Chapter 162: Mr. Sloan Wants to Remarry Me?

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Mr. Sloan Wants to Remarry Me?

Estelle Lockwood was left speechless.

A wave of visible confusion swept through the room as everyone exchanged baffled glances.

Liam Sloan was completely dumbfounded. He looked as if he thought he had misheard. "Huh? What...?"

Zane Grant hadn’t been wrong when he said Liam’s brother was completely lovesick. If this wasn’t being hopelessly in love, what was?!

It took a mere three seconds for the manager’s gaze toward Estelle to shift from shock, to worry, and finally, to deep admiration. She had thought Mrs. Sloan was an unfavored wife, but who would have expected her to have Mr. Sloan completely wrapped around her finger!

After Nathaniel Sloan finished speaking, the entire private room fell into a dead silence. No one dared to utter a word. When he said those words, his unblinking gaze was fixed entirely on Estelle. His eyes held a depth of affection so profound it felt as though one could drown in them.

Estelle suddenly realized that, given Nathaniel’s status and position, there was absolutely no need for him to say such submissive, placating words.

When Nathaniel had first arrived, everyone assumed she was doomed. Her background couldn’t compare to Nathaniel’s, and her status couldn’t match the Sloan family’s. To sneak around behind his back to fool around at a host club, only to be caught red-handed by her husband—she should have been begging for mercy or weeping bitterly. In short, in everyone’s mind, things were definitely going to end badly for Estelle today.

But Nathaniel hadn’t let that happen. He hadn’t given anyone the chance to mock her. Realizing this, Estelle pursed her lips slightly.

Penelope Sullivan rolled her eyes thoughtfully. "Manager, put today’s bill on my tab. Let’s clear out, everyone, clear out! It’s just a little spat between a young couple. What are we all standing around watching for?"

Liam immediately snapped back to reality. "Right, right! Nathaniel, Estelle, have fun!"

The manager, proving her sharpness, shot a quick look at the top-tier hosts in the room. Instantly, the crowd filed out. In a matter of moments, only Nathaniel and Estelle were left in the private room.

As the surroundings quieted down, Estelle found herself entirely alone with him. Surprisingly, she felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

Nathaniel, however, slowly picked up a wine glass. "Does Mrs. Sloan want to drink? I’ll drink with you." He placed the glass of wine into Estelle’s hand.

Estelle pursed her lips, recalling Mr. Lynch’s words: test him, find out where his bottom line is, and make him back down in the face of difficulties. But now, she didn’t know what to say.

She pressed her lips together slightly. "I don’t want to drink anymore."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, swirling his glass. "You don’t want to drink anymore? This wine is actually quite excellent."

Estelle looked straight at him. "What exactly are you doing here?" Now that everyone else was gone, he could finally tell the truth.

A faint ripple flashed through Nathaniel’s eyes before he nodded. "I told you. I am here to learn how to serve someone."

A lump formed in Estelle’s throat. She looked away. "Nathaniel, I’m not joking with you."

"I’m not joking with you either," Nathaniel replied, his tone calm and unhurried. "Estelle, you don’t trust me."

Estelle froze.

Nathaniel’s gaze was gentle, yet it carried an indescribable sense of pressure. "You’re testing me because you don’t trust me."

Estelle pressed her lips tightly together and turned her head away. A moment later, her lips curled into a faint smile. "So what if I don’t trust you? If Mr. Sloan cares so much about this, is it because you want to remarry me?"

A shallow smile graced Nathaniel’s face as he admitted it without hesitation. "Yes."

Resting her chin in one hand, Estelle feigned a thoughtful look. "I see."

Nathaniel asked, "How was my performance today?"

Estelle’s eyes darted around briefly before she abruptly stood up. Leaving behind a meaningful smile, she said, "Mr. Sloan will find out soon enough."

Outside the private room, Liam had been eavesdropping. As he listened, the door suddenly opened, and he tumbled straight to the floor. "Oh, shit..."

He watched helplessly as Estelle walked away, and then met his brother’s unfathomable, smiling face. He wondered what the hell was going on now.

