Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 1288

Chapter 1288: Next time, hire a private investigator
Meanwhile…

“Huh?” Penny furrowed her brows, watching Jonathan enter a gift shop a few blocks from them. “What is he doing in there? Buying what? Drugs? Organs?”

Dean glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “Seriously?”

“What? Don’t tell me he’s in a gift shop for something innocent?”

“Don’t judge,” Atlas remarked, keeping watch on the establishment. “Though we should remember that place in case it’s a hideout for criminals.”

Talk about not being judgmental.

Dean shook his head mildly and just ignored the siblings. “You guys… why don’t you just get out of here now, huh?” he muttered. “Why are you even interested in him?”

“He’s my husband’s half-brother, which makes me his in-law, and your aunt,” Penny spat back. “Of course, I am interested.”

“…” Dean kept his eyes narrowed before he secretly took a peek at her through the rearview mirror.

“This is strange…” Penny trailed off when her phone suddenly vibrated. She pulled it out without taking her eyes off the establishment, her mind filled with curiosity. However, when she glanced down at her phone, she gasped in shock.

“What is it?” Atlas asked, watching his sister, her face plastered with horror.

“I forgot I told Renren I was going to pick him up.”

“…” Atlas blinked and then blinked some more. “Let me call him.”

“It’s alright. I’ll send him a message.” Penny waved dismissively, leaning back as she typed a lengthy message to her husband.

[To: My love, my life

Renren, OMG! I am so, so sorry! First Brother and I were in the parking lot earlier, but then he had a lot of things to do. When we were supposed to be inside, we suddenly heard Jonathan’s voice. So, he ended up hiding and pushing me inside Dean’s car! And then Dean just drove us away!]

Penny quickly sent the message before lifting her eyes to the driver’s seat. At the same time, Dean looked back at her.

“What did you tell my uncle?” he asked, feeling like he might end up in trouble.

“Nothing.” Penny shook her head with a smile. “Just told him the truth.”

Dean opened his mouth but then shut it when he saw Jonathan coming out of the gift shop. He quickly averted his attention to the establishment, only to see Jonathan holding huge shopping bags, with a few more being carried by a shop assistant.

Penny, on the other hand, focused on her phone as Zoren responded.

[From: My love, my life

Are you safe?]

“Hehe.” She giggled before reassuring him that she was safe.

[To: My love, my life

Don’t worry~ I’m with First Brother. If Dean is going to sell someone first, it would be him.]

Atlas glanced at his sister and caught the message she just sent to Zoren. He glanced at Dean but said nothing. Instead, he shifted his focus back to Jonathan, who was helping the shop assistant place the other shopping bags into his trunk.

Just then, as the shop assistant was placing the bags in, something fell from inside.

“What is that??” Atlas blurted under his breath, brows furrowing. “A teddy bear?”

“Is there something inside?” Dean wondered aloud, having the worst impression of Jonathan.

Penny, who had just finished messaging her husband, perked up as well. “Why did he need to buy so many toys? Does he have a secret son?”

And then, silence. Not that they thought Penny had a point, but rather, there were just a plethora of questions swirling in their minds.

To find out why Jonathan needed so many toys, they continued to tail his car secretly. Dean had proven his stalking skills by not being detected by Jonathan. They stayed close enough to know where Jonathan was heading, but far enough to not raise suspicion.

It was the middle of the day, so this couldn’t be an illegal transaction, right?

All three of them had the worst impression of Jonathan. Well, they had a valid reason to dislike him—especially Penny and Atlas. So in their minds, they believed something illegal was inside those toys Jonathan had just picked up from the gift shop.

They were sure of it… until they stopped several blocks from a small orphanage.

“Huh?” Confusion washed over their faces as they watched children run to the gates the second they saw Jonathan approaching. The guards of the facility also welcomed him with bright smiles, exchanging a few words with him, before heading to Jonathan’s car to get the shopping bags from the trunk.

The other adults with the children—whom the trio assumed were teachers—also greeted Jonathan. Even though Penny, Atlas, and Dean were far from the scene, they could almost hear the teachers telling the children not to get too excited.

“Am I dreaming?” Penny mumbled in disbelief, watching Jonathan pick up a girl in his arms while a boy held his other hand. All the other children surrounded him, either wanting to be carried or holding his hand. “First Brother, tell me something shocking that will wake me up from this dream.”

Atlas, equally confused as his sister, kept his focus on the scene unfolding before them. However, he did hear her, so he said,

“Hugo might be into men.”

But that didn’t wake Penny up. All it did was make her face sour as she looked at him in disbelief. Atlas just shrugged at her before the two of them refocused their attention on the windshield.

Dean, on the other hand, rested his arm on the steering wheel. For a moment, he forgot the existence of Penny and Atlas in the backseat, keeping his focus on the scene before him.

‘Is this where he’s been going every other day?’ he wondered to himself, knowing this was the first time he decided to follow Jonathan. ‘He’s using his two-hour break just to… see children?’

The three of them could think of other horrific things that could be happening behind the scenes. However, from what they were seeing, the children seemed to have known Jonathan for a long time now. And they were genuinely excited to see him again.

Surprisingly, it was the same for Jonathan, who seemed genuinely happy while the kids dragged him to play.

“Dean,” Penny mumbled, eyes still on the kids dragging Jonathan along. “You are so judgmental about thinking he’s not capable of doing good things.”

“Excuse me?” Dean scoffed, looking back at Penny in disbelief. But as soon as he did, all he saw was Atlas giving him a disappointed look.

These two had been judging Jonathan the worst way they could, but now they dared act as if they weren’t supposed to be here?

“Lesson learned,” Dean whispered, peeling his eyes from them while shaking his head. “Next time, hire a private investigator to avoid this from happening.”