Chapter 1210: A thousand times wouldn’t be enough.

"It’s just like that time. When others make a mistake, you try to fix it. You were lenient with them, only giving warnings. But I made one—just one—and that was helping you. Yet, I didn’t get the same leniency you had for others. If anything, what I got was a devastating punishment."

A thick silence settled in the cockpit as neither spoke after Penny’s remark. Atlas kept his eyes on the back of her head, watching as she pressed another button so casually.

"You want the truth—the full story. Why?" Penny glanced over her shoulder. "Can you even handle a fraction of it, Atlas?"

"I can handle anything."

"Anything, huh?" She rocked her head, laughing to herself. "Well, you’re Atlas Bennet. I suppose you would say that."

"Penny, if you don’t want to talk about it—"

"If I could make a wish right now, it would be for you to remember everything instead of Slater," she cut him off. "I hate you all equally, but I could be more lenient with our third brother. Why? Because, unlike you, he didn’t come to prison just to make sure I knew I had screwed up. Big time."

"What does that mean?"

Penny smirked and looked back at him. "Exactly what it sounds like."

"I didn’t do it. I’m innocent. Please believe me," she recited monotonously. "Those were the words I repeated over and over, screaming to the world until my throat bled. But no one listened. Not you. Not Slater. No one."

"From what I heard, someone did listen and believed me. The problem was, he wasn’t the person I wanted to believe me at that time. Not a stranger, because it only shows just how screwed my life was."

She let out a short, bitter laugh before continuing. "The only person I was hoping would believe I didn’t commit such crimes was you." Her smile twisted into something sharp and mocking. "But... what did you tell me? ’It’s your fault. The court has decided. You admitted to your crimes. Why are you still lying? I knew it. You’re jealous. I’ve always known you were bad news, and I was right.’"

Penny recited the words effortlessly, as if they had been carved into her memory. A conversation she wished had never happened. But alas, it felt like it just happened a day ago.

"When it comes to something as bad as committing a crime, that was the only time you listened to me. When I admitted to bearing ill intent, you easily believed it. Why? Because it was easier to accept that your real sister — the one who carries the same blood as you — was exactly what you always thought she was. A nuisance. Someone capable of the unspeakable," she added in the same measured tone. But there was no sadness, no heartbreak in her voice. Only anger. "But when I told you my truth, my heart — I was a liar."

Atlas’s mouth parted, but no words came out. He didn’t want to believe it. This didn’t sound like him. He had never neglected his siblings. He had always listened and supported them behind the scenes. Even Nina—he had looked out for her from a distance.

This version of him, the one Penny spoke of, was a stranger. And yet, how could he deny her words when she spoke with such bitterness and disbelief?

"Do you know how I got incarcerated?" Penny resumed in the same calm tone. "Because one of your shipments contained illegal drugs and trafficked humans."

Atlas stiffened.

"I was the one who approved the shipment because when I came to your office, you were asleep at your desk. I thought I’d help out, even though I hadn’t slept in 72 hours."

She let out another laugh. "The shipment was one thing, but what really riled up the public was all the other allegations about Global Prime Logistics: corruption, bribery, and all sorts of scandals."

Penny scoffed, her expression darkening. "It’s funny. Before that, I was a nobody. Then the scandal happened, and suddenly, I was the spoiled, out-of-control heiress who let our family’s wealth go to her head. The girl who thought she was above everyone else."

Another giggle escaped her lips. "Isn’t that interesting?" She glanced at him, eyes twinkling with mockery. "One day, I was the neglected, unwanted child of the Bennet family—someone unfit to be a Bennet. The next day, I was this overly spoiled princess, corrupted because another family raised me.

"How I wish I was who they said I was. It wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much if that were true." She shrugged, smirking as she shook her head. "Atlas Bennet, you shouldn’t have come that day. If you hadn’t, I could’ve deluded myself into thinking my brothers were doing ’something’ to help me—at least to lessen my punishment. I could’ve kept pretending that even if you thought I was useless, you still believed I couldn’t have done something like that."

"I devoted my life to research. To save people, not kill them. The capital punishment was already too much for a real criminal—but for an innocent person?" Her voice shook. Her eyes stopped blinking. She kept her gaze ahead. "Maybe I would’ve held onto that false hope a little longer. But you came and crushed it."

"You didn’t just let me know you had given up on me. You were the one who delivered the news of my execution date." A shallow, ridiculing laugh escaped her. "So, did you deserve to be stripped and caged in front of the whole world?" Her eyes flickered with something dark and unforgiving. "You deserved worse, you asshole. You deserve a far worse punishment for showing me what it’s like beneath rock bottom."

"And for making me remember exactly how it felt to sit in that chair and smell my own body burn from the inside out."

Slowly, Penny turned her head toward him, eyes cold and merciless.

"You wanted the truth? Then there you go. I will kill you, Atlas Bennet. A thousand times wouldn’t be enough. Just like how I begged you, you’ll beg as many times as you want and I won’t listen. Go and leave this place, but I’m not letting go of this seat."