Chapter 536: Look, the Yeats Family Can Also Abandon Claire Yeats for Money

“If it’s not you, who else could it be? Tell me, who else!” Old Mrs. Yeats was furious. “I bet you’re just jealous of Claire—”

“It was me.”

A cold, aloof male voice rang out, causing everyone to stiffen instantly.

Wearing that mask, Nathaniel Sloan’s calm gaze swept across the room before landing on Old Mrs. Yeats. “Is there a problem?” he asked flatly.

The crowd realized in shock that it was Mr. Lynch.

Old Mrs. Yeats’s mind raced. They couldn’t afford to offend this man right now. She immediately put on a flattering smile. “Mr. Lynch, I know you are friends with Estelle Lockwood, but this is the Yeats family’s private matter, after all. Why must you intervene—”

“A private matter?” Nathaniel drawled. “Aethel Group invested billions in this collaboration, and you call it a private matter?”

The faces of the Yeats family members instantly drained of color as they were stunned by the mention of Aethel Group’s investment.

Estelle Lockwood spoke up in a hauntingly calm tone. “The Yeats family was so certain that Claire Yeats would win the championship that they signed collaborations with Aethel Group and Midnight Studio in advance. The total capital amounts to a staggering nine billion. Furthermore, the Yeats signed a performance-based agreement. That means if Claire fails to win the championship and sales don’t meet the agreed-upon targets, the Yeats family will have to pay compensation—

“Now that the collaboration has died at the very first step, those two companies naturally won’t be able to recoup their investments. Therefore, the Yeats family must pay.”

Estelle let out a soft chuckle. “Originally, even if Claire didn’t win the championship, you could have still marketed her. After all, everyone thought she was Ember at the time. Even if she slipped up this year, she would still have her previous championship title to fall back on. However…

“The championship was stolen, her design talent was purely marketing, and her entire persona was plagiarized. Claire… guess how much money you’ll have to pay in compensation?”

The crowd came to a sudden realization. Midnight Studio was already an industry benchmark. Now that they had been played by Claire Yeats, they would not only demand compensation but would certainly sue as well. As for Aethel Group, they were even more untouchable. Yet Claire had managed to offend both powerhouses in one fell swoop! With contracts signed in black and white, failing to pay compensation wouldn’t just result in a total loss of face—they would still be forced to pay after being sued anyway. That is, unless the Yeats Group never planned to do business again.

Old Mrs. Yeats glared so hard her eyes nearly popped out. “You… you schemed against us… you bitch… why didn’t you say anything earlier…”

Compensation! They had to pay compensation! However excited they had been at first, they were now equally panicked. Nine billion wasn’t a sum they completely couldn’t afford, but it was a performance-based agreement. Back then, Claire had vowed confidently that she would absolutely win the championship. Thus, Old Mrs. Yeats and Zion Yeats had directly signed the agreement. Now they were being told that the collaboration was a guaranteed failure.

Estelle tilted her head with a smile. “If I recall correctly, I did warn you. It’s just that the Yeats family claimed I was petty, jealous of Claire, and harboring malicious intentions. You didn’t take my words to heart at all. For Old Mrs. Yeats to turn around and blame me now… isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”

THUD.

Zion slumped heavily into his chair, his entire body trembling.

“It’s over, it’s all over…” he thought. “We signed the contracts! We actually signed them!! If it weren’t for Claire, why would we have felt so reassured signing them? Claire promised… How did things end up like this? Why?!”

RING RING RING. Right at that moment, Zion’s phone began to ring.

“Family Head, Aethel Group has cut off their funding… We—we no longer have a capital chain!”

“Family Head, Creston Group has also announced their withdrawal from the collaboration…”

“Family Head, that last batch of goods was intercepted!”

“Family Head, with Miss Claire’s plagiarism exposed, all our previous clients are demanding refunds… The accumulated amount has reached 2.7 billion. We can’t afford to refund them…”

Call after call slammed into him like death warrants, and Zion swayed unsteadily on his feet. “No, the Yeats family cannot be destroyed…” he thought desperately. “I worked so hard to obtain this family and secure the position of Family Head…”

“Mr. Lynch, I beg you, please spare the Yeats family!” Evan Yeats was the first to rush forward. “Claire… Claire’s plagiarism is her own doing! We had absolutely no idea! At the end of the day, she isn’t even blood-related to the Yeats family. You can’t terminate the collaboration just because of an outsider like her!”

Claire’s eyes abruptly widened.

Estelle let out an intrigued “Whoa.” Was this really Evan? Wasn’t Evan the one who would firmly stand by Claire’s side no matter what happened, even if it meant making an enemy of the entire world? It seemed that friendship and sibling bonds were nothing in the face of money.

Zion’s face flushed red as he spoke with immense difficulty. “We… we truly didn’t know what Claire did… She was the one who signed the contracts. No matter what, this compensation shouldn’t fall on the Yeats family’s shoulders… Claire, just—just apologize to Mr. Lynch…”

Even Old Mrs. Yeats shrieked, “Apologize! Apologize right now!! Claire Yeats, this is all because of you!”

Claire was dumbfounded. “Why?! What is going on?! What is happening?!” she thought in a frenzy. “The Yeats family loves me so much! Why did they suddenly turn on me?!”

Overwhelmed with panic and sheer terror, Claire scrambled forward and grabbed Mr. Lynch’s sleeve. “Mr. Lynch, you clearly said you admired me! You admired me! Give me one more chance. The collaboration won’t fail! I have a lot of fans, and they can all buy the jewelry I design…”

Before Nathaniel could even speak, someone had already let out a sneer.

“How can someone be so shameless? Mr. Lynch admires you? The person Mr. Lynch admires is Ember!”

“Alright, we need to continue the awards ceremony. If the Yeats family wants to argue, take it outside. Do you think this is a wet market?” Ms. Foster looked down from her vantage point at the trembling, terrified Claire and stated flatly, “Irrelevant personnel, please leave on your own accord. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Soon, security guards dragged the crying and screaming members of the Yeats family out.

Estelle glanced at her phone. Sure enough, people were discussing the matter on Weibo; it had already hit the trending searches. This time, it wasn’t on the entertainment chart, but the social news chart. After all, the Yeats Group had lost their performance-based agreement with Aethel Group completely, with compensation amounts reaching tens of billions. And the reason for their loss was actually the Yeats Group’s chief designer impersonating someone else, plagiarizing, stealing, and slinging mud.

Anyone reading it couldn’t help but comment on their sheer audacity.

The awards ceremony concluded.

Holding her trophy, Estelle returned to the lounge, only to find that Nathaniel had already taken off his mask and was sitting on the sofa waiting for her. She handed the trophy over to him.

Nathaniel raised a brow. “For me?”

Estelle lowered her eyes with a smile. “Consider a part of it yours. Otherwise, winning this championship wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.”

Nathaniel brought up another matter. “The Yeats family keeps begging me for mercy. I ignored them, but just now, Old Mr. Yeats gave me a call.”

Estelle narrowed her eyes. “Old Mr. Yeats has been missing for days, turning a blind eye to public opinion online and the current state of the Yeats family. I thought he was going to wash his hands of this completely. I didn’t expect he wouldn’t be able to hold back and would contact you.”

The corners of Nathaniel’s lips curled up slightly. “After Mr. Lynch rejected him, he looked for you… He probably couldn’t find you, so he looked for me instead.”

He had sought him out in his capacity as Nathaniel Sloan.