Chapter 166: If Miss Lockwood Misunderstands, Who Can I Complain To?

Chapter 166: Chapter 166: If Miss Lockwood Misunderstands, Who Can I Complain To?

Nathaniel Sloan’s expression was calm, but his eyes carried an invisible, oppressive weight. He walked up behind Estelle Lockwood, gently enveloping her in his protective aura like a guardian.

Ethan Sloan’s face stiffened. He glared fiercely at his assistant. Nathaniel was here—why hadn’t anyone notified him?!

"Nathaniel, I’m only looking out for Miss Lockwood."

"You’re right, Father. Being abandoned after getting married would indeed make someone a laughingstock."

Nathaniel drawled, "But you might be mistaken about one thing.

"Right now, Estelle is the one who looks down on me, not the other way around. If anyone brings it up, your son is the one being abandoned, and the Sloan Family is the one losing face.

"If everything is truly for the honor and dignity of the Sloan Family, then I should marry Estelle all the more. I shouldn’t be like you, Father—cheating after marriage and propping up a mistress. Wouldn’t you agree?"

Nathaniel had just repeated Ethan’s own words back to him. Ethan’s throat bobbed, his breathing growing ragged. "Nathaniel Sloan, you think you’re untouchable!"

Nathaniel gave a faint nod. "If you have nothing else to say, Father, please get some rest these next few days. You still need to clean up the mess Laura Jennings made, and there must be many people at the company opposing your succession as chairman.

"Instead of obsessing over my marriage, you’d be better off finding time to handle the company’s affairs. Don’t you think?"

Ethan trembled with rage. This son of his had never listened to him since childhood, and had always been more outstanding than him. Even the old master, when selecting an heir, had planned to bypass Ethan entirely and hand the Sloan Family directly to Nathaniel!

And now, he couldn’t even control Nathaniel’s marriage? Nathaniel was his son! Without him, there would be no Nathaniel. What right did Nathaniel have not to be eternally grateful to him?!

"Fine, fine! When the time comes, don’t come crying when people say you have terrible taste and will settle for just any woman!"

Nathaniel’s mood remained perfectly stable. "No matter. No matter how bad my taste is, it can’t compare to yours. You even settled for Ms. Jennings. When others talk about it, they’ll only think that we truly are father and son, sharing the same inherited taste."

Estelle was speechless.

Ethan clutched his chest in anger, staggering a few steps back. His assistant hurriedly helped him upstairs.

Estelle clicked her tongue in wonder. "It seems the loving father and dutiful son image the Sloan Group markets to the public is nothing but an illusion."

Nathaniel was noncommittal, calmly firing back a question. "Did Miss Lockwood actually think something like familial love existed between the Sloan Family and me?"

Estelle choked on her words.

Before she could speak, Nathaniel suddenly explained, "The Heiress of the Yorks that Chairman Sloan mentioned is a childhood friend Zane Grant and I grew up with. She went abroad for further studies a few years ago and has now returned. She has a fiancé."

Estelle raised an eyebrow. "Why are you explaining this to me?"

Nathaniel cast a sidelong glance at her. "Because I am currently still in Miss Lockwood’s observation period. If I want to become an official partner, of course I have to explain. Otherwise, if Miss Lockwood misunderstands, who could I possibly complain to?"

Estelle didn’t really care. As long as Ethan despised her, he would try every possible method to introduce Nathaniel to various wealthy heiresses. However, Nathaniel’s explanation made her heart skip a little beat. In the past, he wouldn’t have bothered to explain such things. But now...

"Miss Lockwood, I don’t have any other women. Don’t believe him."

Sunlight filtered through the treetops and the glass windows, casting a glow over Nathaniel’s face that actually made Estelle lose herself in a daze for a moment.

His searing, masculine aura washed over her, and Estelle stammered, "I—I know. I didn’t believe him..."

"Thank you for being willing to believe me."

His lips drew closer and closer as his fingertips gently pinched her earlobe. Nathaniel’s breathing grew instantly heavy, his gaze turning deep and overwhelmingly intense—

"Ahem, Nathaniel," Iris interrupted awkwardly.

Estelle snapped back to her senses and shoved Nathaniel away.

