Chapter 413: Kissed Her Lips

Chapter 413: Chapter 413: Kissed Her Lips

Thea York did indeed mean exactly that. Moreover, she was absolutely certain that in the near future, she would become Mrs. Sloan.

But coming from Estelle Lockwood, the words sounded incredibly sarcastic.

Thea ground her teeth in anger. "Fine. Fine! None of you believe me. Just wait until Nathaniel settles the score with all of you!"

Estelle raised an eyebrow and walked straight toward the elevator, leaving without giving Thea another chance to speak.

The employees of Evernight International cast wary glances at Thea.

"Her words are actually terrifying if you think about it..." one whispered.

"How so?"

"She claims she’s going to be Mrs. Sloan, but denies being the wife of Chairman Sloan or Second Young Mr. Sloan. That leaves only Mr. Sloan..."

"But isn’t Mr. Sloan married?"

"Exactly. I heard before that Ms. Jennings had always wanted to play matchmaker for Thea and Mr. Sloan. Even though Mr. Sloan completely rejected the idea and gave a stern warning, she still hasn’t given up."

"And look, she probably thinks there’s hope again and is making a comeback."

"But Mr. Sloan has absolutely no interest in her! He and Mrs. Sloan are so deeply in love..."

"That’s exactly why Thea is so shameless. After all, that’s how her mother clawed her way to the top. A lot of people don’t know this, but the York family’s Stella York is the true legitimate eldest daughter. Thea is just an illegitimate child."

"Oh... the mistress’s daughter wants to be a mistress too. That makes sense."

Thea was dizzy with rage, her entire body trembling. Her face flushed crimson, and her lips quivered, yet she couldn’t formulate a single word in rebuttal.

All she could do was repeat pointlessly, "Shut up! All of you, shut up!"

She wondered what exactly was going on with Nathaniel. That drug... That drug was clearly supposed to work. She had seen firsthand how incredibly potent it was, and she refused to believe that Nathaniel could resist its effects! Why hadn’t he gotten a divorce yet? Why hadn’t he married her?

Seething with indignation, she sat down on the sofa. Ten minutes later, a call came through to the front desk. The receptionist froze for a couple of seconds.

"Miss York... Mr. Sloan has invited you to go up."

Thea was stunned for a moment, but a smile quickly spread across her face.

She understood now. Nathaniel had figured things out, or perhaps... the drug had finally kicked in!

A short while later.

Upstairs, Estelle walked in to find Nathaniel signing a document.

She waited until he set his pen down before approaching, her eyes dancing with amusement. "You guessed perfectly, Mr. Sloan. Thea really did show up."

Nathaniel nodded with a slight smile. "Mm. It’s all thanks to Mrs. Sloan."

Estelle stepped up to his office chair. Before she could say another word, she felt a sudden pinch at her waist. Her legs gave out instantly, and in the blink of an eye, he pulled her into his embrace and sat her on his lap.

Her heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing?"

"Mrs. Sloan." Nathaniel chuckled softly, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger. His voice was husky as he said, "According to your plan, I’m going to have to hurl some ’vicious words’ at you in a little while.

"I’m rather reluctant to do it, so before that happens, Mrs. Sloan needs to compensate me."

Estelle was left utterly speechless by his logic. "...You’re the one going to be mean to me, yet I have to compensate you?"

Completely shameless, Nathaniel nodded. His fingertips gently traced the outline of her lips as he spoke in a lazy drawl. "Yes. Saying such harsh things will make my heart ache, too."

The warm pad of his finger, textured with a thin callus, grazed her soft lips, sending a strange, thrilling sensation through her.

Estelle subconsciously balled her hands into fists, her lips trembling slightly under his touch.

Seeing this, Nathaniel couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle, his Adam’s apple bobbing gently. With one arm securely around her waist and his other hand cupping the back of her neck, he gently pressed her forward.

Their lips brushed against each other tenderly. It wasn’t a deep kiss, yet it carried a uniquely profound affection.

A few minutes later, realizing that continuing would only lead to trouble, Nathaniel finally pulled away. His voice was rough. "What were you going to say earlier?"

She had clearly wanted to say something when she first walked in.

Estelle still looked a little dazed, her eyes misting over. After his lips left hers, she swallowed hard and let out a few soft, ragged breaths before she finally managed to compose herself.

"In Thea’s mind, you’ve been drugged. She’s extremely confident that you’ll fall in love with her because of it, and I think that’s highly unnatural.

"If Ethan was the only one who told her about it, would she really believe it with such absolute certainty?

"If we look at it from another perspective, what if someone told me that as long as I used a certain substance, I could..."

Estelle pondered for a long moment before coming up with the name of a man she considered an enemy. "Right, Evan Yeats. If I used a drug to make Evan fall in love with me... would I believe it so blindly? Would I be completely certain of his love before even seeing any signs of this special ’affection’ from him?"

Nathaniel’s expression darkened. "Pick a different example."

Of all the people she could have chosen, she just had to use herself, and with someone as repulsive as Evan, no less.

Estelle was speechless. She couldn’t resist swatting him. "I’m talking to you about something serious!"

Nathaniel hummed in agreement. "It is definitely strange. Based on your description, I actually suspect that Thea has used this drug before.

"Seeing is believing, as the saying goes. She must have experienced the drug’s effects firsthand to be so convinced that I would fall in love with her the moment I was dosed. In her reality, it’s an undeniable fact." Nathaniel’s voice was soft, his tone unhurried as he mused, "Who did Thea drug in the past?"

Estelle had no idea either. She shook her head. "But if Thea had access to it before, then we can at least confirm that this drug is tied to the York family. Or rather, that the Yorks and the Sloans were conspiring about something many years ago."

Would a normal person... ever need to use a drug like that? Furthermore, could a normal person even buy something like that?

In fact, Estelle felt that using it just to ’make someone fall in love’ was a waste of its potential. If it could completely control another person’s mind and fabricate emotions out of thin air, couldn’t it do so much more?

Thea only wanted Nathaniel to fall in love with her. But would Ethan and Laura Jennings really stop at merely manipulating Nathaniel’s romantic feelings?

Estelle voiced her thoughts. "They... want to control you. Not just your emotions. Or rather, controlling your feelings is merely a byproduct. It’s a secondary effect outside of their main objective, one they thought could be used to rope Thea in.

"It’s a nice bonus if it works, but if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter."

Nathaniel agreed with her assessment.

If Ethan really had this drug in his hands... then what he wanted was undoubtedly Nathaniel’s Evernight International. He wanted Nathaniel’s intellect, his brilliance, and his ruthless efficiency to serve him forever, building a business empire for him.

Estelle’s eyes crinkled in a smile. "Ethan is probably planning to make a move at the annual gala. But this is all still just our speculation. To prove it, we’ll have to start with Thea.

"Are you ready, Mr. Sloan? Miss York is probably getting impatient downstairs. Should we let her come up now?"

Nathaniel tapped her palm with his fingertip. "Alright."