Chapter 1391: Chose to trust her

"Wait a minute..." Penny trailed off, narrowing her eyes as she processed the information. "Jonathan was supposed to be adopted, but then the family that was going to adopt him got into an accident. That stopped the adoption process, and then he ran away with ten other kids."

"And those ten children just disappeared without a trace," she whispered, leaning back as she pondered it. She had read the report from start to finish. There were a lot of alarming details, but none of them answered the million other questions swirling in her mind.

Bzt... bzt...

The sudden buzz of her phone cut through the quiet room. Glancing at the screen, Penny unhesitatingly picked it up.

"Hey there," she greeted, a slight smirk tugging at her lips. "On the way here now?"

"Mhm," came Zoren’s voice from the other end. "Are you still at the office?"

"Mhm."

"Drunk?"

"Not drunk."

"Tipsy?"

"No." A shallow laugh escaped Penny as her eyes flicked toward the bottle of wine. "I didn’t even take a sip."

"Why?" he asked, curious. Earlier, his wife had messaged him, saying she might drink tonight because she needed a pair of ’fresh’ eyes—meaning the drunk version of herself.

Penny shrugged, shifting her gaze to her computer. "Uncle Wild sent me a report about some kids from the orphanage."

"And?"

"And..." she trailed off, sighing heavily. "That orphanage needs to be shut down, Renren. They’re not just placing children into new homes—they’re trafficking them under the guise of adoption. According to these reports, most of the adopted kids died sometime after they were adopted."

"All of them?"

"Most. Ninety percent. The other ten percent..." She exhaled sharply, bitterness rising in her throat. "They’re barely hanging on, clinging to life in a hospital."

A heavy silence settled between them.

These were children, after all.

Children who believed they would be cared for and loved in their new homes, only to meet a cruel fate. A part of her could relate. At one point, she had been a child full of hope—only to be beaten down by the harsh reality of life.

Even though she had turned her life around in this second chance, that other reality still existed.

"I read everything in here, and aside from these deaths, there’s something else these cases have in common. The foster families share more similarities than just their wealth and reputation. Not only are they rich and respectable, but in every case, a member of their family was ill." Penny leaned forward, setting Zoren’s phone on speaker as she pulled up files on her laptop.

"I did some quick digging myself," she continued, stopping at an article about a politician in another country. "Craigo Boze, a city mayor from a small town in Hevny. He adopted a girl named Irish two and a half decades ago. But just two years later, she drowned in a river during a camping trip."

She paused, eyes scanning the photo in the article. "This man has three children. The youngest is a boy—his only son. From what I uncovered, his son had a rare disease and needed surgery. But they couldn’t find a donor match."

Another silence stretched between them. She knew Zoren was listening carefully, even if he wasn’t saying anything.

"That girl..." Zoren finally spoke.

"She was a match," Penny confirmed. "A perfect match," she added bitterly. "Twenty years later, his son is getting married. And he’s also running for mayor."

Penny sighed. "I know this isn’t the problem I should be focusing on, but I can’t turn a blind eye. These kids... they have no idea they’re being sold as life support, their lives traded away to keep another child alive."

"I’ll give Mint a call," Zoren said. "Or have you already?"

"No, not yet."

"Then let me do it."

Penny nodded, having no objections. This might be outside Mint’s jurisdiction, but she trusted Mint to find someone who could help.

"I’ll send you the files," she said decisively. "Are you nearby?"

"No. I’ll be there in an hour."

Penny’s brows lifted in surprise. "Weren’t you supposed to have a meeting just twenty minutes away from my office? Did you change locations?"

"No." Zoren glanced down at the file on his lap. "My last meeting ended early, but I had to pick something up."

"Something you had to pick up personally?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Mhm." He leaned back, staring out the car window. "I met with someone who knows the Russel family."

That got Penny’s full attention. "Did you find anything?"

"The Russel family... they’re dead."

"What?"

"They died in a fire twenty years ago," Zoren continued. "The people we know as the Russel family—they weren’t the real ones. It’s better if I just show you."

—

One and a half hours later...

Zoren leaned against Penny’s desk, watching as she read through the documents he had brought. Her brows were tightly knitted in concentration, her lips slightly parted in astonishment.

"This is a gold mine," she murmured, looking up at him. "Renren, with this alone... I think we can take him down."

"Not yet." Zoren shook his head. "Revealing this information would, at best, get him kicked out of the Pierson family. But I doubt he’d face any real consequences. Even if he did, the charges wouldn’t be enough to put him behind bars."

"That cunning bastard—" Penny clicked her tongue. "He’s making sure to stay out of prison, isn’t he?"

This wasn’t a simple case of identity theft. Jonathan hadn’t stolen someone’s identity—he had become part of an entire fraudulent family. He could easily claim he knew nothing about their crimes and spin a sob story about growing up as an orphan.

"Penny." Zoren’s voice was solemn, drawing her attention. When she met his gaze, he hesitated for a moment before saying, "Stop investigating."

"What?"

"I don’t like the feeling I’m getting," he admitted. "Let me handle this."

Penny frowned, reaching for his hand. "Don’t you trust me?"

"I do. But I’m starting to worry. I feel like I need to stop you before it’s too late." His eyelids drooped slightly, concern flickering in his eyes. "Let me take care of this."

"Renren." Penny let out a shallow sigh, offering him a small, reassuring smile. "I know you’re worried about me, but... this is a fight I won’t back down from. I won’t let them play with my life again."

Zoren stared at her. Penny met his gaze, unwavering, her expression filled with quiet determination.

The worry in his heart remained, but in the end, he chose to trust his wife. "Very well."