Iris let out two more coughs. "Zachery and Mia are clamoring to go home. You two should head back first; you don’t need to worry about the matters here at the Sloan family’s home."

Estelle fiercely wiped her mouth. "Alright. Where are Mia and Zachery?"

"They’re already in the car."

Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, Estelle dashed outside without even sparing Nathaniel a glance.

Iris dropped her smile and teased, "You’ve gotten smarter. Finally learned how to open your mouth?"

Nathaniel nodded, accepting the critique. "Yes. I lost too much in the past by keeping my mouth shut. After all, besides eating and breathing, a mouth on one’s face can also be used for speaking."

Iris felt a sudden chill from his dry humor and waved her hand in distaste. "Fine, fine, as long as it works. You really do take after your mother a bit... I genuinely doubt if you’re Laura Jennings’ biological son."

The mother Iris spoke of was, naturally, Ethan’s original wife—the Mrs. Sloan whose name was now completely taboo in the Sloan Family, to the point where it couldn’t even be mentioned.

"Right, the Lockwood Family might go looking for trouble with Estelle in the coming days. Since she still hasn’t returned to the Lockwood Family, they are under a lot of pressure from public opinion."

Nathaniel nodded. "I’ll keep an eye out."

Two days later.

At the Star Group.

Recently, Star had secured a major partnership. The collaborator was Crestfall’s veteran wealthy family, the York Family. Since this was Star’s largest collaborative project of late, the entire company, top to bottom, had become incredibly busy.

"The York Family will probably send their eldest daughter to negotiate this partnership," Penelope Sullivan said thoughtfully. "For some reason, Young Miss York participates in all of the York Family’s public events, while their eldest son acts as if he’s living incognito."

"Is this Young Miss York the same person as the Heiress of the Yorks that Nathaniel mentioned?" Estelle wondered.

Henry Kendrick knew some of the inside story. "The waters in the York Family run deep. Young Mr. York is the son of Chairman York’s previous wife. Now, Miss York’s mother—who is Young Mr. York’s stepmother—employs ruthless methods. There’s no way she’d let the first wife’s son get a share of the inheritance."

"I see..." Estelle nodded. Wealthy families were certainly complicated.

When it was time to get off work, she had barely walked a couple of hundred meters from the Star Tower when a figure suddenly darted out in front of her and collapsed straight to the ground!

Before Estelle could even react, the elderly man on the ground was clutching his leg and groaning in pain. "Why don’t you young people watch where you’re going?! Couldn’t you see a living, breathing person right here? You just rammed straight into me! Are you trying to kill me?!"

The surrounding pedestrians looked over. Estelle halted her steps, narrowing her eyes at the elderly man on the ground.

"Such an obvious extortion scam, and he’s trying to pull it on me?" she thought.

The old man carried on relentlessly. "Take me to the hospital! You hit me, and now you’re just going to leave me here?! I see you dressed all fancy and glamorous—you aren’t strapped for cash! How can someone with status like you have the nerve to abuse an old man like me?! There is no justice in this world!"

The old man lay on the ground, wailing at the top of his lungs. More and more onlookers, unaware of the truth, gathered around to watch.

"Judge for yourselves, everyone! This woman pushed me down, and now she refuses to help me or even apologize! What has this world come to?"

Someone immediately spoke up with self-righteous indignation, "Miss, if you do something wrong, you need to have the courage to admit it. You knocked this man over and haven’t even offered a single word of apology. Is that proper?"

"I think he still needs to go to the hospital for a check-up. He’s old; who knows if this will leave him with lasting injuries. I just saw you walk out of the Star Tower. You’re an employee of the Star Group, aren’t you? If you refuse to take responsibility, I’ll go straight to Star and report you!"

Seeing the bystanders taking his side, the old man cried even louder. "There’s no justice! Young people these days truly have no respect for the elderly! Do you just want me to die?!"

They were blocking the middle of the street. With the crowd of onlookers growing by the second, even a traffic police officer in the distance started walking over.

Unhurried, Estelle took out her phone, preparing to call the police. But just then—

"Cut the nonsense! You clearly threw yourself at this lady to scam her! I recorded the whole thing just now!"

A woman stepped forward from the crowd.