Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1778: My life is really good

On a hill full of armed people waiting for Penny, one man stood frozen, staring at the large explosion in the sky. A moment later, pieces of the aircraft slowly began falling from above.

For several long seconds, no one spoke. Silence blanketed the entire hill, with every pair of eyes reflecting the fire still burning overhead.

Thud.

Charles, still wide-eyed, fell to his knees. His face had gone pale. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the flames.

"No," he whispered, shaking his head gently. Every piece of falling debris felt like a piece of his heart. "No... Penny."

And with that name—Penny—spoken aloud, it was like a bell rang through the silence, snapping everyone out of their daze.

Penny.

Right... that was the aircraft she had been in.

"No." Hugo stepped forward, slinging his rifle across his chest before breaking into a jog toward the edge of the slope. "No, no, no—PENNY!"

His scream tore through the air, his heart sinking at the thought of losing his sister. Atlas, too, felt the weight—but unlike Hugo, he stood frozen, eyes wide, head bowed.

"No," he murmured, turning to the others. When his gaze landed on Angel, he said firmly, "Prepare the boat. We’re leaving now."

But Angel didn’t move.

Like the rest, he remained fixated on the sky, watching debris continue to fall through thick smoke.

"Angel," Atlas called again, louder—but still, no response.

He walked over and grabbed Angel’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze.

Angel blinked, snapping out of it as his eyes met Atlas’s panic-stricken ones.

"Let’s go," Atlas repeated. "We’re leaving now."

"Uh..." Angel stood there for a second, watching Atlas walk away like nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just seen his sister’s aircraft explode. When Angel looked around, he realized the others were still rooted to the spot, unmoving.

Slowly, he turned

line of sight. Zoren stood utterly still, wearing a

Angel finally shouted.

were chaotic, unbelievable. But

tears stinging his eyes, Angel wiped them

across the

rouse the others. One by one,

now alert, approached

in Zoren’s eyes. When he got no response,

the sky, Adam’s apple bobbing. Then, slowly, his gaze dropped to where Charles

murmured, his voice barely audible. "She’s not in

hand

now, though it wasn’t clear if the words were meant for Charles...

hearing the same sentence echoing in both

can’t be in there," Zoren repeated again. "She would’ve seen

saying it to believe it—he was saying it, hoping someone

Zoren whispered again,

came. Instead, he nodded with tears

smart," he said. "She loves living so much, she’d throw her own father under the bus

trembling, Charles stood up. He knew he was feeding their shared denial, but he couldn’t afford to break down. Not when Zoren was holding on to him

Charles repeated, slapping a hand on Zoren’s shoulder. "She saw it coming. She

to face everyone now, his

he declared, "and check if she managed to jump out

he looked

your brother. Make sure he

him, still processing—but Charles was already

about the search—we’ll search even the bottom of the

lip, trying to hold back tears.

back a solid pat. "You

toward Mark. "You and Atlas still have somewhere else to be. I’ll

in Zoren’s eyes, but in the end, he

his men