Chapter 383: Toxic

Chapter 383: Chapter 383: Toxic

Although after her death, the doctor concluded she had "died from severe illness and depression," the expressions of both Ethan Sloan and Laura Jennings had been far from normal. Furthermore, multiple clues indicated that Miranda Lancaster’s death wasn’t that simple.

Later on, Laura acted as if she were possessed. Whenever she saw almond milk, she would panic and scream that it was poisoned.

Therefore... Nathaniel Sloan suspected that the last glass of almond milk Miranda drank was poisoned.

Nathaniel reeled in his thoughts. "Just some matters of the past. I never tried it before, so I didn’t know what almond milk tasted like. I don’t care much about food anyway."

That made sense.

Estelle Lockwood knew that Nathaniel had never been particular about food and drink. "Do you want to try some now? It’s fine if you don’t want to. Don’t force yourself."

Nathaniel merely shook his head. "I’m not forcing myself."

He picked up the glass of almond milk, brought it to his nose, and took a sniff. Just as he was about to take a sip, a voice suddenly shouted.

"Estelle, don’t drink it!"

Mrs. Yeats rushed into the courtyard and slammed the door open with a loud BANG!

Her breathing was rapid and ragged. She had clearly sprinted all the way here, exhausting herself to the point of near collapse.

Seeing that she had made it in time, Mrs. Yeats slumped to the ground, gasping for air. "D-Don’t drink it... Estelle..."

Estelle and Nathaniel exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing sharply.

Estelle helped Mrs. Yeats up and guided her to a chair. "Are you saying this almond milk shouldn’t be drunk?"

"Yes..." Mrs. Yeats shook her head. "I told you I did a huge favor for the owner of this equestrian club. He said he just noticed the waiter who brought you the food was acting suspiciously. When he questioned the man, the waiter took advantage of his momentary distraction and bolted.

"The owner instantly knew something was wrong and rushed to the kitchen. He said he found some strange powder placed right next to the almond milk. Not knowing if it was poisonous, he hurried to tell me.

"The moment I heard about that waiter fleeing in a panic, I ran straight over to find you. Estelle... are you alright?"

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes. "Investigate this."

Soon after, the club owner arrived with the police. Tests confirmed that there was indeed a toxin in the almond milk. It wasn’t lethal, but ingesting it would cause a severe sore throat and leave the victim unable to speak for a few days.

The club owner voluntarily cooperated with the investigation, but the employee seemed to have vanished into thin air, entirely evading the security cameras.

After the police left, Mrs. Yeats appeared quite shaken, so Estelle told her to go back and rest.

Once everyone was gone, Estelle narrowed her eyes. Just as she was about to speak, Nathaniel beat her to it.

"It was targeted at you."

Yes, Estelle realized that this was directed at her. The perpetrator had probably learned through some channel that Nathaniel and Liam Sloan never touched almond milk, and the three kids had been taken away to play. That left only one person who would drink it: Estelle.

Thus, the poison was slipped into her drink.

A sore throat, unable to speak... Who would want to silence her?

Nathaniel spoke in a hoarse voice. "The upcoming collaboration with the Yeats Group, the Sloan Group’s annual gala, and Star’s new product launch—all of these require your attendance and your voice."

Indeed. One was a collaboration she was overseeing; another was a gala she had to attend as Mrs. Sloan; the third was a product launch she had to host as the chairwoman of Star. All three events were extremely important, and she absolutely couldn’t be absent.

Yet, there was only one poisoner, and their motive must have been to prevent her from participating in one of these specific events.

"It couldn’t be someone from Star," Estelle mused. "As for the Yeats Group collaboration..."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Evan Yeats has already been humiliated enough, and he admitted himself that the collaboration wouldn’t happen without me. Would he still poison me to make me lose my voice? How braindead would he have to be to do that? Or did what happened at the club today make him lose his mind completely?"

Nathaniel’s lips were pressed into a tight line.

Estelle finally noticed that he had been silent for a long while. She turned her head. "Why are you..."

Suddenly, she was pulled into a tight embrace.

Nathaniel held her fiercely against his chest. He wanted to hold her even tighter but didn’t dare to. His knuckles were white from the restrained, suppressed force.

"Estelle..."

Estelle froze for a moment. "What’s wrong?"

"That poison was meant for you. Thank God you didn’t drink it."

Lingering fear gripped Nathaniel’s heart. He didn’t even know how to describe the terror washing over him like a tidal wave. There were very few things Nathaniel feared in this life, and right now, his only fears were related to... Estelle.

Estelle belatedly realized what was happening. Nathaniel was afraid.

She let out a soft chuckle. "But nothing happened, right?"

"It was too close," Nathaniel said, his eyes darkening.

Estelle curled her lips into a smile. "Being close is entirely different when you look at it from another angle. I think I’m just blessed. It might look like it was a close call, but it missed me entirely. Isn’t that a kind of luck in itself? So don’t be afraid. I’m very lucky."

Nathaniel stared intently at her.

Yes... she was very lucky.

He really didn’t need to be so afraid, but he just didn’t want to lose her ever again. He couldn’t even bear the thought of it.

The investigation into the poisoner reached a complete deadlock. The club owner apologized profusely with tears in his eyes. Estelle had no intention of taking her anger out on an innocent bystander, but it was true that they had hit a wall.

After slipping in the poison, the culprit had practically vanished. Not only had he dodged all the cameras, but even his past identity was fake. The man had worked at the club for three years, and yet no one had ever realized he was using a forged identity.

However...

Liam Sloan scratched his head in utter confusion. "I don’t get it. He forged an identity three years ago and came to work at this club... just for today? But there’s no way he could have known three years ago that you would come here. It doesn’t make any sense!

"If this guy went through the trouble of staying undercover for three whole years, would he really blow his cover just to give you a sore throat? What a waste!"

Liam genuinely couldn’t figure it out. The poisoner’s actions completely contradicted his meticulously forged identity, creating a heavy sense of disjointedness.

A sudden thought struck Estelle, and a glint flashed in her eyes. "Perhaps this person was planted here by someone, waiting for a specific target so he could be put to use."

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes. "You mean... the poisoner didn’t come to the club three years ago for you. But the person pulling the strings deemed poisoning you important enough to finally blow his cover."

Liam interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait. I still don’t get why he came to this club in the first place. What was so special about this place three years ago?"

Nothing special... as far as they knew.

But Estelle suddenly remembered something.

Mrs. Yeats had mentioned that she had done a huge favor for the club owner. Furthermore, the equestrian coach who had passed the note for Mrs. Yeats and facilitated their secret meeting in the locker room... All of those actions were enough to prove that Mrs. Yeats had a certain level of status and connections within this club. In other words, she had confidants here.

If that were the case, could this poisoner be connected to...

Mrs. Yeats?