Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

"I’ll pay." Damien materialized out of nowhere and offered to pay.

I looked around. There was no sight of Juliet tailing after him. Had she completely given up?

I scoffed before raising my hand, signaling for him to go ahead. "Please, Mr. Coleman."

Since he was filthy rich, we might as well use his money. Juliet’s gifts, along with her parents’ medical bills, should’ve totaled up to about a million or more.

He shot me a complicated look. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t end up saying anything.

"These prices... I really can’t afford anything. I only have 30 grand in my savings..." Zion scratched his

head. The 30 grand was only there because he never got a chance to spend it.

Violette smiled sheepishly. "I have five grand in my bank account..."

We were all poor here.

"I..." I thought about it. Aside from Dexter, it didn’t seem like I had anything else.

"I only have Dexter..." I trailed off embarrassedly.

I had no money, and Dexter wasn’t here either.

"I" Damien wanted to say something, but he stopped himself before he did.

He had suffered from injuries previously and did not look too good at the moment.

"He has money. Let him get the tab!" Joel pointed at Jimmy. "Hey, you’ve been smiling all this while. Shouldn’t you be offering or something?"

Jimmy immediately wiped the smile off of his face and remained silent.

"How stingy. What’s the point of earning so much when you’re not gonna spend it? Are you going to take it with you to the grave?" Joel spat.

Jimmy looked at Una and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

All of us rolled our eyes. How biased.

Una smiled and walked toward Damien. "I want a sandwich."

She wanted Damien to get it for her.

He nodded in response. "Okay." He was rather willing to spoil her.

Violette rolled her eyes in disgust, and I did the same.

Xandra bought the two children some bread and milk. Those items alone cost her 500 grand.

"They could just take our money, but they’re still giving us food and water anyway. Is this a joke to them? "Eason complained.

"You have some too, Yara. Eat up." Xandra got Yara some food as well.

Yara had been looking after Ashton and Xan all this while. She acted like an older sister despite only being around ten years old herself.

"Eat up, Yara." I patted her head. She could’ve gotten off the ship.

She nodded and started munching away.

"This is daylight robbery! A sandwich is 300 grand! Where on earth are we supposed to get so much money from? Why don’t you just kill us, then!"

Some people could afford the food, but some evidently couldn’t. It was clear that only a handful were able to eat now.

Those prices would put a dent in anyone’s pockets. There was no way one could consistently afford to make purchases like these day after day. The fear of going hungry loomed over everyone.

"Give us the food!" Someone was already starting to riot.

I had anticipated that something like this would happen. I promptly backed up with Yara and the two children.

"Damien is buying food!"

Zion wanted to protect Damien, but the crowd suddenly got violent. Damien was pushed to the front. He had some food in hand, so they swarmed over to take it from him. Not everyone could afford bread and water for hundreds of thousands.

Zion, Eason, and Joel all rushed forward. They tried to protect Damien and the bread he had purchased, but all three of them got caught up in the mess. None of the bread survived. Damien lost a hundred grand in a short three minutes.

That amount might’ve been loose change for him, but we were able to see how crazy people became if they got incredibly hungry or were put in a disadvantageous situation.

They only went for the things Damien was holding. They didn’t dare to go for the bread at the counter as the people guarding it were armed with guns. The crowd only settled down when someone fired a bullet into the air.

I watched as Damien and the three others trudged out from the sea of people. Their faces were all scratched up. They looked horrible, but it was hilarious.

Violette couldn’t help it. She broke into a fit of laughter.

Damien’s expression was sour. He walked over with a grim look.

"You’re attracting too much attention. Most of the people here can’t afford all this. With the amount that you bought, you should be grateful that they only went after the food," Jimmy added nonchalantly. Damien ignored him. He fished out a deformed sandwich and hesitated for a moment. Then, he tore it in half. He handed me one half and Una the other.

Una didn’t say anything. She took it from him expressionlessly and ate it. Being petty at a time like this was essentially a death wish.

I didn’t throw the sandwich away since there was a shortage of food. Instead, I handed it to Violette. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something. However, she eventually took it from me after I insisted.

"Everyone, go get some rest." Zion led everyone back to their rooms.

"Where’s Yara?"

All of a sudden, Violette realized that Yara was missing.

I froze as well. She was just here a moment ago.

"Yara!"

All of our attention was directed at the riot earlier on. Yara had vanished, and we had no clue where she went.

"You guys head back first. I’ll go look for her." I was slightly worried.

Zion shook his head. "We can’t let you search alone."

"Let’s look for her together," Joel suggested as he started scanning the crowd for the young girl.

"I saw her go that way." Xan pointed toward the end of the storage room.

There was a passageway.

No one else seemed to have noticed it. It should lead to somewhere we had never been before. A few of us walked over and yelled into the entrance, "Yara?"

There was no response.

"Yara?" I yelled again. I wanted to go down, but Damien grabbed onto me.

"It’s dangerous down there. Besides, it’s so dark down there. Yara couldn’t possibly have the guts to head down on her own." He didn’t want me to continue further.

"But I really saw her go in there," Ashton declared firmly.

"Let’s all head down as a group," Zion suggested.

The area ahead was pitch-black. There wasn’t any hint of light. We descended the stairs and couldn’t even manage to see our outstretched hands. As someone who was so afraid of the dark, Yara couldn’t have come to a place like this.

"Do you guys hear something?" I asked softly.

"This way." In the dark, Ashton’s small hand found mine before he guided me further down.

There were too many secrets on this ship. I had a bad feeling about this. There had to be something hidden here.

"Yara?" I suddenly heard footsteps from a near distance. Hence, I called out unsurely.

There was no reply.

"Don’t worry, Mom. There’s no one here. The sound is coming from the corridor," Ashton explained softly. He seemed to be able to see clearly in the dark. His night vision looked like it was better than my own.

"At this rate, the cruise will be barren. We can’t drag this on for longer. If we don’t find the president soon, Genome Society will destroy the ship."

Amidst the darkness, I caught sight of a small ray of light. I leaned against the wall to listen in. The Rebels were discussing their plans. Frowning, I held my breath.

This voice.... The person wasn’t using a voice changer. I could clearly make out the voice of a woman. It sounded a lot like Carol.

Wasn’t she dead?

"Genome Society wants to tie up all their loose ends. Too many people know of their secrets on this cruise. They won’t let any of them get off this ship alive unless they’re of use."

"We’ve already achieved our goal. The police are taking this case seriously, and we’ve already obtained the secrets regarding Genome Society on the cruise. We can stop after we expose everything to the world."

On the other side of the wall, the Rebels were still in discussion. The anxious and pleading voice sounded so much like Carol.

She was asking someone to cease operations, but they didn’t say a word in response.

Who could it possibly be?

"Sophia!" All of a sudden, Yara’s voice rang out from the darkness. She alerted everyone in the room. "It’s so dark!"

I immediately ran over to cup a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

The door swung open, and light poured out of the room. Someone stood in the doorway against the light.

I stood frozen in place, my breath hitching in my throat.

It was him.