Chapter 191: So, Nathaniel Sloan Really Isn’t Laura Jennings’ Biological Son?

Chapter 191: Chapter 191: So, Nathaniel Sloan Really Isn’t Laura Jennings’ Biological Son?

Laura Jennings’s face flushed with the flustered anger of being caught in a lie. "I... How was I supposed to know Mrs. York would say something like that to Christian? I genuinely thought they liked him!

"I’m his grandmother. Would I ever do anything to harm him?!"

She grumbled as she spoke, absolutely furious with Liam. She wondered why he was so stupid and if this was the kind of thing you could just blurt out in public.

Liam’s lips curled into a faint smirk. He knew his "stupidity" was exactly what she had cultivated.

She had two sons, yet she targeted the elder one at every turn and deliberately spoiled the younger one into a useless failure. He wondered what she was after. Strangely enough, Ethan Sloan allowed her to do it. He reasoned the only logical explanation was that the two of them had another biological son hidden away somewhere, but he doubted that was possible. If they did, he couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t bring him back to the Sloan family.

Actually, Liam had a pretty good guess as to why she disliked Nathaniel so much. He strongly suspected that Nathaniel wasn’t Laura’s biological son.

While Liam’s thoughts wandered, Laura had already flown into a fit of exasperation. "Anyway, you can’t blame me for this. If you want to blame someone, blame Christian for his own bad luck! He’s the one Mrs. York set her sights on. What does that have to do with me?!"

With that, she stormed off, acting as if she were the one in the right.

The surrounding servants exchanged glances and shook their heads, completely baffled by what was wrong with the woman’s brain.

Once the crowd dispersed, Liam leaned in and looked Nathaniel up and down. "I thought you were going to just start throwing punches, bro."

Nathaniel shot him a sidelong glance. "To a certain extent, I’m a very civilized person."

Invisible question marks popped up over Liam’s head. He wondered who exactly used to beat him up when they were kids.

For a moment, he was utterly speechless.

Before Liam could formulate a response, Nathaniel asked, "Have you been staying at the Sloan family estate lately?"

Liam curled his lip, perfectly embodying the image of a wealthy, foolish heir. "Yeah. Mom said the Sloan Group acquired an island and bought a yacht. She told me to take my friends out to play."

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. "Which friends?"

"The same trust-fund babies who loaf around and live off their parents like I do," Liam replied with absolute candor. "Mom loves it when I hang out with them."

These rich kids were spoiled rotten by their families. They didn’t care about their family businesses and only knew how to eat, drink, and make merry. From childhood to adulthood, Laura had made sure Liam only socialized with that exact crowd.

There was truth to the saying that you are the company you keep. It seemed Laura and Ethan were doing everything in their power to ruin Liam—coddling him, spoiling him with excessive praise, and trying to mold him into a tyrannical menace of a trust-fund baby.

Liam had figured this out when he was in his teens. At first, he thought it was simply because a family only needed one heir, and they were focusing all their resources on grooming his older brother. However, Nathaniel went off and founded Evernight International on his own, without taking a single cent from the Sloan Group. Now, there wasn’t a single suitable heir to be found in the entire company.

At this thought, Liam glanced around. Seeing that the coast was clear, he lowered his voice and spoke like a conspirator. "Bro, I suspect Laura isn’t actually your biological mother!"

Nathaniel gave a faint nod. "Mhm."

Liam’s eyes widened. "You’re not surprised?! Are you really not her son? How did you find out? What did you dig up? Do you have proof? Is there evidence in Dad’s study? Or did Mom slip up and expose herself?"

He fired off a barrage of questions, but Nathaniel remained calm. "None of the above."

Liam’s curiosity peaked, and he waited expectantly for the answer.

Then, with absolute composure, Nathaniel said, "I simply feel that Ms. Jennings’s IQ is much too far below my own."

Liam was dumbfounded. In other words, his mother was too stupid.

For a moment, he couldn’t even refute it. In fact, it made a lot of sense.

Suddenly feeling a mix of anticipation, bashfulness, and embarrassment, he coughed awkwardly. "Ahem. Nathaniel, if we’re going by IQ... do you think I’m my mom’s biological son?"

Nathaniel responded with silence.

Liam was speechless. His heart shattered into tiny, fragile pieces all over again.

Meanwhile, Laura hurried off to find Ethan. The moment she saw him, she started complaining. "What a wonderful son you’ve raised! Does he even see me as his mother anymore?!"

Ethan furrowed his brow in annoyance. "I told you to lay low for a while, but you didn’t listen to a word I said! What good does offending Nathaniel do right now? Do you still want him to come home or not?"

Hearing the word "him," Laura pressed her lips together and said sheepishly, "Then... when is the Lancaster family coming back?"

"Soon. Sometime this month," Ethan snapped. "So just behave yourself!"

"I know, I know," Laura replied.

Liam happened to be passing by the study and found the conversation strange. The Lancaster family?

His deadbeat father’s first wife had the maiden name Lancaster. But after she passed away, the Lancaster family never sent anyone to demand justice. The Sloans and the Lancasters hadn’t been in contact for over twenty years. He wondered why Ethan and Laura were so worked up about the Lancasters returning to Crestfall.

Something felt off. The more he racked his less-than-brilliant brain, the more wrong it all seemed.

Back at Imperial Crest, Nathaniel heard Estelle on the phone before he even stepped inside.

"I know, Uncle Kendrick. I’ll definitely be there tomorrow."

She had just finished speaking. Before hanging up, she turned, caught sight of Nathaniel, and raised a brow. "What did Ms. Jennings say?" she asked with leisurely composure.

It went without saying why Laura had deliberately sent Christian to the York family. So, it was entirely within Estelle’s expectations that Nathaniel would seek her out to settle the score.

Nathaniel gave a slight nod. "Ms. Jennings called me an ungrateful wretch."

Estelle raised an eyebrow. "And then?"

"I told her that no matter how ungrateful I am, she was the one who gave birth to me," Nathaniel replied, perfectly calm and matter-of-fact. "It can’t be helped. It’s just genetics."

Estelle couldn’t help but be amused by his dry humor.

Just then, the person on the other end of the line said something else. Estelle responded, "The auction, right? Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out."

After hanging up, she couldn’t help but think about the news she had just heard—an auction was going to be held in Crestfall, and the organizer’s surname was Lynch.

There were no prominent wealthy families in Crestfall with the surname Lynch, yet the rich and powerful of the city gave this organizer immense face. Tickets to his auction were incredibly hard to come by.

Estelle had been asked to secure a ticket. She pondered for a moment, wondering if the Mr. Lynch hosting the auction was the same Mr. Lynch she knew.

She had previously asked Henry Kendrick about Mr. Lynch’s characteristics. Henry had replied that he was elegant, gentle, and kept a low profile. He gave off the impression of an older gentleman. Many people who had interacted with Mr. Lynch said that speaking to him felt like speaking to a strict but caring homeroom teacher.

At the time, Estelle had nodded to herself. That was definitely him—the same Mr. Lynch who had helped her countless times over the past five years. She hesitated, wondering if it would be too impolite to directly ask him for an invitation.

Nathaniel, meanwhile, raised a brow. "An auction?"

Estelle snapped back to reality and rested her chin in one hand. "Yeah. There’s an auction in a week."

Nathaniel nodded slightly. "If you want to go, I can have someone arrange a seat for you."

In truth, the reason he hadn’t told her about the event was that this auction was a trap he had set up to scam someone.

In a week’s time, the Sloan family’s in-laws—the Lancaster family—would be returning.