Chapter 337: Perhaps He Was Overthinking It

Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Perhaps He Was Overthinking It

Mrs. Yeats was the first to react. "This must be Mr. Sloan? Hello, I’m Estelle’s aunt."

Nathaniel Sloan lightly shook her hand. "Mrs. Yeats."

He then draped his suit jacket over Estelle Lockwood’s shoulders. "The AC in the banquet hall is a bit cold."

Mrs. Yeats said with gratification, "I’ve long heard that Mr. Sloan and Estelle are deeply in love, and it’s true. I just didn’t expect you to like this type of man, Estelle."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "What kind of man did you think she would like, Mrs. Yeats?"

Estelle gave Nathaniel a perplexed look.

To be honest, if an outsider were present, they might think Nathaniel was being rude—and they would be right. Mrs. Yeats was an elder, yet Nathaniel’s response carried no trace of respect. Instead of answering, he had countered with a question. However, if Nathaniel had wanted to be polite, he was absolutely capable of it. There was only one reason he didn’t—he just didn’t want to.

Mrs. Yeats didn’t take it to heart. Instead, she said nostalgically, "It’s because Estelle looks so much like Eleanor, yet the men they fell for have completely different personalities.

"Mr. Sloan is powerful, aloof, and restrained. But the man Eleanor loved was gentle, affectionate, and as comforting as a spring breeze."

Mrs. Yeats smiled. "But I suppose that makes sense. A mother and daughter don’t have to be exactly alike."

Nathaniel didn’t offer any further explanation. "Mrs. Yeats, I’ll take Estelle to the lounge to rest for a bit. We’ll go visit the old master later."

Mrs. Yeats nodded with a smile. "Go on, then. Seeing how much you love each other puts my mind at ease."

Once they entered the lounge, Estelle raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Sloan, what’s going on? You seem to have a lot of prejudice against my aunt."

Nathaniel lowered his eyes, his expression languid. He didn’t deny it.

"Why?" Estelle asked, recalling how Mrs. Yeats had reprimanded Evan Yeats earlier. "She’s actually very reasonable."

Nathaniel couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He didn’t have any proof; he just felt a sense of unease the moment he laid eyes on Mrs. Yeats. Perhaps he was overthinking things.

"I’m just thinking..." Nathaniel began. "Claire Yeats has someone pulling the strings behind the scenes for her, someone who gives her the confidence to act so boldly. We haven’t been able to find this person, but they are absolutely deeply entangled with the Yeats family."

Estelle nodded, then realized what he meant. "You suspect Mrs. Yeats is that person? But we deduced that they should be around my age."

That was indeed a problem. Either their gathered intel and deductions were wrong, or he had misunderstood Mrs. Yeats. The Yeats family certainly cared about Estelle—at least, they appeared to on the surface—but Nathaniel was still worried. With someone lurking in the shadows, he couldn’t completely put his guard down around the Yeats family.

"There’s no need to rush." Estelle chuckled lightly. "Like you said, Claire Yeats has someone backing her. The person who groomed her for so many years wouldn’t just abandon her so easily."

Nathaniel nodded in agreement.

After the banquet ended, everyone in Crestfall learned of Estelle’s true identity. The Yeats family hadn’t planned on hiding it at all; they announced it immediately and gifted Estelle shares in Yeats Group. In an instant, the entire city was in an uproar.

Many people couldn’t help but think of the Lockwood family. The fact that the Lockwoods had abused Estelle and seized her father’s and grandfather’s inheritance had long caused a massive public outcry. Austin Lockwood and Old Mr. Lockwood had abused the rightful heir of the Lockwood family while bringing the mistress’s daughter home to raise, all while indulging Rose Lowell in her harsh mistreatment of Estelle.

"The eldest daughter of the Yeats family... Nobody expected Estelle to come from the Yeats family. If the Lockwoods had treated her a little better back then, they would be riding the Yeats family’s coattails to the top right now."

"Exactly. Old Mr. Lockwood snatched the Lockwood family from his brother’s hands and even abused his own brother’s granddaughter."

"Austin is pretty brainless too. If he finds out about this in prison, he’s probably going to regret everything he’s done."

"Yeah. After all, Austin and Estelle’s biological father were cousins. He swallowed up the man’s inheritance but couldn’t even treat the orphaned daughter properly. If he had just raised Estelle well, would the Yeats family have skimped on rewarding them now?"

It was a pity that the Lockwoods were all in prison and destined to never hear these words. The Sloan family, however, was well aware of the gossip. This was especially true since the rumors heavily featured Laura Jennings.

"If you ask me, Laura Jennings is just as stupid. She looked down on Estelle so much back then and insisted on interfering, causing Estelle to leave for five years. One minute she wanted Mr. Sloan to marry Noelle Lockwood, and the next she wanted him to marry Thea York. What kind of trash was she picking?"

"She scoffed at a true heiress, only to favor a fake, illegitimate daughter, and then a mistress’s spawn like Thea York. She must have completely offended Estelle."

"In the past, Estelle was just a poor, pitiful girl. Even with Star Group backing her, Laura could still claim she came from a bad background with no maternal family to support her."

"But look at her now. Can Laura still bully her?"

"It’s hilarious! I heard Mrs. Yeats and Laura bumped into each other at a restaurant. Mrs. Yeats just gave her a cold glance, and the restaurant owner hurriedly ’invited’ Laura to leave. It’s obvious she was venting her anger on Estelle’s behalf!"

"Right, right. Mrs. Yeats is Estelle’s aunt; how could she just stand by and watch her niece get bullied?"

CRASH!!

Furious and exasperated, Laura Jennings violently smashed a vase.

Estelle was the eldest daughter of the Yeats family. She really was the eldest daughter of the Yeats family! But Claire Yeats had clearly said she wasn’t! Claire Yeats had lied to her!

As the realization hit her belatedly, Laura trembled with rage. Yet, she didn’t dare stir up trouble with Claire Yeats, forcing her to swallow the grievance and suffer in silence.

"Whoa. Mom, that vase was incredibly expensive. Our family isn’t what it used to be. If you keep smashing things like this, aren’t you going to bankrupt us?" Liam Sloan had just returned home from his law firm. His tone was full of pity, but his expression offered not a shred of comfort.

Seeing him, an inexplicable fire surged within Laura. "Are you even my son?! Standing there making snide remarks! Nathaniel is going too far! Are you just going to watch him bully your mother?!"

Liam was completely unfazed, firmly adopting a ’not my problem’ attitude. "Mom, what are you saying? It’s useless for me to get anxious. I can’t beat him in a fight for the inheritance, and I’m no good at wrestling for control of a company. Just relax and don’t worry about it."

"You!!" Laura was about to hurl a string of curses at him when she suddenly remembered something. She was the one who had forbidden Liam from studying business management or finance. Back when he became a lawyer and was destined never to fight for the inheritance, she had actually been thrilled.

After all, she intended to leave everything in the Sloan family to her own biological son, Theodore Lancaster.

But now that there was no one in the entire Sloan family who could contend with Nathaniel, she felt a pang of regret. "What if Liam is a business genius? If only back then...

"No, no, no. That’s too risky.

"If Liam has the ability to vie for Sloan Group, it will threaten Theodore’s position. No, absolutely not," she thought to herself.

Liam suddenly found the situation a bit strange.

He knew Nathaniel wasn’t his mother’s biological son, which was why she had tried to keep him out of school since he was a child. Had it not been for nine years of compulsory education, his mother would probably have genuinely tried to raise Nathaniel to be completely illiterate.

But what about himself?