Chapter 537: Fake Estelle Lockwood!

Estelle blinked. “Old Mr. Yeats sought you out just to see me? How strange. He hasn’t shown his face in ages, yet now he suddenly appears.”

Nathaniel’s eyes held a hint of a smile. “So, will you see him?”

Estelle narrowed her eyes, lightly tapping her fingertips against the tabletop. After a long moment, she shook her head. “No.

“The Yeats family hasn’t reached its breaking point yet. They probably still harbor some wishful thinking. It makes sense, really—a single Claire Yeats isn’t enough to shake the foundation of their entire family. Because of that, whatever Old Mr. Yeats wants from me right now—whether he’s begging for mercy or trying to play the emotional card—it won’t be sincere.

“I want him to voluntarily tell me the truth about my mother, but as things stand, it’s obvious he won’t say a word.”

Nathaniel was noncommittal. “Then you won’t see him.”

Estelle chuckled and nodded. “Shall we head home first, then?”

The corners of Nathaniel’s lips curled up slightly as he spoke in a leisurely tone, “Do you want to go check out the Yeats Group’s branch stores?”

Estelle blinked. “Nathaniel… you’re so wicked!”

Meanwhile, at the Yeats Jewelry branch.

Due to Claire’s plagiarism scandal, the jewelry branch was currently facing a public boycott and had hastily shut its doors.

Estelle stood outside and admired the closed storefront for a moment before nodding. “I just wonder what the Yeats family plans to do next. They want to abandon Claire, but will she willingly let herself be cast aside?”

Obviously, she wouldn’t. Therefore…

Somewhere else, Claire tightly gripped her phone in a panic. “Teacher, what should I do? Who could have guessed that Estelle was that damn Ember! You clearly told me back then that Ember was already dead, and that there would be absolutely no problem with me assuming her identity…”

A robotic female voice sounded from the other end of the line. “You idiot. Are you blaming me right now?”

Claire bit her lower lip, feeling wronged. “Teacher, that’s not what I meant. But what am I supposed to do now? What do I do? Teacher… Hello? Teacher?”

Estelle didn’t bother concerning herself with the Yeats family’s affairs anymore. She returned to Imperial Crest to rest for the night and headed to the company the next day.

That evening, Nathaniel called her, a light chuckle in his voice. “Are you off work?”

Estelle checked the time. “Yeah, I’ll be right down. Are you in the garage?”

As the chairwoman of Star, Estelle naturally had a private garage. Nathaniel nodded. “Yes. Come on down; let’s go home.”

Hanging up the phone, she walked straight into the elevator.

Since it wasn’t a workday, the company was mostly empty. Estelle didn’t run into a single person on her way down. She glanced down at the time again and, worried that she was keeping Nathaniel waiting too long, quickened her pace.

Wait. Someone was here.

Faint footsteps echoed just behind her. The sound was incredibly light, as if the person was deliberately timing their steps to match her own. She stopped; the footsteps also stopped. Something was wrong.

“Miss Lockwood is perceptive, as expected.” A gun was pressed against her waist, accompanied by a man’s sinister, freezing voice. “To think you discovered me so quickly. But that’s fine. Miss Lockwood, I don’t want to hurt you. Just be a good girl and come with me, alright?”

Estelle’s back stiffened, and she immediately halted. The gun was real, and this man…

“Theodore… Lancaster?”

Ever since Laura Jennings was exposed and Nathaniel reclaimed his true identity, nothing more had been heard about this son of the mistress who had been raised by the Lancaster family. The Lancaster family had stubbornly insisted that Theodore was also Miranda Lancaster’s son, claiming that Miranda had originally given birth to twins and that Theodore wasn’t the mistress’s child after all.

But very few people actually believed it. As a result, Theodore had vanished from the public eye for quite some time. At the very least, Estelle hadn’t seen him at all recently. The Lancaster family, likely feeling utterly disgraced, had left Crestfall long ago. Estelle never expected that Theodore hadn’t left with them.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Theodore sneered as he slowly slid the gun higher up from her waist. “What a question to ask, Miss Lockwood. Nathaniel stole everything from me, and now you’re asking what I want? I want to steal everything back from him, of course!”

Estelle scoffed, looking Theodore up and down with mocking eyes. “Steal? Why don’t you go ask around, Young Mr. Lancaster, and see who the real thief is here?”

Theodore’s gaze turned dark and venomous. “Miss Lockwood, do you honestly think I wouldn’t dare pull the trigger?”

Estelle’s face remained expressionless, but her mind was racing.

Theodore blew on the barrel of his gun. “As long as you’re obedient, I naturally won’t hurt you. I merely wish to invite you over as my guest. After you?”

Estelle narrowed her eyes. Theodore had a gun, so she couldn’t try to force her way out of this. Even if she called for help right now, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t end up hurting someone else.

“Fine, I’ll go with you.” Estelle made her decision in a split second. “Let go. I’ll get in the car myself.”

Theodore shot her a look that said he appreciated her knowing what was good for her. “Don’t try to pull any tricks, and don’t even dream of leaving any clues for Nathaniel. This place is already under my men’s control.”

Estelle kept her eyes narrowed, remaining perfectly composed on the surface.

Already under his men’s control… But this was her workplace. There were security cameras covering every single angle. How could Theodore possibly control all her subordinates? If it was bribery, she could believe he might have bought off one or two people, but to buy off everyone… He must have used some other method.

If she couldn’t leave any clues behind… Estelle lowered her gaze. “Alright, I’ll get in.”

Theodore smiled in satisfaction and tossed her phone aside.

Ten minutes passed in the garage as Nathaniel waited.

He glanced at his watch, a slight frown creasing his brow. Why was it taking her so long to come downstairs? Had she run into some trouble? Without overthinking it, he decided to just go up and check on her himself.

“Nathaniel!” a woman’s voice called out.

Estelle ran over to him with a smile, helplessly holding up her phone for him to see. “A car was driving like a maniac just now. While I was trying to dodge it, I accidentally dropped my phone. Look, it’s completely broken. That’s why I’m a little late.”

Nathaniel immediately asked, “Are you hurt?”

Estelle shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

Nathaniel paused, then asked neutrally, “What car? Driving wildly in Star’s underground garage? Should we check the security footage?”

Estelle seemed to recall something. “That car belongs to one of our old clients. I just heard from Uncle Sherman that the client wasn’t satisfied with our recent collaboration… so they might have been a bit angry. It’s nothing, really. There’s no need to check the footage.”

Nathaniel hummed in acknowledgment and opened the car door for her. “You need to be more careful in the future. Shall I take you to buy a new phone first?”

“Sure!” Estelle said with a smile.

Nathaniel started the car, his expression calm and completely normal.

Upon arriving at the mobile phone store, Estelle pulled out her SIM card and inserted it into a new phone. After booting it up, she took a quick glance at the screen. “Nathaniel, all done! Let’s go home.”

However, Nathaniel didn’t drive toward Imperial Crest. Instead, he headed to another villa.

“The three little ones aren’t home these next few days, and I gave Ms. Riddle and the others some time off. I figured I might as well take this opportunity to have Imperial Crest renovated a bit, so we won’t be going back there for a while.”

Nathaniel parked the car in front of Aethelgard Villa. “We’ll stay here for the time being. Christian and the others went on a field trip, so they won’t be back anytime soon.”

Estelle smiled. “Alright. Then this is the perfect chance for us to enjoy some time alone together.”

Nathaniel maintained his composed facade, but deep down, his heart sank.