Barnard thanked him and handed over a few more hundred-dollar bills.
Silas helped them secure the boat and pointed them in the right direction.
Barnard had memorized the map beforehand and knew the general coordinates.
To be safe, he naturally couldn't let anyone escort them. He and Laura awkwardly rowed the boat out themselves.
Soon, the boat was nothing more than a tiny black dot against the isolated island. It was only then that Davina heard the news and finally realized what had happened.
By the time she ran to the shore, Barnard's figure was completely out of sight.
Realizing the truth, Davina was paralyzed by shock. She let out a piercing scream. "Barnard! You bastard! You promised to take care of me forever, and now you ditch me to save your own skin!
"You scum! Scum! You heartless monster!"
Silas, having taken Barnard's money, felt compelled to intervene. He walked over to Davina and advised, "Lady, stop cursing at him. The young man did it for your own good.
"Whether he's your nephew or whatever, he thought it all through. He said the debt collectors are only after him and he didn't want to drag you down, so he left early.
"Look around, we have food and water here. If you want to stay, you can stay. If you want to leave, just wait a few days until someone heads out to sea, and you can hitch a ride with them."
Silas's earnest advice grated terribly on Davina's ears. All she could think about was that Barnard had actually dared to abandon her.
She collapsed onto the sand, screaming in pure hysteria. "Nephew?! He's my husband! You've all been scammed by him! He's not hiding from debt, he's escaping abroad to live in luxury! He dumped me here on purpose!
"A boat! Where is the boat?! Take me away right now! I'm going to chase after him!"
Silas was visibly stunned by her outburst, and his gaze quickly turned into one reserved for a lunatic.
She was begging for help while acting this arrogant? Was she crazy, or was he?
Her attitude was appalling, and she wasn't even offering any compensation. They weren't suckers; why would they go out of their way to help her?
Seeing Silas ignore her, Davina screamed again, "I'm talking to you! Are you deaf?!
"Get me out of here! I refuse to stay in this garbage dump! I'm going to find him!"
"Even if he is your husband, he's being hunted by debt collectors! Meanwhile, you arrived on the island and immediately started throwing money around. It doesn't take a genius to see your marriage wasn't built to last. Nobody ruined it for you."
"What do you know?! You're the ones who let him go! Find me a boat right now, or I'll call the cops and sue you all!" Davina shrieked.
Her completely unreasonable tantrum deeply offended the fishermen. Dorothy waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it. This woman refuses to listen to reason. Let's stay out of it and let her think things through on her own.
"Let's go, everyone. Let's go."
These villagers had lived honest lives and despised Davina's entitled behavior.
Whatever pity they had for her had been entirely snuffed out by her madness.
The crowd dispersed in silence, heading back to their homes. Davina remained sitting on the beach, throwing a fit. Just then, a shadow loomed behind her. A middle-aged man with a piece of dried grass dangling from his mouth stood over her.
He was excessively scrawny and radiated a sleazy aura. He clearly wasn't a good person.
He looked Davina up and down, his eyes lingering on the new clothes she had just bought. A calculative glint flashed in his eyes as he spoke. "Lady, you wanna leave? I'm heading out to sea anyway. Want to tag along?"

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