The Mocked Miss’s Hidden Crowns novel Chapter 1623

The tent outside the hotel glowed in the warm lights, thick with the smell of barbecue drifting on the sea breeze. Even the night itself felt softer, gentler, like it had slowed down just for them.

Charlotte leaned back in her chair, her long legs stretched out with nowhere to go, a cup of warm milk in her hand. She didn’t take her eyes off the grill. She was starving.

“Charlotte, the potatoes are done. Eat something before you faint,” Stella said, bringing over a plate with a little smile. “Careful, they’re really hot.”

Charlotte grinned and gave Stella’s cheek a quick pinch. “You look good lately.”

College had brought out a new side of Stella, more lively and confident. Charlotte could see she’d made the right call letting her go.

Stella just beamed and kept working the grill.

Meanwhile, Andrew was typing something on his phone under the table, quietly messaging Hans. Suddenly, he looked up at Charlotte, his voice tentative. “Hey, Charlotte, I heard there’s supposed to be a drone light show over the ocean tonight.”

Charlotte barely glanced at him, her interest dropping right off. “Chicken wings. Hand them over.”

Andrew sighed and rubbed his nose, looking somewhere between confused and defeated. All this effort for Anthony’s proposal, and Charlotte was just... unimpressed.

He really hoped this wouldn’t end in disaster.

At eight-thirty sharp, a chime sounded. Then all at once, the hotel went completely dark, except for a single lonely streetlight behind the group.

Charlotte took a bite of her chicken wing, a scowl instantly replacing whatever good mood she’d had. She hadn’t even gotten to her favorite food yet.

A sharp, metallic sound suddenly echoed out over the water.

A surprise? A really big surprise?

Charlotte sat there tapping her fingers on the armrest, studying each of them with narrowed eyes.

She remembered Anthony borrowing drones from Kenneth not long ago. They’d gone to all this trouble to get her here... for a drone show?

Before she could say anything else, Shirley tugged on her sleeve, pointing insistently at the sky. “Charlotte, look up!”

Charlotte followed her gaze and saw thousands of drones lighting up the sky, spinning and shifting as they hovered over the ocean. The entire bay sparkled in their glow, and the patterns kept changing, shapes forming right before their eyes.

“Wait... are they actually making something?”