feet because of an oncoming headache.

Dexter quickly stepped forward to hold me. He started to comfort me, saying, "It doesn’t matter. Their disappearance has nothing to do with you. It was just..."

Dexter’s voice was hoarse. He glanced at Zion nervously and continued, "The genius competition back then was held just for show. The organizers enticed regular families to join through luxurious cash prizes. They targeted families that hoped their children could soar to great heights."

"Sophia was also a victim in all of this. She was just a commodity the organization used, like a mannequin displayed at a clothing shop. She had no choice but to let herself be placed there as decoration. She did nothing wrong..."

Dexter was too eager to explain my innocence to me. His body trembled as he held me.

"Sophia..." Violette hurried forward and looked at me in panic.

Zion furrowed his brows but remained silent.

What was happening now clearly proved that Damien, Violette, and Dexter were treating me as if I really were Sophia.

But in Zion’s eyes, I was Sofia. After all, how could a person turn into another person just like that?

It didn’t make any logical sense.

"Sophia..."

Suddenly, an image flashed in my mind. The voice I heard was familiar yet chilling.

"Do you know what the most sophisticated way to deceive everyone is?" In my memory, Peter circled around me with a smile as he said, "It’s with lies. Use lies that can deceive everyone around you, even yourself.

"Have you ever heard of something called the montage of lies? Each and every sentence that comes out of my mouth is a fact. But when I combine them in a particular order, it becomes a lie that suits my needs."

"Sophia, you must first learn to deceive yourself with your own words."

"Let me demonstrate. I’m going to tell you that the woman I’ve fallen for is in the arms of another man from a wealthy family." Each part of this sentence is technically true when taken alone, but I’ve switched the order around.

"The sentence in the correct order should read, ’I’ve fallen for the woman in the arms of another man from a wealthy family’."

The same words were used, but the meaning was expressed differently through stylistic changes. It seemed to change the meaning completely.

"Tell me, how are you going to make him fall completely in love with you? How are you going to get him to love you to the point where he’ll do anything for you, even take his own life? How can you make him trust you and everything you say?"

In my memory, Peter suddenly approached me. It made my headache intensify even further.

It seemed as if Peter was teaching me ways to deceive people. He was giving me pointers on how to plan.

But I didn’t know who the target was.

I had no idea who it was that Peter wanted me to deceive. I wondered if he was talking about Dexter.

"Remember that you’re the only one who can save this world we’re living in," Peter said. Then, he patted my shoulder and continued, "To make him believe you, you first have to deceive yourself."

"You’re a genius. I believe you can do it. I want you to become his one and only love in this lifetime. I want you to get him to marry you, to make him obey your every word as if it were gospel. From then on, he’ll be nothing but a puppet for you to toy with."

My head throbbed painfully. I tried to understand and work out who Peter was talking about.

Finally, I caught a clear glimpse of a photo on the table in my memory.

It was a photo of Damien.

"Sophia, your families have already arranged for you two to get engaged. He’ll marry you, but that won’t be enough leverage."

Peter looked at the photo on the table and continued, "If you don’t do as I say, I’ll find someone to replace you..."

"Sophia?"

"Sophia!"

I suddenly snapped back into reality. I breathed heavily as I looked around.

Dexter and Violette were staring at me anxiously. They were trying to ascertain if I was okay.

I shook my head.

I sat down slowly and leaned against the wall.

Peter wanted me to get close to Damien.

He wanted me to deceive myself and get Damien to fall in love and marry me.

He wanted Damien to become an obedient puppet.

"Is it so that he can control the Coleman Group?" I thought.

The Coleman Group was involved in pretty standard industries. Those included real estate, medical equipment, domestic trade, and international trade. I couldn’t work out what Peter wanted to gain through Damien. He was just a doctor, after all.

"Sophia, you have to climb the corporate ladder to avoid being stepped on all the time. It’s the only way you can break free from all of this..."

Peter’s voice repeated like a mantra in my head, as if it was echoing in my ears.

He was a lunatic and might have been a devil in disguise.

I was almost certain that he had something to do with my amnesia.

"Is it possible that a person can forget certain memories if they were in a car accident and were subjected to hypnosis, medication, or other therapeutic methods? Could false memories be implanted through hypnosis by another person after that?" I asked in a whisper.

I was starting to seriously doubt that Damien was the man I had loved for ten whole years. Peter might have deliberately misled me to believe that about myself.

He might have taken advantage of the fact that I had amnesia to mislead me, causing me to have false memories about myself.

"It’s possible," Zion said. His expression turned grave as he continued, "There was a case where someone was incited to murder someone else three years ago. A psychiatrist had incited his patient to commit murder on his behalf."

The psychiatrist in question hypnotized his patient, who already had psychological issues to begin with. He transferred his hatred toward the victims onto his patient, causing the patient to feel the same anger and hatred he felt toward the victim.

The patient ended up having delusions that the victim had deliberately hurt him and his family in the same way, which led the patient to stab the victim to death in public impulsively.

I sat there without saying a word.

There was something off about Peter. I was almost sure of it.

Damien turned out to be just another pawn on the chessboard. He was not the one playing chess.

I wondered if Juliet was the replacement Peter had previously threatened me about. He told me that he would have me replaced if I didn’t obediently do as I was told.

It felt as if Juliet was playing the role of a catalyst.

Perhaps Peter had intended to use Juliet as a warning to me. He wanted to egg me on so that I would complete my task of getting Damien to marry me quicker. However, he didn’t expect me to die.

It seemed that Peter hadn’t anticipated that I would die at the hands of the serial killer either.

I scoffed inwardly. This meant that everything had spiraled out of his control after that.

"The case has really been closed..." Eason murmured when he finally came back.

"The culprit managed to describe the facts of the crime very clearly. He said that he believed the victim had something to do with his son’s disappearance. He had approached the victim about his son multiple times, but the victim kept turning him away. That’s what led him to commit the murder."

The case sounded clear-cut when put that way. However, it was clear that someone had deliberately arranged for it to seem that way.

There were sub-cases within the case. And behind these sub-cases were more cases.

There were problems left and right in this case.

I stared at the clues Eason had plastered all over the whiteboard and said softly, "There are two cases here. One with serial killings, and one involving mutilation. It seems to me like the masterminds behind both cases are using the victims to commit murder for them."

"Victims are rarely ever completely innocent," Eason said while looking at me.

He continued, "There were six cases nationwide of teenagers with Asperger’s syndrome going missing simultaneously that year. Do you know why only the parents of these two teenagers are still persistently searching for their children?"

I shook my head.

"It’s because the others believed they had gotten rid of a burden. In their eyes, people with Asperger’s syndrome or autism are monsters. Their parents regard them as aliens."

"Besides, when their kids went missing, the parents got to receive a large sum of donations from the public. Why wouldn’t they welcome it?"

Eason sneered and continued, "Can you take a guess as to why the Blacks didn’t claim Dexter back into their household back then? He might’ve been a bastard child, but it’s not like the Blacks couldn’t afford to raise him."

"Maybe the Blacks cared too much about their own reputation. But the thing is, Dexter’s mother and Andy Black had gotten legally married in Melovia."

Dexter frowned at that. He warned Eason to watch his tongue with his eyes.

Eason ignored him and continued, "They think Dexter is a monster too. It was said that he wouldn’t speak after he was born. When he was diagnosed with autism by a doctor and abandoned at the orphanage, everyone thought he was a mute."