"I don’t know," Damon replied. "But if revenge is what he’s after, I doubt soone like him would let us die that easily."
"Then..." Charlotte looked up at the part of the ship that wasn’t tilted or sinking yet. "I guess we have to climb up."
The cruise ship had four floors, and Charlotte instantly crossed out the bottom two because they were closest to where the explosion happened. That left only two floors, but since there were so many rooms, it would still be difficult to find the cure.
"The restaurant," she said suddenly. "It’s probably the last place that will sink."
She wasn’t completely sure, but it was their best bet right now.
Damon nodded. "I think so too." He quickened his pace and grabbed Charlotte’s arm so they wouldn’t get separated. "Let’s go."
On Damon’s back, Mona didn’t say anything at all. She had lost all her energy, and the only thing she could do was breathe.
All around them, people were slipping and falling from above. Everyone was trying to get out of the ship, but because it was tilted so badly, only the strongest could hold on. The others either slamd into the walls or got stuck between fallen objects.
anwhile, neither Damon nor Charlotte had any trouble climbing up. Damon had trendous stamina, and even though Charlotte wasn’t as strong as him, she could still keep up by holding onto his arm.
Once they reached the restaurant, everything was already a ss. The tables were still in place because their legs were fixed to the floor, but plates and glasses were scattered everywhere.
"I sll it," Damon suddenly said. "The antidote. I can sll it."
His expression hardened, and his eyes looked extrely focused, as if he had locked onto his prey. Charlotte didn’t say anything when she saw Damon sniffing around for the antidote’s scent because she didn’t want to disturb him.
After a while, Charlotte said, "Maybe it’s inside the locked shelf."
Before Damon could take another step, a cold, familiar voice echoed from behind the overturned counter.
"You’re looking for this?"
Charlotte froze, and Damon instantly moved in front of her, his body tense like a drawn bow.
From behind the counter, Julian stepped out, holding a small glass vial between his fingers. The antidote glimred under the ergency lights.
Charlotte frowned and hissed, "Damn it, Julian! Why are you still here?!"
Honestly, she would rather sink with the ship than have to look at his face again. She was so sick of him, so sick that she felt like she might throw up right then and there.
"Oh, don’t be like that, my wife." Julian flashed a smile, acting as if nothing was wrong. "I didn’t want to say this in front of my father earlier, but Charlotte... I miss you."
Charlotte almost gagged. The feeling of disgust was so strong she had to swallow it down, and what made it worse was rembering that she used to blush whenever he confessed things like that.
How could she ever have loved soone like him?
Damon tried to step forward, but his legs suddenly weakened. He staggered, barely catching himself on a nearby table.
"Damon?!" Charlotte grabbed his arm in panic.
His breathing turned heavy, and his skin grew pale. Only then did Charlotte notice the faint black veins crawling up his neck, the sa ones spreading across Mona’s body.
"What?" Charlotte stared at him in disbelief. "How did the poison spread to you too?"
She reached out to touch his face, but Damon quickly turned away from her.
"Don’t touch !" he snapped, though Charlotte could hear the fear—not anger—in his voice. "The poison... I think it spreads through skin contact. So don’t touch ."
It seed like the poison took so ti to travel from one person’s skin to another, and since Damon had carried Mona for so long, the poison could easily transfer to him.
As for her... she had been holding Damon’s arm, but his sleeve had been between their skin the whole ti. They never touched directly long enough for the poison to jump to her.
But that didn’t make her feel any better.
Julian, on the other side, clapped his hands a few tis, mocking them. "How touching," he said, tilting his head. "Really sweet. Almost makes feel bad." He twirled both vials between his fingers. "Almost."
Wait, two vials? Julian brought two antidotes with him?
From that alone, it was clear they had already predicted this would happen. They were sure Damon would carry his mother, so the poison would spread to his body as well.
How wicked.
Charlotte bit her inner lip, and fury burned in her eyes. "Julian, stop this!" she demanded. "Why is it so hard for you to stay away from ?! I just want to live a peaceful life with my mate!"
Julian’s smile slowly faded. He clicked his tongue and spat on the floor. "Your mate? Charlotte, I am your mate! We’ve been together for years, so how could you forget just like that?!"
"You’re not my mate," she said through clenched teeth. "You never were."
Julian’s expression darkened instantly. "Oh? Then what was I, Charlotte?" he asked, his voice rising. "A toy? A placeholder? Soone you could just throw away once you found sothing better?"
This man... Charlotte truly couldn’t understand why he couldn’t process information correctly in his own head.
He acted like a victim, when in reality he was the one who kept breaking her heart over and over again, to the point where Charlotte struggled to trust anyone else.
She even needed so much ti before she could finally respond to Damon’s confession properly.
"Julian, shut the fuck up," Charlotte snapped. "I’m so sick of your bullshit."
Julian smiled again. "Oh, Charlotte. You really shouldn’t try to make angry." He twirled the vials even faster between his fingers. "Right now, I’m holding the lives of your precious mate and his mother."
"Charlotte, just go," Damon forced himself to speak through clenched teeth. "I’ll be fine."
No, he wouldn’t be fine.
The poison was already making his body stiff.
If Charlotte left them now, both Damon and Mona would die.
"Why do you look so sad?" Julian asked mockingly. "It’s not like I won’t give you the antidotes. You found them, after all."
His smile widened as he said, "But there’s one condition..." He lifted the vials higher. "I want Charlotte to co with . In exchange."
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