Chapter 1291: Stalking for nothing

Seeing Penny and Zoren was not new to Dean. However, this was the first time he had seen such a scene unfold before his eyes. A shallow breath escaped him as he looked away, ignoring the shameless slander that kept flying out of her mouth.

Zoren, whose heart quickly melted at Penny’s warm tears, sighed in defeat. He glanced at Atlas, who shrugged in response.

"Penny, don’t cry anymore," he said, stroking her back reassuringly. "I wasn’t mad, just worried."

Penny hiccuped and looked up at him. "Really?"

"Mhm."

"Hehe." She giggled intuitively, then caught herself. Clearing her throat, she adopted a weak expression and hugged him again. "Still, I feel bad about it."

No, she wasn’t — Dean, Atlas, and even Zoren’s thought.

For once, the three of them had to agree on one thing. Even so, it was up to Zoren whether to drag this on. Obviously, he didn’t plan on doing that. After all, his wife was already in his arms.

"So." Zoren slowly lifted his eyes to Dean. "You were following my half-brother?"

Dean’s breath hitched for a moment, not expecting Zoren to address Jonathan as such. "Half... brother? Uncle, don’t tell me you’ve quickly accepted that he is... he is your half-brother?"

"That’s what the DNA testing says," Zoren shrugged indifferently. "So, he is my half-brother."

Dean balled his hands into tight fists, his jaw tightening. This didn’t please him at all. It wasn’t like he knew Zoren didn’t like Jonathan, but Zoren acknowledging that bastard didn’t sit well with him. It was more infuriating than having to spend the last hour with the Bennets.

"Did you find anything?" Zoren asked as he glanced down at Penny, but it was Atlas who answered.

"Nothing," Atlas replied. "He only went to a gift store and then dropped off some toys at an orphanage. Nothing interesting."

Zoren nodded in understanding. "You should’ve asked me instead," he remarked. "I know what he’s been up to. You could’ve saved the trouble."

"What?" Penny looked up at her husband again, forgetting her act. Atlas and Dean furrowed their brows, looking at Zoren with confusion.

"Jonathan has been donating— even back when he was a Russell— to orphanages. He’s been sponsoring a lot of charities," Zoren revealed nonchalantly. "And the one he frequented the most is a charity under a senator’s name. He’s with the senator’s granddaughter, and from what I know, they’re getting engaged tomorrow."

Penny, Dean, and Atlas stared at Zoren blankly. The latter wasn’t there to know how they had gone out of their way to follow Jonathan and learn about him. Yet, here Zoren was, telling them what they wanted to know— particularly what Dean was trying to find out.

"Renren, you knew all of this?" Penny asked once she recovered, watching him nod. "Why didn’t you tell us earlier?"

"You didn’t ask," Zoren shrugged. "And I only found out about this last night since they confirmed the engagement date then. The senator called me."

Penny: "..."

Atlas: "..."

Dean: "..."

If Zoren knew all of this, then why the hell did they even follow Jonathan?!

Zoren’s brows rose as he studied their faces. He tilted his head to the side, blinking innocently.

"Are you okay?" he asked curiously. "You three don’t look well for some reason. Did I say something inappropriate?"

No, he hadn’t said something inappropriate, but rather something that made the three wonder about their futile and pathetic attempt, and how they had just wasted their energy.

******

After a while, Dean decided to leave the three of them. Seeing Penny clinging to Zoren like a koala was a real eyesore. Not to mention, Zoren’s nonchalance about Jonathan was infuriating. He would rather go back to work and think about how he could ruin the engagement party.

If Cassandra’s grandfather had reached out to Zoren, that meant Zoren wouldn’t intervene.

As for Penny, Atlas, and Zoren, they continued with their original plan.

With Penny behind the wheel, Zoren in the front passenger seat, and Atlas in the backseat, they headed to the shopping mall for gifts. Finn and Nina’s family meeting was tomorrow night, so the siblings thought of buying gifts today, as this was very important to them.

Once this hurdle was over, Finn and Nina would be busy preparing for their wedding. Knowing them, they were aware that Finn wanted to get married as soon as possible. If only Finn were the only one who got a say in this wedding, they would’ve had their wedding ceremony tomorrow as well.

"Renren, are you sure you’re not angry with me?" Penny asked, glancing at the front passenger seat. "You’ve been very quiet."

"I’m just thinking about Dean," Zoren replied, tearing his gaze from the window to her. "I knew he was interested in Jonathan’s affairs, but I never thought he would start stalking him personally."

"Don’t worry," Atlas chimed in. "Dean Pierson just learned a valuable lesson today. Hiring a private investigator is something he could afford."

"But I didn’t know Jonathan was dating a senator’s granddaughter. Isn’t that a little too... big?"

"Whose senator is this?" Atlas asked, curious.

"I think you know the granddaughter," Zoren replied, looking back at the backseat. "Jonathan had been dating Finn’s ex-fiancee even before he revealed himself in the Pierson Family."

"What?" Penny and Atlas exclaimed. "Does Finn know about this?"

"I think so," Zoren nodded. "However, Finn and his ex-fiancee were initially arranged to marry. So, I don’t think he found it necessary, since he’s with Nina now."

Deep lines appeared between Penny’s and Atlas’s brows. Though they had differing thoughts at the moment, their expressions revealed the same confusion.

"Nina was Jonathan’s ex-wife in the first timeline. Assuming Finn and Cassandra married each other in the first life, does that mean they swapped partners?" Atlas muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "That’s interesting."

"It is interesting," Penny nodded, recalling that Finn also changed Cassandra’s fate in this lifetime. After all, Finn had told her that, just like her, he was busy trying to save the people he cared about, and Cassandra was one of those people.

As silence stretched on for minutes, Zoren gazed at his wife and then at his brother-in-law.

"Don’t worry," Zoren reassured. "I just warned Jonathan and told him he’s not winning, especially since I married my wife while she’s alive."

As soon as those words rolled off Zoren’s tongue, their car screeched to a halt as Penny suddenly pulled over to the side. She slowly shifted her dilated eyes to her husband and gasped,

"What?!"