Swallowing hard, Liam asked vaguely, "Is... is that it? Estelle came here looking for men, and you’re not angry?"

Nathaniel cast a dismissive glance at him and didn’t answer. Instead, he asked an entirely unrelated question. "Is Ms. Jennings out?"

Liam immediately turned serious. As a lawyer, he naturally knew that even if Laura Jennings was innocent, it was impossible for her to be released so quickly. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she was taken to the police station. It was obvious that the Sloan family was pulling strings behind the scenes.

Liam nodded. "Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad are all very angry, but..."

"But that anger isn’t directed at Laura Jennings. It’s directed at me." Nathaniel smoothly finished the sentence with a scoff. "Ms. Jennings going to the police station embarrassed them, and since I’m the main culprit who sent her there, what is my father’s intention?"

Liam was completely baffled; he felt everyone in the Sloan family had lost their minds. "Dad wants you to suppress the public opinion as soon as possible. Right now, everyone outside is talking."

Suppress public opinion? Nathaniel laughed.

How could the current public opinion be suppressed? Why was Laura Jennings targeting her daughter-in-law so ruthlessly? The only way to quell the rumors would be to throw dirty water on Estelle. They would have to say things like Estelle disrespected her elders, or that she was unworthy of the Sloan family, which was why Laura had targeted her in anger.

But what did any of this have to do with Estelle? The Sloan family had committed their own sins, yet they wanted someone else to bear the consequences.

Nathaniel’s tone was breezy and indifferent. "Once something even more embarrassing happens, this current humiliation will be nothing."

Liam’s spine stiffened. In his heart, he silently lit a candle in mourning for Laura Jennings.

He couldn’t fathom what Nathaniel’s mother was trying to achieve. Back in the day, she had painstakingly used the "mother is valued because of her son" tactic to rise from being the mistress to the official wife. But even after taking the position, she didn’t know how to keep a low profile. When Nathaniel was a child, Laura’s disgust for him was palpable. Locking him in the basement and depriving him of food and water were just her standard practices.

Furthermore, when Old Mr. Sloan announced that the Sloan Group would eventually be inherited by Nathaniel, Laura was the first to jump out in opposition. With her hands on her hips, she roared and screamed, accusing Nathaniel of being an "illegitimate child" who was unworthy of inheriting the Sloan family’s legacy.

But why was Nathaniel an "illegitimate child" in the first place? Wasn’t it simply because she, his own biological mother, was the mistress?

Liam truly couldn’t understand it. Since Laura Jennings had relied on Nathaniel, this "illegitimate child," to climb the social ladder, why couldn’t she treat him a little better? Why did she go around broadcasting his status as an illegitimate child to the world? It made Liam feel that Nathaniel wasn’t a real illegitimate child at all, but rather that his mother was forcibly shoving the label of "illegitimate" onto him.

But she was his biological mother, wasn’t she? What did she stand to gain?

Later, upon returning to Imperial Crest, Estelle went to the dining room.

The table of food had been left untouched. Estelle took a few bites and raised an eyebrow. She looked around, found a pen and a notepad on the coffee table, and wrote a large "6 points" on the paper.

When Nathaniel returned to Imperial Crest, he noticed right away that someone had touched the meal on the table. Leaning over slightly, his eyes landed immediately on the notepad.

"It seems my performance today just barely hit the passing mark," Nathaniel said, breaking into a sudden smile. Unhurriedly, he wrote a single sentence on the paper.

Liam’s mind was entirely occupied by how good the food smelled and how starving he was. Hearing Nathaniel’s words, he turned to look. "6 points? Passing?" he thought in confusion.

"But Nathaniel," he wondered, "how do you know Estelle was grading you out of ten, and not out of a hundred?"

The next morning.

After dropping the three little ones off at kindergarten, Estelle returned to the Star Group, ready to begin work on the Lockwood Group’s acquisition case.

However, at ten o’clock, the kindergarten called her phone.

"Mrs. Sloan, someone from the Sloan family just came and picked up your three children. Mia begged us to give you a call!"

Estelle’s eyes darkened. "The Sloan family?!" she thought.