Chapter 236: Estelle Asks with a Smile: Who Are You Waiting For?

Chapter 236: Chapter 236: Estelle Asks with a Smile: Who Are You Waiting For?

Wait, hold on?

Damn it! How did Nathaniel get here so fast? And where was Noelle?

Today, Noelle had asked him to bring these three over, saying she wanted to apologize in person. Where was she?

Nathaniel Sloan narrowed his eyes. "Were you just calling Noelle Lockwood’s name?"

Kian Winslow’s expression stiffened. He had promised Noelle he would keep it a secret. "N-No, it’s nothing."

Estelle Lockwood’s gaze shifted as her phone chimed twice. BEEP BEEP. She lowered her eyes to glance at the screen, her eyes narrowing slightly before she suddenly let out a soft chuckle. "Nathaniel, it’s good that Mia and the boys are fine."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, quickly catching on. There was definitely more to Kian taking the children away than met the eye.

Estelle had received a message from Penelope Sullivan.

Penelope asked if Zachery and Mia had been kidnapped. Estelle was momentarily stunned. Kidnapped? When she first received the call from the driver, she had also worried for a split second that Mia had been abducted.

But she quickly realized that Mia hadn’t been kidnapped—Kian didn’t have the guts to kidnap the three children.

Therefore, Estelle was slightly bewildered, unsure of where Penelope’s question came from. Furthermore, Mia had only been "missing" for such a short time, less than an hour... How did Penelope know about this?

Penelope was equally baffled. "It’s gone viral online. Everyone is worried about Mia and the boys’ safety, and the police have even been dispatched to search for them."

Realizing something was amiss, Estelle logged onto social media to take a look, and her expression instantly darkened.

Mia was perfectly fine, yet everyone online was claiming that the three children had been kidnapped and their fates were unknown.

This was highly unusual!

"I hope the three children are okay, I’m really so worried."

"That bitch Noelle Lockwood only knows how to cry and claim she didn’t kidnap the kids. Bah, someone already called the police. If it isn’t her, who else could it be!"

"Boycott this criminal! Why isn’t Noelle Lockwood in jail yet?!"

"What if Noelle refuses to talk? Will they be able to find the kids? I’m so worried about what the kidnappers might do to them."

"I’m speechless. Austin Lockwood and Rose Lowell actually refuse to say anything either, just insisting that they believe Noelle. Estelle Lockwood is their daughter too, isn’t she?"

"The three little ones are their grandchildren. How can they be so heartless? What will happen to such young children if they fall into the hands of kidnappers? They might even be trafficked..."

The netizens’ speculations were getting more and more outlandish, and the police seemed to be cooperating fully, hoping to find the children as soon as possible.

Estelle scoffed.

The incident had blown up to such massive proportions. People were calling the police and filming videos, yet why hadn’t a single person...

Contacted her, the children’s legal guardian?

Estelle seemed to understand Noelle’s plan. Although this scheme appeared risky, if successful, it would be... absolutely foolproof with zero drawbacks for her.

Just seeing Estelle made Kian’s chest ache. The memories this woman brought him were truly less than pleasant.

"W-What do you want to do..."

"Nothing." Estelle smoothed her hair and called the three children back to her side before asking, "Young Mr. Winslow, have you checked the internet?"

Kian was completely baffled. "No, why?"

Estelle smiled. "Since you haven’t been online, then don’t look at the comments just yet. Young Mr. Winslow, you invited my children over as ’guests’... but why does it look like they aren’t being treated as guests at all?

"Furthermore, even if you wanted to invite them over, they are only five years old. Shouldn’t you have at least informed the two of us, their guardians?"

Because of Noelle, Kian looked down on Estelle in his heart. Even though Estelle was the true daughter of the Lockwood family, Noelle had always been forbearing and constantly bullied. It was only normal that the Lockwood family didn’t choose Estelle.

Seeing how aggressive and overbearing Estelle was acting right now, Kian immediately wanted to retort.

However, Nathaniel stood right behind Estelle, silently exuding an intense, oppressive aura. Kian swallowed hard and chickened out. "I... I just acted on a sudden whim and didn’t have time to tell Nathaniel. We’re all friends here, there’s no need to make such a big deal out of it, right?"

Estelle nodded with a beaming smile. "Yes, there’s no need.

"I hope Young Mr. Winslow can still say the same thing later."

After saying that, Estelle naturally sat down on the sofa, still smiling pleasantly. "Since you invited Mia over as a guest, Young Mr. Winslow probably won’t mind me ’crashing the party’."

Kian was growing impatient. He still had to wait for Noelle.

But Mrs. Winslow and Chairman Winslow seemed to have caught onto something. They exchanged a look, and Mrs. Winslow said, "Nathaniel, Estelle, if you don’t mind, please stay and have dinner with the children."

Kian opened his mouth to protest. Noelle was going to be here any minute. If she saw Estelle here, how was she supposed to mend her relationship with the children?

But he couldn’t ruin Noelle’s plan either...

Estelle did not contact anyone to respond to the online comments.

Since Noelle had already "entered the police station," whether Estelle announced that the children were fine or that they had been found, Noelle could easily "whitewash" herself.

Or rather, this was Noelle’s plan all along.

Mia had not been kidnapped, so why did so many people on the internet think that she had been?

And why were they so certain that Noelle was the chief culprit?

Because this was exactly what Noelle had orchestrated.

Once Mia was "found," or once Kian stepped forward to clarify that Noelle had absolutely nothing to do with it, all the vitriol currently being hurled at Noelle would ultimately transform into public sympathy.

Noelle was setting a trap, and so was she.

Estelle’s lips slowly curled up as she waited for Noelle’s next move.

Fortunately, Noelle did not make her wait too long.

While Rose Lowell was crying in an interview, claiming her daughter’s innocence, news broke that Noelle had confessed.

As if she no longer wanted to push the Lockwood family into the eye of the storm because of herself, she helplessly shed tears, shaking her head as she spoke to the cameras.

"It’s all my fault. I kidnapped the children. Please don’t bother my parents anymore, I’m begging you... They are your parents too, how can you be so heartless? I’ll admit it’s my fault, okay? I’m willing to go to jail and stay far away from you from now on. Just let me go..."

This appearance of pleading guilty, yet not entirely confessing, piqued the curiosity of the netizens.

"Why do I get the feeling that Noelle was forced to confess? It looks like she’s doing it to protect Chairman Lockwood and Mrs. Lockwood."

"And who is that ’you’ Noelle mentioned? She said Chairman Lockwood and Mrs. Lockwood are ’your’ parents too... Could it be Estelle Lockwood?"

"Noelle kidnapped Estelle’s children herself, and now she’s playing the victim and telling Estelle to stop? What’s wrong with her?"

With Noelle "pleading guilty," it seemed like the matter had come to a conclusion.

However, a newly uploaded video instantly pushed the entire incident right back into the spotlight!

The title of the video read, "I found the three kidnapped kids! But they don’t look like they were kidnapped at all."

Clicking into it, one could see that the video was shot on a mobile phone from a distance. The zoomed-in footage was slightly blurry, but the leading child could clearly be identified as Christian Sloan.

The three children were walking through a garden, which appeared to be the backyard of some wealthy family’s estate.

When Noelle saw this video, a smug smile appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, Estelle tapped her fingertips rhythmically against the tabletop. With a bright smile, she asked, "Young Mr. Winslow, you keep looking out the door. Who are you waiting for?"