Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

The crowd swarmed onto the balcony, and Damien was no match for so many people. The blood stains on his shirt gradually increased. I couldn’t tell if it was from his own blood or the blood of others.

I stood on the deck and averted my gaze. Even though I didn’t love him anymore, it seemed like I couldn’t just watch him die either.

Dexter shot me a glance before turning to the rabid crowd below. "His mother is on one of the rescue ships. If you kill him, there’s no way you’re getting off this ship even if you do manage to find the president of Crowdstar Group."

After his words, the people immediately stopped what they were doing.

"Don’t listen to his bullshit. That guy is definitely the president. I say we kill this one first before we go up and get him. Then, we’ll turn him in in exchange for our freedom!"

"Yeah, let’s kill him first!"

"If you insist on killing him, you’re welcome to try. But then, none of you will be getting off the cruise," Dexter replied blankly.

The air was still. The people shot glances at each other, but no one could bring themselves to do anything before the rest did. It was better to be safe than sorry. Hence, none of them wanted to make any rash decisions.

"What now?" someone asked the leader.

The leader in question frowned. He didn’t lift his head to look at Dexter. "Are you really the president of Crowdstar Group?"

Dexter let out a scoff. "Even if I am, why would I tell you?"

The man’s expression was sour. "Who cares? We’ll just hand him in first so that we can get off this damned cruise."

"I’m aware that everyone wants to get out of here alive. However, at the rate we’re killing each other, have you ever thought that we’ll all just end up dead? They wouldn’t even have to do anything," Dexter said again.

Everyone shot each other a glance.

He continued, "I know you all have family waiting for you at home. If you kill him today, you’ll end up getting killed by his men tomorrow. This is a vicious cycle. How on earth are you so sure that you’ll survive till the end?"

His words left them all at a loss for words.

"What should we do, then? If we don’t do as they say and rescue doesn’t come soon enough, we’ll all die of starvation.

"Even if we don’t starve to death on this ship, we’ll get killed for our room keys. We have no other choice either we just want to get out of here alive." The leader looked at Dexter.

"If you can trust me, I’ll give you another choice. Bring him up the deck and try to get the attention of the rescue ships.

"If they don’t come for him, you can kill him. But chances are, they’ll be in a rush to negotiate with the Rebels." According to Dexter’s guess, Damien’s mother would definitely be on one of the organization’s rescue ships that were nearby.

Damien shot Dexter a glare. Was he trying to save him or get him killed? In his opinion, Dexter was probably trying to use this opportunity to get back at him.

The crowd of people listened to Dexter. Some of them approached Damien and put a knife against his neck. "Don’t try anything funny. Go up."

Damien kept his eyes behind him cautiously and slowly went up the ladder. Then, Eason and Zion pulled him up.

Just as the people below were about to come up to the deck, Dexter withdrew the ladder.

Seething, the people glared at him. "You tricked us?"

He just smiled in response. "All’s fair in war. You shouldn’t put your trust in anyone in situations like this.

Eason and Zion were equally stunned. They looked at Dexter in shock.

"You tricked them? I thought you were telling the truth. I thought we were saved and was so happy about it too. You big liar."

Joel, on the other hand, was used to Dexter’s antics at this point.

"Are you two idiots?" He laughed. "Even if Damien’s mother was someone from Genome Society, she wouldn’t ever reveal her identity, let alone Damien’s. Do you think they’ll still keep Damien alive if they found out that his mother was involved?"

After the realization dawned on them, Eason and Zion both shot Dexter irritated looks. He had fooled everyone yet again, and he managed to rescue Damien with just a few sentences.

The people at the bottom were glaring at him furiously. They wanted to climb up, but it was extremely difficult to do so without a ladder.

"How long do you think you can hide up there? You’ll have to come down eventually. Just you wait, I’ll make you regret what you did!"

Then, the leader left with the rest of the crowd.

Juliet was still sobbing. When Damien came up, she rushed to embrace him while crying violently. He promptly pushed her away, causing her to stare at him in mild panic.

Damien drew a deep breath. "We had an agreement, Juliet. You would tell me what you know, and in return, I’d guarantee your safety.

"Now that you’ve revealed everything, I’ll do my best to keep you safe-just like we agreed on. However, there’s nothing else between us."

Her eyes welled up with tears as she shook her head. "Do you really not love me at all, Damien? Was everything really just an act you put on for Sophia?"

She wasn’t willing to give up, but Damien’s tone was firm.

He replied, "Yes, I’ve never loved you. I’ll admit that I was interested in you, but that interest stemmed from gratitude. However, that was all a misunderstanding. I thought you were the one who saved me. As it turns out, you lied to me."

Dejected, she slumped onto the floor. She knew that Damien had never loved her.

Una laughed mockingly as she gradually approached Juliet. "After all that calculation and getting Sophia killed, you still didn’t manage to get what you were after. How pitiful."

Juliet sat listlessly on the ground like a soulless puppet.

Damien turned around to look at Dexter before saying, "Thank you."

I couldn’t believe that he had just thanked him.

Dexter ignored him. I was aware that he didn’t actually want to save him.

"We should think about how to survive from here on out." Zion looked toward the deck and sighed.

"The waves are getting rougher. When the storm hits, we won’t be able to spend the night on deck," Eason added nervously.

"At this point, we only have one option. I’ll meet with those people as the president of Crowdstar Group," Dexter declared.

"No!" I was frantically opposed to it. I was vehemently against it. I clutched his hand, not allowing him to take the risk.

"Are you actually the president?" Jimmy asked with a curious smile.

Dexter looked at him. "To be honest, you look more like him than I do. Why don’t you go instead? Sacrifice yourself to save everyone else. We’ll all remember this heroic act with immense gratitude."

Jimmy wiped the grin off of his face. "Never mind... I’m not a saint."

"Who’s the actual president, then? How mysterious." Eason was still curious.

"Based on the current situation, I can only buy all of you time if I go ahead and pose as him." Dexter waved his hand at us.

They wouldn’t kill him—at least not before his hand had healed.