Too Late For Regret: I Was Burned Alive Chapter 07

Too Late For Regret: I Was Burned Alive Chapter 07

Benjamin stared at the recording pen, his voice hollow. “I already transferred the title for this studio a long time ago. I was planning to give it back to Natalie after tonight’s party. 

I just wanted to scare her a little and make her behave. How could you do something like this?”

“W-What are you talking about? Ben, I don’t even understand what you’re saying…” Penelope stammered.

His fingers tightened around the damaged recorder. Right in front of Mom and Penelope, he pressed play.

After a burst of static, Penelope’s distorted voice came through clearly. “I just wanted a comfortable life. You forced me out, so don’t blame me for being ruthless. That old man deserved to die, and so did your sister. This is what you get for going against me.”

Then came Natalie’s voice, low and filled with despair. “Penelope… let’s go to hell together.”

The recording cut off abruptly.

Penelope’s face drained of color in an instant. “That’s not real… It’s edited! Natalie set me up!”

This time, Benjamin didn’t soften. He just looked at her calmly.

“Two years ago, Natalie said you started the fire. I didn’t believe her. She said you stole money. I didn’t believe her. She said you smashed her dad’s portrait. I still didn’t believe her.”

He let out a bitter laugh, his eyes rimmed red. “I kept thinking she’d changed, that she’d become unreasonable. Turns out the only person who lost their mind was me.”

He pulled out his phone and threw it hard at Penelope’s feet. The screen lit up, and a glaring headline caught her eye.

“Take a look at this yourself!”

Penelope glanced down, and in that moment, it felt like her world had collapsed.

Half an hour earlier, an email Natalie had scheduled in advance had been sent out to every major media outlet. The subject line read, “The Truth Behind the Kelce Family’s Adopted Daughter Abusing and How They Killed Their Biological Daughter.”

Attached was a crystal-clear audio clip.

“Penelope burned your sister to death. I was the one who deleted the surveillance footage.”

“I was the one who closed the fire exit door.”

Benjamin and Mom’s calm, indifferent voices had been heard by millions.

Below that, a nurse from the private hospital where Natalie had been treated had posted a clarification video. She uploaded every single transfer record showing Penelope bribing hospital staff over the past two years.

“Cut off her pain meds. Replace them with saline. Let her suffer.”

“Use the biggest needle you have. Pain will teach her a lesson. If it gets infected, leave it. Why isn’t that bitch dead yet?”

The comment section exploded.

“Oh my God, a mother locked the fire exit and burned her own daughter alive? What kind of monster does that?”

“Severe burns, no pain relief, stabbing with thick needles… That’s torture. That’s worse than prison abuse!”

“She spent two years suffering in the hospital and got driven to death days after coming home…”

“Mom! It really wasn’t me! Mom, say something!” Penelope lunged toward her.

Staring at the news on her phone, Margaret said nothing. She simply pushed Penelope away.

She had chosen that private hospital to ensure her daughter would receive the best care. She had even paid a premium, insisting they treat her properly. She had never imagined Penelope had been sabotaging everything behind the scenes and mistreating her biological daughter.

“Penelope, I adopted you because of your father. He was the only man I ever loved. From today on, you are no longer my daughter, and don’t call me Mom again.”

She remembered being young and secretly in love with Penelope’s father. Unfortunately, because of an arranged marriage, she had no choice but to marry Natalie’s father instead. After her first love died in a car accident, she insisted on adopting Penelope, and in her grief, she poured all of her love and favoritism into that adopted daughter, as if doing so could somehow bring back everything she had lost.

She never imagined that this very favoritism would end up killing both of her own daughters.

It finally made sense why Natalie had spent two full years in the hospital before she slowly began to recover.

After saying all of that, Margaret closed her eyes in exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Benjamin stood where he was as his phone kept ringing, one call after another, with news of the stock price crashing, partners pulling out, and public outrage exploding all hitting him at once.

He shut his eyes, knowing everything was over.