Chapter 73: Never Looked for Her

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Never Looked for Her

Mia opened her mouth. "Mommy..."

The next moment, Christian calmly walked over and lifted the hem of his shirt. There was a fingernail-sized scar on his waist.

Mia’s eyes immediately widened, and she shot several glances at "Zachery." She wondered, "This guy is the young master, right? That little dummy Zachery is still at Imperial Crest, right? Why does the young master have a scar exactly like Zachery’s?!"

Penelope Sullivan’s heart ached. "Oh my, this scar is still so deep. Does it hurt?"

Christian dropped the hem of his shirt. "It doesn’t hurt anymore."

He walked back to Mia’s side, met her dumbfounded expression, offered a slow smile, and poured her a glass of lemonade.

Christian didn’t know how things could be this coincidental either. Zachery had a scar, and he had one in the exact same spot. Daddy had said this scar was left behind when he was three, after roughhousing and falling over with another little boy.

Penelope clicked her tongue and teased, "Our precious Zachery is so considerate now. I almost thought my baby had been swapped with someone else! But this scar can’t be faked, right, Yara?

"But you need to be more careful when walking from now on, sweetie. Taking a tumble hurts so much!"

Estelle Lockwood ordered their food. Seeing Zachery eating so obediently, she couldn’t help but smile. In truth, Zachery hadn’t fallen because he was unsteady on his feet; he had gotten into a fight.

Henry Kendrick had called her that day, saying Zachery had sneaked out and gotten into a fight with a little boy on the street. The two of them took a tumble together, and both ended up with a scar on their waist. By the time Estelle arrived, the other boy had already been picked up by his parents, leaving Zachery crying sullenly all by himself.

Afterward, Zachery firmly refused to admit that he had fallen because he lost the fight. Everyone else assumed he had just been careless and hadn’t watched where he was going. Penelope had even gently scolded him several times out of concern.

For the sake of the little guy’s pride, Estelle didn’t expose the truth. "Now that Zachery is a big boy, he won’t trip while walking anymore, right?"

Christian nodded obediently.

Mia was speechless. She wondered if she was crazy or if the world was crazy. How could this actually be covered up?

At Imperial Crest.

When it was time for dinner, Zachery sat at the dining table and waited for a while. "Grandpa Chapman, why isn’t Daddy here yet?"

Mr. Chapman said gently, "Young Master, Mr. Sloan isn’t feeling well today. Dr. Grant is upstairs taking care of him, so he won’t be coming down. Could you eat by yourself?"

Zachery wondered if his deadbeat daddy was sick. His eyes darted around. He immediately hopped off his chair and dashed upstairs like a wisp of smoke. "Grandpa Chapman, I’m going to check on Daddy!"

"Ah, Young Master, please eat your dinner first..." Before Mr. Chapman could finish, Zachery was already out of sight.

Zachery lightened his footsteps, tiptoeing to Nathaniel Sloan’s bedroom door. He pressed his ear against it and heard people talking inside.

Zane Grant was speaking earnestly. "Nathaniel, I know you miss Estelle, but Dr. Lockwood really isn’t her! What’s the point of taking your anger out on Dr. Lockwood? Look, you even drove her away!

"Besides, if Dr. Lockwood really were her and she had returned to your side, why wouldn’t she acknowledge you? It means you definitely did something wrong, and you need to reflect on yourself!"

Nathaniel pressed his temples, a splitting headache tormenting him. Hearing this, he mockingly twitched the corner of his lips. His tone carried an indescribable pain. "I want to ask that too. What did I do wrong to make her leave me so heartlessly?"

Zane opened his mouth but couldn’t find anything to say.

Outside the door, Zachery’s eyes widened. He thought, "No, wait a minute, what did this deadbeat daddy just say?

"He actually has the nerve to ask what he did wrong? He’s blaming Mommy for being heartless?

"What did he do wrong? He did everything wrong! My fiery temper can’t take this anymore!"

He shoved the bedroom door open. "Daddy, right now you look exactly like a cheating scumbag who wants to shift the blame onto his wife! You’re holding the mistress with one arm while asking your wife, ’Why are you so heartless? I just cheated, why do you have to leave me?’ Daddy, look at yourself. Is this acceptable?!"

The room instantly plunged into dead silence. Zane’s jaw dropped. "Christian?" Zane wondered if Christian was being a little too lively!

Nathaniel regained a bit of clarity and retorted, "I didn’t cheat."

Zachery sneered. "You didn’t? Then what exactly is Noelle Lockwood? And how did she become my mommy? Since she isn’t the person you married, where did I come from?"

This was what infuriated Zachery the most! Back then, his deadbeat daddy had abandoned Mommy for the child in that scummy woman’s belly! Fortunately, the young master was a good person. Otherwise, he would have risked his life to fight this deadbeat daddy a long time ago!

Zane realized Christian had a massive misunderstanding. He hurriedly said, "Christian, your daddy has no relationship with Noelle whatsoever! As for you..."

How should he explain this? If he brought this matter up, he would have to expose all the dirty laundry of the Sloan family. Christian was still just a child; knowing too much wouldn’t do him any good. But... but Christian truly wasn’t Noelle’s son! He was the only child Estelle had left behind!

Zachery grew even more self-righteous. "Daddy, if you made a mistake, you have to be brave enough to admit it. If you didn’t have an illicit affair with Noelle, why would your ex-wife have left you?

"Let’s not even talk about you letting Noelle move into the marital home. Your ex-wife..."

Zachery felt a lump in his throat when he brought this up. He wanted nothing more than to tear this man into eight pieces. He steadied his emotions before continuing, "Your ex-wife died under such suspicious circumstances, yet you didn’t investigate it at all. Why didn’t you ever consider who wanted her dead back then, and who benefited from her death afterward?!

"You didn’t look into anything and just closed the case as a suicide. Even if you suspect she isn’t dead, you never bothered to look for her!"

Zane didn’t know why Christian was getting so emotional. Perhaps this was just the telepathic connection between mother and son. He glanced at Nathaniel, who was still being tormented by his headache, and sighed. "Christian, you’ve wrongly blamed Nathaniel. Estelle was indeed the one who started that fire back then. Nathaniel suspected Noelle and the Lockwoods, but they had no reason to kill their own biological daughter, right?

"Besides, your daddy has never stopped searching all these years. As long as there’s a sliver of hope, he exhausts all his efforts to find her. Didn’t you also go to the USA when you were three..."

Before Zane could finish, Zachery forcefully pushed him away.

Hearing Zane say they were certain it was a suicide and certain Estelle started the fire, Zachery’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he stumbled two steps back.

"Nonsense! You adults only know how to spout nonsense! Just to protect that venomous woman, you can disregard the truth. I hate you all!"

After saying that, he turned and ran.

"Hey, Christian!" Zane wanted to chase after him. He hadn’t finished speaking yet!

When Christian was three, Nathaniel heard that a woman who looked a lot like Estelle had appeared in the USA, and he brought Christian along to find her. Even though they didn’t find her in the end—and Christian even ended up with a scar on his waist from getting into a fight—no one could claim that Nathaniel didn’t care about his wife.

"Nathaniel..." Zane turned back.

Nathaniel’s gray eyes flickered as he pressed his temples. He said in a hoarse voice, "He really hates Noelle. Find a time to publicly announce Christian’s true identity."