Chapter 431: Hell

"Oops?" Penny frowned, watching the door slowly close. "They left you."

She pouted, glancing at the man across from her. Shaking her head, she clicked her tongue a few times.

"You know... if your people are like that, I’d rather not have people at all," she mused with a judgemental tone. "They’re mean. How could they do that? They just left you, knowing you’re about to go up against a panther and me..."

She trailed off, noticing that Renny had also run off, leaving her behind. Scrunching her nose, she turned back to Angel. "I mean, just me, but that’s still pretty terrible of them."

Angel readjusted his position, letting his body slowly wall on the floor with his back still against the wall. He looked up at her, his eyes studying her face. He didn’t need to get closer to confirm she’d been drinking; the smell of alcohol was strong, and she still had the wine bottle in hand. He also knew Penny a bit better than most.

Normally, when Penny drank wine or any alcohol, her face turned red. Due to her fair complexion, it was easy to notice. That’s why, at parties, Angel often observed the color in her cheeks. If she looked flushed, it meant she was still sober.

But if there was no redness, and she was acting erratically, it meant she was drunk — already passed out. Passing out was probably the worst thing that could happen to Penny.

Angel had learned about Penny’s drunken alter ego after witnessing it once before.

"Miss..." Angel exhaled, raising his hands to show he was unarmed. "Penny."

Penny raised a brow, tilting her head. ’Why is he acting like he’s approaching a wild animal?’

There were only a few steps between them, and he could easily reach her. But acting rashly would provoke a reaction from her, and a fight in her current state would likely leave both of them injured.

"Penny," Angel called again, his eyebrows raised. "Can you please put down that bottle?"

Penny squinted at him, then took a step back, hugging the bottle tighter. "No."

"I’m not going to take it," he said with an awkward laugh. "You can have more later. It’s just dangerous... you see... looks like you’ve had enough already."

Her lips curved downward, clearly displeased, and Angel knew he needed to change his approach.

"That wine is a hundred years old," he nodded. "Do you really want to finish it all now when you can enjoy it later?"

He waited for her reaction, but her silence was already a good sign.

"There’s another wine cellar here," he continued. "There’s plenty more wine inside. Much better than the ones in there."

"Oh?" Penny blinked a few times, intrigued. "Where is it?"

"I can take you there."

Her lips curved down again.

"There’s a passcode for it," Angel explained. "That wine cellar cost billions, Penny. Do you think they’d leave it guarded by just a simple padlock?"

"Well..." Penny rocked her head, taking a cautious step back. Just when Angel thought he was making progress, the sharp sound of glass shattering echoed through the room.

Penny had smashed the bottom of the wine bottle against the wall behind her. In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance between them, pressing the jagged tip of the broken bottle against Angel’s throat.

She squatted in front of him, smirking. She lifted his chin with it, forcing him to meet her eyes.

Angel’s breath hitched as the sharp glass grazed his skin. Still, he raised his hands to show her he didn’t want to fight. "You don’t want to do this, Penny."

"Haha." She snorted. "And what makes you think I don’t want to do this?"

Penny’s eyes dilated as she tilted her head slightly. "Hurting someone for the first time is always tricky, especially if you’re not used to it," she said softly but with meaning. "What makes you think hurting you will be hard for me now?"

’She’s more drunk this time than before,’ Angel thought, swallowing hard. "What do you want this time?"

"Give him to me," she stressed, her voice airy and taunting. "Nathaniel. Give him to me, and this will all stop."

"Nathaniel?" Angel furrowed his brows. ’Who’s that?’

It wasn’t Zoren’s chief bodyguard because Angel knew Mark’s name. He quickly ran through the names of Zoren’s people in his mind. Whoever this Nathaniel was, he seemed to be the only one who could stop her from hurting others... or herself.

Angel took a deep breath, keeping a stern expression while studying her face.

"Nathaniel..." he repeated softly, making her arch a brow. "I’ll give him to you."

Penny’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She parted her lips to speak, but a commotion from elsewhere interrupted her. Both she and Angel turned, looking toward where Renny had disappeared.

A gunshot rang out, and Penny’s breathing stopped entirely. ’Blacky!’ Her mind quickly turned blank, thinking of many things that could’ve happened to her cute baby panther.

"Tss..." she hissed, glaring at Angel. "You betrayed me?"

’Shit!’ Angel ducked as she pulled the bottle from his neck and aimed to stab him.

CLANG!

The shards of the broken bottle scattered as Penny leaped away. Angel turned his head in time to see her agile figure darting toward the source of the gunfire.

"Shit..." he cursed under his breath, ready to follow her. But then he noticed the trail of blood she’d left behind. She had injured her hand.

Angel’s eyes blazed with frustration. He could’ve de-escalated the situation if not for the sudden gunfire.

Now, Penny was headed toward the sound of the shot, and Angel knew it wouldn’t end well. The people stationed in that area weren’t from the Prime Group. They were Zoren’s men.

One thing Angel had noticed about Penny when she was drunk was that she was more lenient with her own people. She might hurt them, but she wouldn’t kill them.

But with others... people she wasn’t subconsciously familiar with... Penny was hell.