Penny should’ve known that Wild had a habit of mixing his drinks with alcoholic beverages. Wild, after all, might look a little wild, but he had long since changed his drinking style. He didn’t like the raw taste of alcohol anymore, and so he’d started making ladies’ drinks.
What was certain, though, was that Wild had gotten better at mixing them. The drinks didn’t taste as bad as straight alcohol, but they still had that kick.
It was just that Penny had been careless and had gotten her instant karma for stealing so of their food.
And now, here she was—the drunken Penny—riding with Jonathan.
***
[PRESENT TI]
"I saw you there. Right before I died."
Penny humd, studying Jonathan’s profile. She had wanted to abduct this guy even before Cassandra’s arrest. However, she hadn’t done it, because Penny was confident she could handle whatever Jonathan threw at her.
But Jonathan had thrown a curveball at soone else.
No one had seen that coming.
"Why?" she asked again, her voice low. "Nathan?"
This ti, Jonathan’s breath hitched, and his heart skipped a beat. He cast her another quick look, wide-eyed.
Penny raised her brows at him. "You’re not the only one doing your research. I know about you, Nathaniel. And I’ll keep digging until I uncover your worst secret."
"..." Jonathan stared ahead, his unblinking eyes fixed on the windshield, his hand gripped tightly around the steering wheel.
How did she know? He wondered. I erased all my records from that orphanage. Did I miss sothing?
One of the conditions Jonathan had with one of his deals was to erase all records related to his ti at the orphanage. Considering the people he dealt with, no one should have known about it.
But Penny knew.
And this wasn’t just a guess. If soone looked into Jonathan’s history, they would have found sothing completely different. Instead of the orphanage, they would have found an entirely different story.
After all, he claid he was raised abroad, not in Anteca. If Penny knew this, it also ant Zoren knew.
Fuck... just how close were they to the truth?
"Uh-oh," Penny mused, smirking. "You didn’t think I’d find out, huh? Why? Did you get it erased?"
Her eyes twinkled with amusent, already guessing what had happened. Jonathan’s files were encrypted and hidden, but not deleted. If Jonathan himself had deleted them, they would be gone—but only an expert would know how to retrieve them. After all, not many people knew about this, but there were ways to find deleted files.
Deletion was just erasing the shortcut to access the file. It would always remain unless the person who deleted it was an expert. In that case, it would be unrecoverable.
"I guess the person you asked to delete the file is planning to get rid of you, huh?" she whispered like a devil in his ear, chuckling. She was just making wild guesses now. "Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found it."
"..." Jonathan remained silent, his eyes still focused on the road.
"So?" Her eyelashes fluttered ever so tenderly. "Will you answer my question? Or should I go ahead and visit the police station where Cassandra Smith was held and help the detectives out a bit? I hear they’re still looking for more survivors from the orphanage. An extra witness might make them co after you with promises of protection."
Jonathan cast her a quick look again, teeth clenched. If this was her plan to corner him, then it was working. But as he glared at her, he couldn’t help but notice that there was sothing wrong with her; he was sure of it. It reminded him of that ti during the fan club reunion.
"Do you have a split personality or sothing?" he sneered. "Penelope Bennet, I don’t know what you’re talking about—"
"You know exactly what I’m talking about," she hissed, grabbing his chest and slamming him back into his seat. "Jonathan, I don’t like Cassandra, and I don’t care about her case. She could die for all I care. But I also don’t mind implicating you in it."
She moved her face closer to his. "I stayed in prison for months and died at the hands of the law. Do you really think I don’t understand this? I danced with it once, and I don’t mind dancing with it again."
And this ti, it wouldn’t just be her dancing to the tune.
"Who... are they, Nathan?" she demanded, her voice firm and unwavering. "The people you’re working for."
Jonathan slowed the car, his eyes sharp on the road. He threw her a quick, sharp glare before looking back ahead.
"I don’t know," he exhaled, his voice low. "And even if I did, why would I tell you?"
"Is that what you want it to be?"
"Penelope Bennet, you’re playing with fire and will end up getting burned. If I were you, I’d stay out of other people’s business. Isn’t it enough for you that you’re not being implicated in it?"
"I was already implicated from the very start."
Jonathan sneered. "You’re going to die... because you were always ant to die."
Penny arched a brow, studying the wicked look on his face.
"Like I said before, I don’t plan on doing anything to you anymore... so stop poking your nose where it doesn’t belong," he hissed, glancing in the rearview mirror. "If you don’t want to die at the hands of the law again."
He smirked and added, "You’re still going to die, though. This ti, just by a different hand."
A mont of tense silence overtook the vehicle as Penny kept her eyes on his side profile, while Jonathan remained focused on the road.
"I’m dropping you off once we’re off this highway," he added. "Next ti you ambush like this, I’ll call the cops."
"Hah," Penny let out a shallow laugh, biting her lips as she mused, "If there’s a next ti for you."
Jonathan hissed as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror. Penny, in turn, looked at the side mirror and narrowed her eyes.
"Never mind. Just get out of here now—" Before he could finish, Penny’s voice cut in.
"Crap," she spat, and without hesitation, she yanked a lever, forcing Jonathan’s seat to recline all the way back.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
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