Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

A familiar figure stood in the light at the end of the hallway. It was Ewan-the Black family’s butler and Joel’s adoptive father. He was one of Dexter’s most trusted people.

His expression was grim. Frowning, he shot me a look before signaling to the people behind him. "Grab them."

Joel stared at him with an equally shocked expression. "Dad?"

Ewan ignored him. His gaze was foreign as he stared at him. However, Joel recomposed himself very quickly. He didn’t say another word.

Ewan was part of the Rebels?

"Why?" I asked.

Why did he betray Dexter’s trust? Why did he stay around him all these years when he was actually a Rebel?

"How are you so sure that Mr. Black isn’t part of the Rebels?" Ewan asked knowingly.

I fell silent.

At this point, if someone told me a stray dog was the leader of the Rebels, I’d believe them. It felt like we were back where we started.

From the first victim of the serial killing to Sophia’s death, and my reincarnation followed by all the other victims... Everything felt like a scripted act. At the end of it all, the ones who seemed the most suspicious were the ones who were there from the very start.

Did Dexter not realize that Ewan was part of the Rebels?

I didn’t doubt his feelings for me, but I was starting to doubt his motive. If he was actually a Rebel, did he pretend to kill off Sophia as a show of loyalty to Genome Society?

My palms were starting to sweat. I lowered my head and stopped myself from thinking about this any further. Dexter wouldn’t kill me. He would never do that.

Maybe he used to be part of the Rebels, but they had a falling out because of the Sophia incident.

However, all of these speculations couldn’t possibly be verified until I saw him again.

"Don’t resist." I turned around and looked at everyone.

We should comply for the time being to see what they were up to.

"You planned all of this just to find the president of Crowdstar Group?" Upon being brought into the room, I asked Ewan cautiously.

"Our actual goal is to reveal the secrets of this cruise to the public. We want everyone to know the evil schemes of this organization," he replied lightly.

Some things were meant to be kept away in the dark. There would be dire consequences if they were to be brought into the light.

"As for the president, he’s essentially fueling their operations. We should find him and dispose of him in front of them. That should be enough to hurt them," he growled. He seemed to have a deep-rooted hatred for the organization.

"Why do you hate Genome Society?" I could understand where my hatred stemmed from. They had no regard for the well-being of the experimental subjects. Even our births were a massive ploy. What about him, then?

"They probably hurt him in some way," Una said passive aggressively some distance away. Ewan didn’t respond, but I’d somewhat guessed. It probably had something to do with his family.

"Because of the Black family, I got to familiarize myself with the so-called Genome Society. As long as you had money or power, they claimed to be able to bring back the dead. They called it genetic cloning." He scoffed.

He continued softly, "According to them, they could clone an exact replica of the person through collecting DNA samples. They’d have the same genes, and even their personality would possibly be the same.

"I believed them. I asked them to preserve my sister’s dead body. When I had the money, I’d bring her back to life. I didn’t even care if I became their pawn. I got into Black Group and spied for them."

It turned out that he used to be part of Genome Society.

"They said that Mr. Andy Black was a traitor. Not only did he cut off the organization’s funding and put a stop to their projects, but he also tried to stop the research on cloning and genetics. Under their brainwashing... I offered them information on Mr. Black. Then, they killed him!"

Ewan’s entire body was shaking. He was probably extremely regretful. Andy Black died because of him.

Genome Society tricked him. They didn’t help him clone his sister, and they even killed Andy. Afterward, he realized the truth and started plotting against them.

"Unfortunately, you went from one wrong path to another." I stared at him as I approached him. "Does Dexter know?"

Some of the Rebels stopped me from getting too close to Ewan.

He stared fixedly at me. "In order to find the truth, you’ll need to trust your gut."

"Who was the one who killed Sophia?" I signaled for him to lift up his arm. I wanted to check if he was the one who killed me.

"You think I killed Sophia Milford?" He laughed before lifting his arm like I’d asked.

It wasn’t him.

Ewan was relatively tall. Even as a middle-aged man, he was still quite muscular. He didn’t seem like the man who killed me at all. From the memory prior to my death, the culprit had a red birthmark on his arm. Who on earth could it be?

The man had a slender build, but the birthmark on his arm was extremely striking.

I glanced around the room alertly. Aside from Ewan, there was the leader of the group-a man in a human -skin mask who used a voice changer.

What was his real identity? Why the elaborate disguise?

As for Carol’s voice that I had heard outside the door... Where did that come from? Was I mistaken?

"They know too much. Kill them all," the man with the voice changer said.

"Kill them? Who’s going to help us tell the world about everything if we do?" Ewan had no intention of killing us. He looked at Joel before continuing, "Besides, my son is with them."

"He’s just an adopted boy." The man was slightly annoyed.

"You’d develop feelings for a pet dog after spending enough time together, let alone a boy!" Ewan cut him off.

"What the hell," Joel mumbled through gritted teeth. "This is some secret you’ve been harboring from me, old man!"

Ewan ignored him and continued speaking. "From the very beginning, our terms were to involve an ample amount of law enforcement workers and imperfect victims. You should know that it wasn’t easy to gather enough people to fill this ship.

"If everyone dies... our goal will be left unfulfilled."

I stared cautiously at Ewan and the masked man. I had a feeling that things weren’t as simple as they seemed.

"Find the president first!" the man in the mask bellowed. He shot Ewan a warning look before turning to leave.

Ewan instructed his men to keep a close watch on us. Then, he marched off.

"How much can we trust his words?" I looked at Joel, Eason, and the rest.

"At this stage, we’re better off being skeptical. Each and every one of them is a seasoned actor by now." Zion rubbed his temples. He was clearly still in shock.

Even Ewan turned out to be a Rebel. Could I still trust the people around me?

"Stop. My head hurts. Now I’m suspecting that my mom is involved," Eason said through gritted teeth.

Then, he stared darkly at Joel. "If your dad is a Rebel, are you part of the group too?"

"I’m just a high schooler. You think too much of me." Joel grunted before plopping onto the floor, ignoring Eason.

For some reason, I had a feeling that he was feeling guilty.

"Zion is definitely clear..." Eason looked at Zion. No one was more trustworthy than him at the moment. Subsequently, he turned to look at Damien. "Your mother is affiliated with Genome Society. That’s pretty shocking too."

Damien instinctively looked toward me and Una. He lowered his head before speaking guiltily.

"I had my suspicions when my mother brought Sophia home in the beginning. I tried to come up with multiple reasons. I even hated Sophia because of it. I would’ve never thought she wanted to observe the experimental subject up close."

I didn’t say anything. I just sat on the floor with Ashton and Xandra in my arms.

Zion was right no one was trustworthy at this point.

Yara was a prime example.

From the time she led me to Ashton and Xandra, I started feeling suspicious about her.