Chapter 674: Not a charity

"Well, since we’re all here, how about we talk about some important business?" Penny clapped as she idled on the sofa with Wild and Yugi, who were still grilling some fish. "Where should we start? This quarter’s income graph?"

Wild scrunched up his nose. "I’m not interested in how much you earned. I’m interested in your husband."

"Same..." Yugi shrugged. "And my car. Give me Atlas’s contact number."

"No can do." Penny waved dismissively and sighed. "Never mind. Let’s not talk about the boring stuff."

"You think your husband is boring?" Yugi asked, earning a deadly glare from Penny. "Ah. The boring one is the income graph, huh? Surely, a billionaire doesn’t care about finances. It’s boring!"

"How can you be a billionaire and not care about money?" Wild snorted at Yugi. "Yugi, my boy, did you turn daft?"

"Uncle Wild, I’m just bored."

"Bored doesn’t necessarily mean being dumb."

"But it does make one say a bunch of nonsense."

"But — well, you have a point." Wild nodded at Yugi and gave him a thumbs-up. "You’re not dumb. Good job."

Yugi grinned. "Thanks, Uncle Wild. Your compliments are the best."

Again, Penny chewed on her food while shaking her head. If other people knew what kind of conversation the people behind the Prime Group were having, they would be surprised. It even surprised her how the three of them could talk nonsense but still get things done.

"Anyway, ahem!" This time, Wild’s expression grew solemn as he faced Penny. "Any news about Nathaniel?"

"I got him."

"I was just thinking..." Wild trailed off, looking at Penny in confusion. Even Yugi furrowed his brows, disbelief etched on his face.

After a beat, both Yugi and Wild exclaimed, "What did you say?!"

Penny flinched and touched her ears. "Why are you guys yelling?"

"Penny, you do understand that I’ve had to stay out of Anteca for a while just to look for that guy, right?" Yugi gasped in dismay. "Why didn’t you tell us you already caught him?"

"It’s a... it’s a long story." She cleared her throat. "Actually, I got him by accident."

"What do you mean by accident?" Wild frowned. "You don’t just get that guy by accident when the Phantom Circle has their hands on him."

The smile lines on Penny’s face faded as her brows slowly rose. She gazed at Wild and then at Yugi, who was well aware of her affairs and all the stuff that didn’t involve the business.

"Hah..." Penny leaned back, lowering her eyes as she squinted. "That slipped my mind."

"What slipped your mind?" Yugi blurted out, watching her glance at him.

"That it was the Phantom Circle that got him," she clarified, biting her lips as she pondered it.

’It completely slipped my mind because, at that time, I was... I was going crazy with two Penelopes in me,’ she thought. ’But now that Uncle Wild mentioned it, he did say it was the Phantom Circle that got Nathaniel.’

If so, how did Nathaniel end up in the guest house of Zoren’s house?

For a second, Penny drew a deep breath and held it. Her hand on her knee clasped into a mild fist, her mind drifting elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Wild looked at each other, shrugging as a signal that they had no idea why she suddenly went quiet. They set their eyes back on Penny, hoping she would explain and satisfy their curiosity.

"Penny?" When Yugi couldn’t take it anymore, he called her. "Is everything okay? What are you thinking about so deeply?"

"What do you know, brat?" Wild added suspiciously, squinting at her. "What? Are we in trouble? Just so you know, I don’t want to have a confrontation with those guys — you don’t want that either."

Penny moved her gaze up at them and smiled. "It’s not like that," she explained. "Don’t worry. I just remembered something, but I still need some confirmation."

"Are you sure?" Concerned, Yugi tilted his head to the side. "We’re a team, and if there’s anyone you have to confess to if you accidentally offed someone, it should be us. Uncle Wild knows how to hide bodies."

"Hah! You punk, you think I’m that rotten?!"

"Isn’t that true?"

"For your information, I don’t hide bodies," Wild uttered in a knowing tone. "I disintegrate them."

"Wow..." Yugi rubbed his shoulders, wide-eyed. "I just got goosebumps. Penny, are you sure Uncle Wild doesn’t have any existing warrant? We might get in trouble if that’s the case."

Wild hissed at this bold Yugi while Penny chuckled.

"Don’t worry, Yugi. Uncle Wild is clean." She then smacked her lips, trying to distract herself from the conclusion forming in her mind. "Anyway, speaking of criminal cases, I am going to hand over some cases to Grace, and we’ll do the funding."

"What?" Yugi frowned. "What are these cases?"

"Are we doing another charity event now, Penny?" Wild was not pleased, knowing this would mean more workload for them.

But Penny didn’t respond as she walked back to her desk. After picking up a handful of folders, she casually placed them on the coffee table beside the grill.

"This looks like a lot of work," Yugi blurted out, picking up the first file while Wild took the second one. The first thing they saw was a mugshot followed by the case files.

"This woman... who is she?" Wild asked before he could even start reading, looking up at Penny. "This person is incarcerated because she murdered someone."

"What?" Yugi gasped. "Penny, don’t tell me you’re going to waste resources and time on these convicts?"

"Those convicts are innocent," Penny remarked, sitting upright, signaling that she was talking business. "I’m not doing charity work. I need them."

Deep lines appeared on Yugi and Wild’s foreheads, their confused eyes fixed on her. Penny’s face was solemn, glossing her eyes over them.

"They will play a crucial role in finding out who wants me dead. They will help me identify who the guys are that... took Uncle Haines’s chance to walk properly again," she explained, her eyes glinting. "If what my father told me is right and there are people out there who are out to hurt him through me, then we need more manpower."

"I don’t need new people. What I need are people who already know the ins and outs of this," she added. "It’s going to be our secret project. Don’t leave any paper trail or anything that can point the reopening of their cases to us. I need them to do the job without anyone following them."

Penny paused, her eyes glinting as Yugi and Wild also sported serious looks. "My instincts tell me... I’ll be dead if I don’t start moving now."