Broken Bond: Claimed by My Ex-Husband's Alpha Billionaire Uncle-Chapter 147: The First Breath of Freedom

"It’s okay. It’s okay, I’ve got you," Damon said as Charlotte shifted back into her human form. Her clothes had been torn apart, but Mona managed to find two coats for them.

The coats were wet, but it was still better than being naked.

Since it was her first transformation, her body felt weak as soon as she returned to human form. Damon immediately caught her and pulled her into his arms. "You’re alright," he whispered.

"Damon... Damon... I—no, we... we killed Julian." Charlotte’s voice trembled. She rested her head against his chest, her eyes filling with tears, not of sadness, but of overwhelming relief, because she had finally broken free from the chains that had bound her for so many years.

"I’m finally free..." she whispered.

Damon held her tighter, one hand cradling the back of her head as if he never wanted to let go. The chaos still raged around them, the ship creaked and groaned, but for a moment, none of it mattered.

"You are," he whispered softly. "You’re free now, Charlotte." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Her shoulders trembled as she cried quietly against him. Years of pain, fear, and helplessness poured out of her at last, but this time, the tears didn’t hurt.

They felt light.

Mona watched them in silence, her own eyes glistening. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. She simply pulled the wet coat closer around herself and let Charlotte have this moment.

Damon brushed a strand of damp hair away from Charlotte’s face and kissed the top of her head.

"No one will ever hurt you again," he said gently. "Not while I’m here."

They wanted to stay in that moment a little longer, but then Mona finally spoke. "I’m happy for both of you, I really am. But I think we should get out of here first."

Charlotte lowered her head, realizing that the water had already risen up to their waists. Panic suddenly rushed through her. "I don’t think we can go back the same way we came earlier."

If the upper part of the sinking ship was already flooded, then the lower decks were definitely completely underwater.

But since Damon was no longer affected by the poison, and neither was his mother, he no longer looked panicked.

"Don’t worry," he said calmly. "We can make our own way out."

Charlotte didn’t understand what he meant at first until Damon shattered the restaurant window, creating an opening big enough for them to escape through.

"Did the other passengers make it out too?" Charlotte asked, mostly to herself. "There were so many children..."

"We can only hope they managed to escape before the ship truly sinks," Damon said.

After all, the rest of the ship was already going under, and it was too late to search the corridors for survivors.

Charlotte knew that too, so she immediately climbed out through the opening after Mona. When Damon was about to follow them, he glanced at Julian’s severed wolf head floating in the water, and decided to take it with him.

Once they made it outside, they had to cling to the window frame because the ship was already tilting at a sharp angle. Waves crashed against the side of the vessel, pulling everything toward the sea below.

"Hold on," Damon warned them. "When I say jump... jump."

Charlotte swallowed hard. Her fingers tightened around the slippery metal. Mona nodded silently, fear clear in her eyes, but she still trusted her son.

"Now!"

They jumped.

Cold water swallowed them instantly. Charlotte gasped as the icy shock rushed through her body. Damon pulled her close, keeping one arm wrapped around her while helping Mona stay afloat with the other.

"Hey, there are people who just jumped!" someone on one of the lifeboats shouted when they spotted them from afar. "We need to help them!"

"No way! Our lifeboat is already full! And what if they’re the terrorists who sank our ship?!"

Charlotte’s teeth chattered from the cold water. She thought what they said didn’t make sense, because they had clearly seen Ronan and the Silverfang Pack leave the ship earlier.

However, she could still understand them because they were terrified and panicked.

"Do you think Ronan will come back for us?" Charlotte asked, glancing at Julian’s severed wolf head floating not far from them. "After all, his son is still here."

Not long after she said that, she heard the sound of engines approaching, not just one or two boats, but dozens of them. Up in the sky, several helicopters were also flying toward their location.

"I see Damon and Charlotte down there!" Diana shouted from the open side door of a helicopter. She held onto the frame with one hand, while the other gripped a megaphone. "Test! Test! Damon, my brother, are you still alive?! If not, Louis said he wants to be Alpha!"

Louis immediately pulled Diana back inside the helicopter and snatched the megaphone from her.

"No, Damon, she’s lying! Just give me a large sum of money so I can take my wife and daughter on a month-long vacation! That’s the least you can do for letting us save you!"

Even in the middle of the freezing ocean, Charlotte couldn’t help but let out a weak laugh. Damon sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"I think the Crimson Moon Pack and the Nocturnal Order managed to track us," Damon said. "Before I turned off my phone, I sent them an emergency signal."

"Oh, I didn’t know that," Charlotte replied in surprise.

"Of course," Damon said calmly. "I was afraid others might find out, so I didn’t want to mention it openly."

Charlotte let out a small breath of relief. "So... you were already planning a way out."

Damon gave a faint smile. "I always plan for the worst, especially when it comes to you."

The boats that had just arrived turned out to belong to the Nocturnal Order, and it seemed they had successfully captured Ronan and his pack.

"Alpha Damon!"

The Elder himself had joined the mission to surround them. "Thank the Moon Goddess that you’re safe!"