Chapter 490: Is That Really the Case?

Chapter 490: Chapter 490: Is That Really the Case?

But if this wasn’t bribery... Then this woman, Claire Yeats, was truly terrifying!

The crowd suddenly realized why Old Mr. Yeats had reprimanded Estelle Lockwood right from the start. It was because...

"So, Miss Yeats had this all planned out, didn’t she?" a wealthy lady remarked disdainfully. "She hires people to smash a car and scream for Miss Lockwood’s blood, while she pretends to have a stomachache here, framing Miss Lockwood for her illness. That led Old Mr. Yeats to blindly reprimand Miss Lockwood.

"Why don’t you admit that you bought off your fans to attack Miss Lockwood?

"Listen to what those people were saying! Smashing her car, killing her, throwing acid.

"She looks so frail and delicate, but who would have thought her heart was so vicious!"

Claire shook her head desperately, tears streaming down her face. "Estelle, I don’t know these people!"

Evan Yeats lashed out in exasperation. "She’s being framed, definitely framed! Estelle Lockwood, did you orchestrate this whole play yourself?!"

The bystanders looked at Evan as if he were an idiot. "He really threw away all his shame for Claire. Those dozen or so minors are already at the police station. What kind of benefit could Estelle possibly give them to make them and their parents willing to leave a permanent stain on their records just to slander Claire?"

"It’s absolutely laughable."

"I-I..." Evan’s brain short-circuited.

Zion Yeats’s pupils trembled for a second. "How... how could this be..."

Claire cried and shook her head. "I really didn’t know. My assistant resigned a few days ago. Seeing as he had been by my side for so many years, I gave him a sum of money. I never expected him to do this..."

"Oh, so Miss Yeats fired her assistant, yet instead of holding a grudge, he decided to use the severance pay you gave him to eliminate a major thorn in your side. How touching," Estelle drawled.

"Hahaha..." Someone in the crowd couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Miss Lockwood had a point. If the assistant really operated on that logic, one had to wonder what kind of magic potion Claire had fed him.

Estelle then looked at Zion and asked with a smile, "So, Old Mr. Yeats, are you still going to fuss over my ’tardiness’?"

Zion’s face turned pale, then green, and finally flushed red. He knew that making a fuss over Estelle’s tardiness was unreasonable to begin with. It was only because Claire’s stomach condition acted up, and he had been too anxious...

But now, seeing the evidence in Estelle’s hands, he opened his mouth and said, "You... you have been wronged. But Claire surely didn’t know about this either... This was all her assistant acting on his own..."

Liam Sloan scoffed. "Old Mr. Yeats, you are truly biased. If the one complaining today was Claire, I’m afraid Estelle would have died three times over in your hands.

"Claire’s... oh wait, Claire’s so-called assistant hires thugs to smash a car and kill someone, yet Mr. Yeats still finds a way to scold Estelle, calling her restless. If the situation were reversed, Mr. Yeats would probably be dying to broadcast it to the whole world.

"Estelle, why don’t you just forget about the Yeats family? Look, your mother also left the Yeats family back then and never returned until her death. Perhaps she knew they were no good, which is why she left. After all, with your grandfather dead, your mother was nothing but an outsider in the Yeats family."

Liam said this out of pure anger, mocking them sarcastically. Unexpectedly, Zion’s face instantly went white.

Noticing this, Estelle narrowed her eyes.

"Estelle, don’t worry. We will definitely press charges against that assistant," Zion hurriedly promised, though he couldn’t help but add, "But I watched Claire grow up. I know she is kind-hearted. It is absolutely impossible for her to do such a thing. That assistant must have taken matters into his own hands!

"We will surely give you justice, but please, don’t hold this against Claire.

"At most, Claire is only guilty of being a poor judge of character. Besides, that assistant did it for her sake... Sigh, we are all a family, and a family should live in harmony."

Estelle sneered.

Old Mr. Yeats’s words had caused the bystanders to frown, yet he himself didn’t see anything wrong with them. Was this the logical thinking of the Yeats family? No wonder her mother had wanted to leave them back then.

Yet ironically, this same Old Mr. Yeats was described as a ’responsible’ man in her grandfather’s diary. What exactly was he taking responsibility for?

"There’s no need for that, Old Mr. Yeats. I will sue the assistant myself. As for the Yeats family’s lawyers..." Estelle shifted her gaze to Evan. "With Mr. Yeats’s precedent, I wouldn’t dare use them."

Liam chimed in, "Estelle, do you think this runs in the Yeats family’s blood? Back when Evan stole your father’s work, Old Mrs. Yeats said, ’We are all family, why make a fuss?’ Now that Claire’s so-called assistant hires a hitman, Old Mr. Yeats says, ’We are all family, you should live in harmony.’

"Ah! Old Mr. Yeats is definitely Old Mrs. Yeats’s biological son! I can testify to that! Absolutely!"

"Y-You..." Zion’s face flushed red from their mockery.

Estelle curled her lips. In truth, she hadn’t expected this incident to shake Claire’s foundation. The person caught was the assistant, and he insisted that Claire had nothing to do with it. Even if everyone knew what was really going on, there was no proof.

However, while there might not be legal evidence, what about the court of public opinion? Did the people present really not know whether the person who wanted her dead was Claire or her assistant? They knew. And so, Estelle’s goal had been achieved.

Claire gripped her chopsticks tightly, her hands trembling, yet she still had to put on a facade of worry, concern, and guilt.

"I’m sorry, Estelle. I really didn’t know. I’m sorry, it’s all my fault..."

"Seriously, what is she pretending for?" someone scoffed.

"Exactly. Anyone with a brain knows whether it was really just the assistant or not."

"Who told her to be a member of the Yeats family? Is there no end to their antics? They steal her father’s belongings and just say ’we’re all family.’ Now it’s attempted murder, and it’s still ’we’re all family.’"

"So, are Estelle and her parents just blood bags for the Yeats family to leach off of?"

Claire’s face looked terrible as she gritted her teeth.

Just then, Estelle sighed and said, "Fine, let’s just forget it. We’ll leave the matter at that. Otherwise, who knows how much more Old Mr. Yeats will despise me. My life here would only get harder."

Liam chimed in, "Then just leave the Yeats family. They never raised you or spent a single dime on you anyway, and they probably didn’t care much about your mother, either."

Estelle looked helpless. "You’re right. I didn’t want to be a part of this family to begin with. They suddenly showed up at my door, suddenly announced my identity, and suddenly started targeting me time and time again. Did I ask for any of this?

"But even if I announce my departure from the Yeats family now, I doubt it would end well for me. They would have to give a reason for my leaving, but would they ever admit it was their own fault? In the end, I’d still be the one taking the blame."

Estelle’s gaze swept over the room, making no attempt to hide her probing tone. "Take my mother leaving the Yeats family, for example. To this day, they haven’t been able to provide a straight answer. They just say that she was too sensitive and left on her own. But is that really the truth?"