Reborn In a Murderer’s Embrace

Melody glared at me with a venomous intensity, a silent threat hanging in the tension between

1. us.

“Make my life hell, and I’ll drag you down with me,” her eyes seemed to say.

Her confidence in tarnishing my name and linking me to a murderer made me waver a bit.

I knew all too well that Foebe, the woman whose life I had inexplicably stepped into, had some shady dealings with the murderer.

And there I was, stuck in Foebe’s shoes.

“If that’s the case, I’m gonna need you both to stay put here in Sea City for the time being,” Robin said, glancing at me as he prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he paused. “You claim to be best friends with Phoebe. Did you know about that close call she had at the Nocturne bar, where some creep nearly took advantage of her?”

Robin was fishing for something, I could tell.

I shot Dexter a frosty look. “Yeah, Phoebe told me about it. Hank.texted her, saying that Dexter got smashed at Nocturne. It was pouring that night, and she was all panicky when she told me about it. I even warned her–said it wasn’t safe to go with the storm raging like that.”

Dexter tensed up, guilt written all over him.

He hung his head low, fists clenched tight. “Stop it…” he muttered.

He didn’t want to hear it.

But I was determined to spill it.

“Phoebe, soaked to the bone, hopped in a cab and dashed over to Nocturne only to find Dexter sober as a judge. It was all a sick bet with his cronies to see how fast ‘loyal little Phoebe‘ would come running.”

That night, they mocked me.

Labeling me Dexter’s lapdog, they wagered on my response time–ten minutes, twenty, whatever. They jeered and used every filthy word and trick to provoke and ridicule me.

And there I was, foolishly thinking Dexter was wasted, braving the thunder and lightning, facing my worst fears, only to be met with unabashed humiliation.

“Stop it…” Dexter shuddered, backing away as if pleading for me to shut up.

“Phoebe was petrified of storms, terrified of thunder, scared stiff of driving in the rain since her folks died in a crash on a wet day!”

But I wouldn’t stop; I just had to say it!

10:11

“Even though she was scared out of her wits, crying over the phone, she was afraid for you, Dexter. And she still went! And what did she get? You let Kyle molest her! You watched your pack of fair– weather friends whoop and holler as they stripped her dignity, tore at her clothes. pinned her down on that couch, trying to…”

“Enough!” Dexter’s breaths came in ragged gasps, on the brink of madness.

Maybe I had been too graphic, striking a nerve.

He lunged to silence me but was knocked aside by Caleb’s punch.

Caleb was like a raging beast, his eyes locked on Dexter, ready to tear him apart.

I laughed, though I should have felt triumphant tears wet my eyes instead. I was filled with hate–for my past weakness, my cowardice, my ignorance, my blindness. And I hated Dexter for everything he had done to me.

“Please, just stop,” he begged from the floor, covering his ears, a stark contrast to his usual

arrogance.

He was like a groveling beggar, pleading for me to hold my tongue.

But I just stared at him, cruelly continuing. “Dexter, have you forgotten what you did after you kicked them all out? How you ignored Phoebe’s pleas and protests, how you forced yourself on her right in front of the Nocturne staff? How you left her there, half–naked and alone after you were done?”

I squatted in front of Dexter, prying his hands away, shouting into his face. “You said that a hooker was worth eight hundred bucks, but she wasn’t even worth that much to you! So after you left, that Nocturne staff grabbed Phoebe, asking for her price! Then she walked out, disheveled, only to be dragged into an alley by some drunken fools! If someone hadn’t saved her, she would’ve died that night!”

“Foebe Larson!” Dexter snapped, pushing me, away in a frenzy.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .