Chapter 121: Nathaniel Sloan Finds Out Zachery Is His Biological Son

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Nathaniel Sloan Finds Out Zachery Is His Biological Son

Nathaniel Sloan paused, raising an eyebrow slightly. "You’re... not at Evernight Tower?"

Estelle Lockwood twirled a pen between her fingertips and said faintly, "If your eyes are bad, go get them treated."

Had he really seen it wrong? Nathaniel didn’t overthink it and naturally changed the subject. "Would I have the honor of inviting Miss Lockwood to dinner?"

Estelle rejected him without a second thought.

Nathaniel let out a low chuckle. "Mia and Zachery are here too."

"..." Estelle gritted her teeth. "Mr. Sloan, do you know that you sound exactly like a human trafficker right now?"

Nathaniel remained noncommittal.

After hanging up, he carried the cake back to his office. Before he even walked through the door, he saw ’Zachery’ sitting with a perfectly straight back at the coffee table, reading a document. The document was outdated and was originally meant to be shredded, but Nathaniel had been in a rush when he left and had simply tossed it onto the coffee table in the reception area.

Seeing ’Zachery’ reading it so intently, Nathaniel actually felt a momentary daze. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was looking at Christian. No... rather, Zachery and Christian were incredibly similar. But they had completely different personalities. How could they be so alike?

The two little ones in the office clearly hadn’t noticed Nathaniel’s return and were talking among themselves. ’Zachery’ was still reading the document. Mia leaned closer. "Can you even understand that?"

’Zachery’ nodded. "It’s not hard."

Mia took a serious look and instantly felt dizzy. Full of admiration, she asked, "That’s not hard?"

"Yeah." ’Zachery’ truly seemed unfazed. He spoke in a serious tone, "Though this document should be outdated. The quoted price on it doesn’t fit the budget."

Nathaniel subconsciously raised an eyebrow. To think Zachery had such a sharp business sense.

Mia tilted her head, leaning in to ask, "Why?"

’Zachery’ explained earnestly, "A plot of land quoted at forty-five thousand per square meter is a bit too high. You have to understand that land and houses aren’t the same concept. Right now, both the profit margins and room for growth in real estate are declining. Buying the land for forty-five thousand and then building commercial housing on it carries too much risk."

Mia was surprised. "But aren’t housing prices really high right now?"

’Zachery’ shook his head. "It still depends on demand. In this area, at this location, if they’re planning to build a high-rise over twenty stories tall with apartments over a hundred square meters each, then that means..."

Mia’s head was spinning. She couldn’t understand a single word of what the young master was saying. They were the exact same age, both five years old, so why did his words sound like absolute gibberish?

Nathaniel listened at the door for a while. ’Zachery’ actually understood all of this! Had he specifically studied it? If it were Christian analyzing this contract so logically, Nathaniel wouldn’t be surprised. But... as far as he knew, Zachery had never been exposed to any of this abroad. Furthermore, he wasn’t interested in business. How did he know so much? A smile touched the corners of Nathaniel’s lips. If Zachery was truly interested in this, there was no harm in teaching him a thing or two.

He was just about to step into the office when Mia suddenly dropped the contract, flopped back onto the sofa, and let out a frustrated cry. "Ah! I don’t get it at all! Stop reading it. Why isn’t Uncle Sloan back yet? I’m so bored, Young Master—"

Nathaniel’s footsteps faltered, his head snapping up. He thought, "Young Master?"

Mia had never once called Zachery ’Young Master.’ Yet, there had been many times when Nathaniel had heard her address Christian that way. Then, he noticed that the ’Zachery’ on the sofa showed no surprise whatsoever at being called ’Young Master’!

’Zachery’ turned around, his expression helpless. "If you’re bored, want me to take you somewhere else to walk around?"

Mia’s interest was instantly piqued. She bounced up from the sofa. "Where to?"

’Zachery’ said, "The lounge, the break room, anywhere is fine. Oh, right, there’s also an arcade here for the employees to decompress, but there might be people there right now. Do you want to go to the break room? There are lots of snacks."

Mia didn’t doubt ’Zachery’s words in the slightest and had zero objections. "Okay, okay, let’s go quickly."

’Zachery’ checked left and right to make sure no one was around, then led Mia out through another door in the office.

As their footsteps faded away, Nathaniel slowly closed his eyes. Zachery had only been to Evernight a few times; it was impossible for him to be this familiar with it. Yet this ’Zachery’ knew exactly where the break room was without even needing to look at a map. Combined with ’Zachery’s earlier analysis of that contract, a sudden hypothesis leaped into his mind.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Just then, the intercom rang.

It was Luke White calling. Luke asked in confusion, "Sir, the fingerprint lock on the tower’s back door was opened once today. But when I checked the security footage, I found that the person who used it was Mr. Zachery. Did you register Mr. Zachery’s fingerprints as well?"

Nathaniel paused silently. "..." After a two-second pause, he gave a hum of affirmation. "I registered them. Leave it be."

"Understood, sir."

Hanging up the phone, Nathaniel gripped the receiver and chuckled softly. So, the situation was crystal clear now. Zachery and Christian had somehow managed to swap identities. This current ’Zachery’ was actually Christian, which explained why he could open the fingerprint lock and why he was exceptionally familiar with Evernight Tower. He just didn’t understand why these two kids would perfectly well swap identities out of nowhere.

Then, he remembered something else. Nathaniel suddenly recalled that Laura Jennings had plucked Christian’s hair to run a paternity test for the two of them. He and Christian were undoubtedly biological father and son, which was why his aunt had sharply reprimanded Laura Jennings once the results had come out. But thinking about it now... was the ’Christian’ back then truly Christian himself? If Zachery and Christian had swapped identities without anyone noticing, then was the Christian whose hair got plucked actually Christian, or was it Zachery pretending to be him?

If it was Zachery... then didn’t that mean... Nathaniel’s heart skipped a beat, and an indescribable surge of emotion overwhelmed him. He planted both hands on his desk, his breathing ragged. If... if the person back then was Zachery, then that meant he and Zachery were unquestionably biological father and son! Zachery and Mia weren’t just some unwanted burdens from a past relationship. They weren’t Estelle’s children with another man.

More importantly, it meant that Estelle hadn’t set the fire to murder her two children back then! If Estelle hadn’t intentionally committed arson, then... had it been a murder attempt? But if it was a murder attempt, why hadn’t any evidence been found all these years? He had even received a video recording of Estelle—in it, she stated that she could no longer go on living and wanted to set the fire to end her life. Nathaniel’s lips tightened into a thin line.

"Uncle Sloan~" Mia ran back in after finishing her snacks.

Nathaniel reigned in his emotions. "Shall I take you to find your mommy?"

Mia shook her head, waving the smart watch on her wrist. "Mommy said she’s busy tonight. Uncle Sloan, let’s head back first."

Estelle was busy tonight... For some unknown reason, Nathaniel was seized by a sudden impulse to go find Estelle right this second. He couldn’t quite articulate what this feeling was; he only knew that his heart was throbbing with a dull ache. He felt as if he would never see her again if he didn’t go to her tonight.

"Mia..."

"Sir!" Luke White knocked and entered, his face etched with worry. "Chapman is having a heart attack."

Nathaniel’s brow furrowed. "What happened?"