Chapter 389: The Fish Takes the Bait

Chapter 389: Chapter 389: The Fish Takes the Bait

"What if they were intentionally playing reverse psychology?"

"However, if she had actually drank it, lost her voice, and had to withdraw from the partnership, wasn’t Evan afraid that Mr. Lynch would cancel the collaboration in a fit of rage?"

Nathaniel chuckled softly. "Perhaps your theory is correct, but the person behind this isn’t Evan."

Estelle clicked her tongue. "True. With Evan’s IQ..."

Nathaniel’s chest vibrated as he laughed out loud.

The next day, personnel from the Yeats Group branch headed to the Aethel Group.

Estelle hadn’t expected the Aethel Group to be one of the companies under Nathaniel’s control.

He had explained, "This was left behind by Miranda and entrusted to me. Neither the Lancaster family nor the Sloan family knows about it."

Estelle mused, "I recall that Aethel has quite a bit of influence in Capital City... No wonder the Yeats family doesn’t dare to offend ’Mr. Lynch’."

Nathaniel nodded calmly. "So, what’s next?"

Estelle curled her lips into a meaningful smile. "So, I’ll leave the next steps to Mr. Sloan. Of course, you won’t need to show yourself personally."

Nathaniel nodded. "I’ll have someone keep an eye on Claire’s reactions."

At nine o’clock the following morning, Old Mrs. Yeats arrived at the Aethel Group’s Crestfall branch alongside Claire and Evan.

"To think it’s Aethel..." Old Mrs. Yeats murmured.

This was something she hadn’t anticipated. She had indeed wanted to use Mr. Lynch as a stepping stone to secure Evan’s position as the heir to the Yeats family. She also knew that Mr. Lynch wielded considerable power in Capital City and was someone no one would easily offend.

However, she never imagined it would be Aethel.

No one truly knew what kind of company Aethel was. The name was so obscure that very few ordinary people knew much about it.

But as the wife of the former Family Head of the Yeats family, Old Mrs. Yeats was naturally well aware of Aethel’s influence. At the very least, the wealthy families on good terms with the Yeats family always spoke of Aethel with a tone of reverence.

She hadn’t expected Mr. Lynch to be backed by the Aethel Group...

Old Mrs. Yeats’s eyes darted thoughtfully. "Claire, Mr. Lynch actually only values Estelle for her status. He doesn’t know you. You must make sure to properly emphasize your own status today, understand?

"I’ve never been at ease leaving this partnership in Estelle’s hands. She has never been of one mind with the Yeats family. It was your grandfather who lost his mind and chose to trust her, insisting on formally recognizing her ancestry. But I still favor you more.

"As for this Mr. Lynch... we don’t know his exact identity, but we can be certain that he is currently the one in power at Aethel. Make sure you leave a good impression on him, got it?"

Claire nodded shyly. "Don’t worry, Grandma. Since it’s a partnership for the Yeats family, I will definitely give it my all. It’s just that Estelle..."

Old Mrs. Yeats grew irritated at the mere mention of Estelle’s name and scoffed coldly. "Don’t bother with her. I won’t let her run wild this time."

"That’s good. I’ll listen to you, Grandma."

Right then, the doors to Aethel’s studio opened, and a person walked out.

Claire put on an anxious expression. "It’s time. Mr. Lynch’s people are already here. Where is Estelle? She was late for the meeting yesterday, and everyone reminded her not to be late today. How could she..."

Old Mrs. Yeats’s anger flared even hotter. "I think she feels invincible just because she holds the status of being Silas’s daughter! What is she trying to do? Drag our Yeats family down to the grave with her?!

"How about this, Claire. Since Estelle isn’t here, we don’t have time to wait for her. We can’t keep Mr. Lynch’s people waiting, so you go and take over the partnership."

Since Old Mrs. Yeats had given the order, no one objected. Claire merely pursed her lips and let out a feigned sigh.

"Alright, I understand... Estelle is really something else..."

Meanwhile, Estelle received a call.

"Estelle, just as you requested, I kept an eye on Claire and the others," Henry said over the phone. "I did find people lying in ambush on the road leaving Imperial Crest. They probably didn’t intend to hurt you. Those people deliberately caused a ’car accident’ on your inevitable route, spilling cargo all over the road. If you had driven past, you would have been stuck in traffic.

"I’ve already looked into it. The driver who caused the ’accident’ definitely took Claire’s money, but he didn’t mean to hurt you... Or rather, Claire didn’t want you to figure out it was her doing. If you were merely stuck in traffic instead of getting hurt, you wouldn’t think it was targeted at you, based on normal human logic.

"Also, the driver mentioned that Miss Yeats contacted him two weeks ago and told him to wait for her orders before taking action."

Estelle nodded. Indeed, it was perfectly normal to be late due to bad road conditions causing a traffic jam. No one could possibly blame Claire for that.

So... this was Claire’s "tactic."

Since Claire was already fully prepared, why go out of her way to use poison earlier?

She had already hired the driver two weeks ago. To suddenly resort to poison as well would just needlessly invite suspicion.

Moreover, Estelle had a gut feeling that while the poisoning was related to the Yeats family, it wasn’t necessarily linked to Claire or Evan.

Claire had her own methods, and Evan’s IQ didn’t seem high enough for him to uncover the connection between the Sloan family and the almond milk.

So... what was going on?

At the entrance of the studio, a man who looked like an assistant walked out. With a polite smile, he spoke respectfully, "You must be Old Mrs. Yeats, Mr. Evan, and the young lady in charge.

"Old Mrs. Yeats, I apologize, but Mr. Lynch had some urgent matters to attend to and has already left Crestfall. Since he left in a hurry, he left me entirely in charge here. He will come by to take a look once the partnership is finalized.

"I was only called back by him yesterday, so I’m not very familiar with the Yeats Group branch here. May I ask if this is the young lady in charge? If so, please come inside with us to discuss the partnership."

Claire had originally intended to put on an act, denying she was the person in charge while subtly dropping a snide remark about the actual person in charge not having arrived yet.

But Old Mrs. Yeats stopped her.

Old Mrs. Yeats’s eyes shifted thoughtfully. Since Estelle hadn’t shown up yet, if she simply declared Claire as the person in charge, Claire could "accidentally" take over the partnership...

By the time Estelle arrived, Claire would already be halfway through the proceedings. It would be too late!

At this thought, Old Mrs. Yeats smiled more deeply. "Yes, Claire is the person in charge of this partnership. Claire, aren’t you going to say hello?"

Realizing the plan, Claire flashed a bashful smile. "That’s me."

"Right this way, please." The assistant bowed slightly.

Behind him, all the bodyguards bowed respectfully toward her.

This feeling made Claire feel, once again, that she was truly a cut above the rest. Successfully snatching yet another thing away from Estelle filled her with an uncontrollable sense of gratification.

"Miss, you must be clear about the details of this partnership. Mr. Lynch’s intention is to focus on the design aspect..."

At this point, the assistant paused and looked a bit chagrined. "I forgot to ask. Miss, what is your last name?"

Claire clenched her fists as her heart skipped a beat, terrified of giving herself away.

Logically speaking, the safest bet at this moment was to say her last name was Lockwood. After all, the original person in charge was Estelle. If she claimed her last name was Lockwood, the assistant wouldn’t find it strange.