Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

They gradually stopped exchanging handwritten letters.

I flipped through the contents of the box, but I couldn’t find any other letters between the two of them. Everything else in the basement seemed to have gradually lost any traces of Sarah’s presence.

That meant that she had disappeared in this villa while waiting for Andy.

The basement was filled with the things Sarah had used-even the cosmetics from the past era that had been used a little and then left to dry up in their bottles over time.

I carefully looked around the basement. It was eerily huge as the villa itself was huge. I was currently three levels down the basement. It felt spacious and terrifying.

I saw another box at a corner no further away. Upon opening it, I took a glance and recognized the person in the photo-it was Ms. Ewing when she was younger.

She wasn’t pretty when she was younger. There was a total of three people in the photo-Sarah, Andy, and Ms. Ewing.

She was smiling at the camera, standing behind the two of them. I could tell that she was rather young back then-around her late teens. She was probably one of the household staff in this villa.

As compared to Ms. Ewing, Sarah was simply breathtaking in the photo. In a time when beauty filters did not exist, she was truly stunning in this old photo.

There were some daily necessities and a diary in Ms. Ewing’s box. The early entries were filled with everyday details, but the only highlight was her envy of Sarah and Andy’s relationship.

Ms. Ewing wrote, "Mr. Black truly pampers Ms. Leigh a lot. He buys her an entire wardrobe of expensive clothes just for her. He even gifted her the expensive cosmetics and jewelry that I’ve only seen on TV.

"He also makes sure to get the finest ingredients delivered daily. The life of a wealthy wife is truly enviable." She also wrote, "Mr. Black is such a fine man. Ms. Leigh has been staying here for over half a year now, and he’s only here to keep her company. Not once did he ever do something else. He said he’d only get intimate with Ms. Leigh after their marriage.

"It’s really rare to find someone like him. I’m not even sure what I could do to find someone like Mr. Black." At the end of the diary, Ms. Ewing wrote, ’Ms. Leigh has disappeared. She probably left the villa in a fit of anger. Mr. Black treats her so well, yet she still ran away. She even told me to run and not to trust anyone. She told me that there were evil spirits here. She must have lost her mind!"

Chills ran down my spine after reading it. Was this villa haunted?

Suddenly, I heard a crunching noise coming from behind me. Alerted, I stood up and shone my flashlight over in that direction.

A shadow flashed by, emitting a strange noise

My chest tightened as I slowly moved over. Fear began to spread within me, and it felt oddly unsettling.

"I’m scared, Dexter!" I instinctively screamed for Dexter when the light hit the wall and an eerie shadow appeared.

But I immediately calmed down as soon as I screamed.

Who exactly was Dexter?

"Who’s there?" I warily asked the shadow hiding in the corner.

The figure did not reply to me but continued to make a crunching noise.

Ibraved myself and walked over, nearly vomiting in disgust. Crouched in the corner was a woman dressed in a filthy nightgown with messy hair. She was eating a rat raw.

"Who are you?" I asked tentatively.

She suddenly froze, turning over eerily and staring right at me.

Upon seeing me, she lunged at me as if crazed. "Die! All of you should die!"

She knocked me into the ground, and I hit my head hard.

I could make out her face under the dim lights. Time hadn’t left too much of its marks on her face. I figured that she was Sarah Leigh-the original owner of this villa.

Why was she living such a bizarre life in the basement?

I glanced at Sarah’s clothes. Although they were dirty, there were still parts that were clean.

I pushed her away and saw that there was a bowl with remnants of food at the corner where she was

crouching. Someone must have been keeping her hidden down here all this while.

"All of you deserve to die... You’re not me-not me. Die! Die!" she started mumbling as if she had lost her mind." Not me... You’re not me. I’m the only one... only one..."

I looked at Sarah and realized that she wasn’t very aggressive. She got frightened and retreated back to her corner when I stood up. I could tell that she had completely lost her mind.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

Sarah looked at me and started smiling suddenly. ’Kill them all... All of you, go kill them all."

I frowned, unable to understand her babbling.

She continued, "Oh, Andy loves me. If he doesn’t, he should die.’

"Sophia!" Damien’s anxious shout came from upstairs. He was looking for me.

It seemed like he wasn’t familiar with this villa. Despite me calling out for him down here, he did not come down to the basement immediately. It took him a while to come down with other people.

"Sophia!" Damien hurriedly hugged me. ’Don’t wander around. This villa is just too dangerous.

"Who is she?" I asked him.

Damien and his bodyguards almost screamed out of shock. Clearly, he did not know who Sarah was.

"She’s the person we’re looking for-Sarah Leigh."

Zion and Eason came down from the stairs.

"It seems like Angel was telling the truth. Sarah escaped from the laboratory years ago and has been hiding in the basement of this villa ever since. Angel has been coming in regularly to provide her food."

"How did she manage to escape?" Zion asked, curious. "Even though the laboratory might not be impenetrable, it’s incredibly difficult to escape alive."

Eason replied, ’Angel is part of the Rebels. She said that the Rebels rescued Sarah many years ago."

I looked at Zion and Eason, feeling confused. I felt that they were familiar. I seemed to know them, but I just couldn’t remember anything.

"Oh, you’re even treating Una like she’s Sophia now?’ Eason asked sarcastically.

Damien did not reply to him. He hugged me tightly in his embrace, as if afraid of something.

"She’s the only one from the group of missing persons who escaped alive, though she seems to have lost her sanity. "Eason walked over to examine Sarah closely. "What kind of advanced techniques did they use on her? She looks like she’s in her 30s."

Sarah looked well-maintained.

"She hasn’t seen the sunlight for years, and oxidation is slow in a controlled environment. That must be the reason her aging process slowed down,’ Zion said, checking the time. "We’ll bring her back for now. We haven’t found Dexter yet, so we need to stay cautious."

"They say that he’s dead. There’s no survivor from the explosion in Daisy’s laboratory, so perhaps..." Eason’s tone was tinged with sadness.

"No, he wouldn’t die," Zion said, refusing to accept the reality of Dexter’s death.

"Sofia is his everything. You’ve seen the way he would risk everything to protect her. But we’ve found Sofia’s body, and the DNA results confirm that it’s her-she’s dead! So, how could Dexter still be alive?" Eason looked as if he was venting his frustration.

"I won’t believe that he’s dead unless I see his body. ’Zion then instructed someone to take Sarah away.

He glanced at me as he walked past before telling Damien, ’She’s also a clone subject. We’ll need to get her cooperation and have her do a genetic test with Sarah’

"Dexter... " I grabbed Zion’s wrist before he could leave. "Who’s Dexter?"

Damien started panicking and hugged me instinctively. "He’s nobody, Sophia. There’s no one with that name. You must be tired. Let’s go back to rest."

Zion frowned before turning to look at Damien suspiciously. "Isn’t she Una, Damien?"