Chapter 153: Don't Worry About Me

Chapter 153: Don't Worry About Me

Their overlapping shadows shattered, in that instant, the tough front Penelope had been desperately holding together all this time.

Penelope buried her face deep in her blood-soaked palms, her shoulders shaking violently without control, her muffled sobs sounding utterly heartbreaking in the empty hallway.

Rapid footsteps came from the far end of the corridor. Sam rushed over with several armed bodyguards.

When he saw the state Penelope was in, his pupils contracted sharply.

"Penelope, those cuts on your feet need immediate attention. I've already arranged for the best surgeon to be waiting in the next room."

Sam stared at the glass wounds on the soles of her feet, still seeping blood, his voice thick with urgency and concern. He waved for a nearby nurse to bring over a wheelchair.

Penelope snapped her head up. Those bloodshot eyes swept coldly over Sam, her voice carrying a sharp edge that left no room for argument.

"I told you to leave me alone. If Dominic doesn't make it out, the entire medical team gets fired. Give me an update on the prison right now."

Sam flinched under that look like it might actually bite him, quickly straightened up, and flipped open the encrypted tablet in his hands.

"Donny sent good news half an hour ago. He submitted all that solid evidence we collected to the prison administration, and they approved it overnight."

"Every privilege Jonathan bought himself through his connections has been completely stripped. He's already been forcibly transferred to a maximum-security solitary cell."

As Sam gave his report, he turned the tablet screen toward Penelope. It showed secret surveillance footage of Jonathan being escorted to his new cell by several armed guards.

Penelope watched Jonathan on the screen — heavy shackles around his ankles — and finally let a cold, cruel smile curl at the corner of her mouth.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a blood-stained personal device.

"He's sitting in prison thinking he can still pull strings on the outside. Does he really think Preston's going to buy his way out?"

Fighting through the searing pain shooting up from her feet, she forced herself to stand and walk to the hallway window, her fingers flying across the screen.

"Sam, open the Cerberus physical access permissions for me. I'm going to show Preston what it really means to cut off the supply at the source."

The moment she got access, a dense wall of low-level code flooded her phone screen.

It was the Ward family's hidden offshore money pool structure.

Using the core encryption keys she'd cracked from the brass box and the braille letters, she forced her way directly into the money laundering channel Jonathan had been using to funnel funds to Preston.

"Two days ago Jonathan transferred two hundred million dollars into Aurelia's account through an illegal channel. That money is Preston's lifeline — it's what he uses to hire killers and keep the lab running."

Penelope said this in a flat, cold voice as her thumb pressed down hard on the red intercept button on the screen. A string of virus code instantly burrowed into their financial chain.

"I'm not just freezing this money. I'm packaging their entire dirty laundering network and posting it straight to the dark web's public marketplace."

Sam watched the data flooding across the screen, eyes wide. He knew exactly how brutal this move was.

Once that network went public, international anti-money laundering agencies and hungry hackers would swarm in like sharks catching the scent of blood.

Preston's funding would be completely cut off.

"Penelope, this is genius. Preston must be losing his mind right now. If his mercenaries don't get paid, they'll mutiny on the spot."

Sam's voice was shaking with excitement. The Ward family had been beating them down for so long — they'd finally found the other side's deadliest weak point and driven a knife straight into it.

Penelope stared at the green confirmation box on the screen showing the funds had been successfully frozen. There was no trace of joy in her eyes — only a bloodthirst that wanted to tear her enemies apart completely.

"This is just collecting a little interest. Every wound they put on Dominic, I'll make them pay back a hundred times over. Not one of them is getting away."

At the same moment, inside the maximum-security solitary cell at Stoneveil Penitentiary, the air was so heavy it was hard to breathe.

Jonathan sat in his oversized prison uniform, his once perfectly combed hair now disheveled, looking like a trapped animal pacing its cage.

The heavy iron door cracked open at the meal slot, and a tightly crumpled note was flicked in with practiced discretion.

Jonathan scrambled for it like a starving dog, and by the dim light of the cell, he made out the words written there.

"Two hundred million frozen. Money laundering network fully exposed. Preston says you're on your own."

The moment those words registered, Jonathan's deeply lined face began to twitch. He clutched the note in a white-knuckled grip, his whole body shaking.

The escape route he'd spent over a decade building. His last card to keep himself alive. All of it ripped out by the roots in the middle of the night, leaving nothing behind.

The crushing despair and fury broke straight through every wall of reason he had left. Jonathan suddenly jerked his head up, his clouded eyes locking onto the high-definition surveillance camera in the corner of the cell.

Then he started laughing — loud, unhinged laughter that bounced off the bare walls and made the guards outside feel their skin crawl.

"Penelope, you think you've won? You have no idea what Preston is truly capable of. He will drain every last drop of blood from your body!"

Jonathan lurched toward the iron door, both hands gripping the bars, and screamed something at the surveillance camera that sent a chill through everyone who heard it.

"You're all going to die. That test subject is a monster. She won't live past twenty-five!"

The surveillance feed from Stoneveil Penitentiary froze on the tablet screen — Jonathan's unhinged face twisted beyond recognition.

The air in the hospital hallway felt like it had solidified completely. Penelope stared at the screen, and for a moment, even her breathing stopped.

Sam held the tablet, cold sweat pouring down his face, not daring to look Penelope in the eye.

Then Penelope's personal device buzzed sharply in her hand. Sebastian's encrypted caller ID flashed on the screen.

She drew a slow, deep breath, forcing down the wave of dread rising in her chest, and pressed the answer button hard.

"Penelope, did you hear what Jonathan shouted at the end? My contact inside the prison just intercepted the full original audio file."