Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

"Do you want to die, Eason? Did your brain stop growing along with your age? What would’ve been the point if you were to die in a car crash?" Joel’s scoldings could be heard from the courtyard.

Dexter and I stood by the entrance, peeking in. Joel was angrily grabbing Eason, pushing him onto the lawn.

I was perplexed. It seemed a little awkward, considering that Eason was much older than Joel.

What was stranger was the fact that Eason had actually allowed Joel to push him onto the lawn. He did not move, nor did he resist or scold him.

That wasn’t how Eason usually was like.

"He’s intoxicated," Dexter explained softly. Eason was clearly tipsy judging by the way he was acting. "Say something, will you? I can’t believe you got yourself drunk like this!" Joel scratched his head angrily. It was as if he still had to worry about Eason despite him already being an adult.

"You’re always just bullying me!" Eason yelled tipsily, as if he was unleashing all his pent-up grievances all of a sudden.

He was sitting on the lawn with his head hung low and eyes reddening. "If you’re so amazing, try turning into a ghost and scare me, then! Try killing them all, then!"

Joel was stunned and stood in silence.

The thought did cross his mind. Just like what Dexter had said, Simeon had wanted to kill those bastards from the advanced class. However, that fire stopped him from doing so.

"What happened between Eason and those people from the advanced class?" I asked Dexter softly. He took my hand and brought me to the couch. Ashton and Xan were still playing with building blocks. The toy was something clearly too childish for them, yet they were enjoying themselves regardless.

"Hudson’s growth spurt was delayed. He was petite back when he was still in the advanced class. Logan and the others were mean bullies. They liked harassing students who were weaker than them to assert their dominance in the class," Logan whispered.

I was stunned. I could probably figure out the rest of the story now.

He continued, "Simeon used to be bullied in the orphanage because of his young age, which was why he was empathic to Hudson, who was bullied. Hudson stuck close to him after he helped him out several times."

Simeon enjoyed poking fun at Hudson as well. Hudson could only follow Simeon out of his fear. He would rather be bullied by Simeon alone than to be bullied by many.

Later on, those people no longer dared to bully Hudson in front of Simeon. That was because Simeon was too ruthless.

Those who came from the orphanage were madmen. Everyone in their class knew not to mess with the two who came from the orphanage. That was because they would go mad when they were angry.

As such, they would only bully Eason whenever Simeon wasn’t around.

Dexter said, "Simeon and I weren’t in school on that particular day. They were ruthless in bullying Hudson. He was sent to the hospital and developed a severe germaphobia after that."

His explanation was brief without specifically mentioning how those people had bullied Eason. However,

judging by his germaphobe now, they must have used extremely dirty tactics.

I could imagine how helpless Eason had felt back then.

Dexter continued, "That was why Simeon went mad when Hudson cried while looking for him, asking why he didn’t protect him well. He wanted to kill."

Simeon wanted to kill those people. He almost killed someone and took the path of no return in his late teens. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The fire had consumed everything.

From then, Hudson became withdrawn and turned eccentric. He blamed Simeon for dying and leaving him alone.

He had also blamed Dexter. He was jealous and wary of Dexter, yet he also blamed Dexter for Simeon’s death. At the same time, he was afraid of Dexter.

"Eason was initially hostile toward you because he didn’t know the truth. Why didn’t you explain to him?" I looked at Dexter. Why would he want to bear Eason’s unjustified anger?

"Hating someone fuels his motivation to keep going." He looked back at me with a burning gaze. Eason was someone Simeon cared for. As such, Dexter wouldn’t really blame Eason even if he went too far. The reason he did not explain himself was to give Eason the motivation to stay alive and change himself. Compared to before, Eason was a completely changed person now. He learned to protect himself from others.

I remained silent as I leaned against Dexter. I felt heartbroken for him. He had been suppressing himself all the while.

"Dexter," I called for him softly.

"Yes?" Dexter looked down at me.

"Hug me, please." I buried my face against his chest.

"Are you kissing, Mom and Dad?" Ashton noticed that Dexter was about to kiss me.

As such, both of us, who hadn’t quite figured out ourselves as "parents", immediately straightened up. We looked at Ashton and Xandra seriously and said, "Go play with your toys."

"You can’t sneakily kiss Mom okay, Dad? Mom belongs to Xandra and me." Ashton gave Dexter a warning look while Dexter stared back with the same intensity. What a father-and-son pair!

At that moment, I felt as if I had brought home two little troublemakers. Dexter was just like a child himself, after all. Now, there were two more children vying for attention.

Following the abductor’s instructions, Dayton struggled to drag a massive industrial container meant for heavy-duty supplies into Leffers Street. He was heading toward the tenth trash can.

As the trash can was rather large, there wouldn’t be any issue fitting a container in. But now, the problem was the 30 million dollars in cash weighing over 600 pounds. It was impossible for Dayton to unload them into the trash can on his own.

As such, he could only sit on the container and give the abductor a call. "I’ve brought the money over now. Where is she? I want to see if she’s safe."’

"Place the container down and leave the place," the abductor replied with a low voice.

"I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks. Just imagine the consequences if you still refuse to let her go after getting the money," Dayton threatened angrily.

Dexter had taught him all those words.

Dexter and I were hiding somewhere to observe our surroundings. The police were all in position as well.

As the CEO of the Crowdstar Group, Dayton surely possessed exceptional power. It would be fairly easy for him to deal with an abductor.

"We’ll release her once we get the money and make sure they are fine." They only wanted to assess Dayton’s financial capabilities. He wouldn’t be able to come up with 30 million in cash in such a short amount of time if he wasn’t the president of Crowdstar Group.

Soon after Dayton left, someone came to move the container. The police dared not make a move as they wanted to see if they would release Xandra. However, the abductors seemed to have no intention of doing so after monitoring for half an hour.

"What’s the meaning of this?" Dayton called the abductor once again.

The abductor replied, "We’re having second thoughts, Mr. Sacco. Thirty million dollars seems like three dollars to you. I heard that you’ve collected many valuable treasures.

"Last year, you secretly acquired an emerald vase worth hundreds of millions from an auction under the name of the president of Crowdstar Group. I heard that it’s kept in the bank vault. I’ll give you an hour’s time to bring it to us, and we’ll immediately release her. We’ll kill her otherwise."

An hour was just enough time for Dayton to make a round trip to the bank. They refused to give him more time for anything else.

His identity as the president of the Crowdstar Group could only be proven by retrieving something valuable using his identity as the president within the specific time given.

Dayton gritted his teeth, not knowing what to answer.

Dexter said from the headset, "Tell them that this is their last chance. We’ll kill them if anything happens to Xandra."

Dayton did as he was told. He then called his chauffeur to pick him up. The chauffeur was Joel.

This ploy had to be played out completely in order to convince Genome Society that Dayton was indeed the president of Crowdstar Group. Only then would there be an opportunity to contact the superiors supposedly above Mrs. Coleman.