Chapter 367: Who Cares About Reputation? Certainly Not Her

Chapter 367: Chapter 367: Who Cares About Reputation? Certainly Not Her

The shareholders were looking at her. Even Evan Yeats was looking at her.

Their eyes carried a silent urging. They thought, "Kneel! Hurry up and kneel! If it weren’t for you stealing those paintings, how would the Yeats Family have ended up in this state? If you hadn’t insisted on going against Estelle Lockwood, how could Evan have helped you target his own sister? It’s all your fault, so hurry up and kneel!"

Claire Yeats couldn’t hear their thoughts, but she could feel them.

What should she do now? Let her kneel to a bitch like Estelle? She couldn’t do it! She was Miss Yeats! She was much nobler than Estelle, so why should she kneel to her?

But... but...

Estelle was surrounded like a star by the crowd, not even sparing Claire a single glance.

Under the pressure of the Yeats Group shareholders, finally—

THUD!

Claire clenched her jaw. As if bearing endless humiliation, she fell to her knees.

She thought, "Estelle Lockwood... I will remember this! Estelle Lockwood!"

Estelle lazily glanced at Claire. Seeing the indignation on her face, she couldn’t help but smile.

Perhaps Miss Yeats felt that with so many people present, Estelle wouldn’t have the audacity to actually make her kneel and apologize. However, she had never cared about saving face or protecting her reputation. She always practiced what she preached. Since Claire wanted to play the saint and take the blame for Old Mrs. Yeats, Estelle would make sure she bore the full weight of it. There would be no bluffing her way out of this.

After just one glance, Estelle looked away. "I’m looking forward to working with you, Mr. Lynch."

Mr. Lynch gave a slight nod. "I wonder if I might treat you to a meal, Miss Yeats?"

Estelle smiled, glancing back at Evan and Claire before nodding. "You may."

It wasn’t until the two of them left that the dead silence of the art exhibition sprang back to life.

The Yeats Group shareholders exchanged looks of dismay.

"The deal has been finalized, but the person in charge isn’t one of the Yeats. And Mr. Lynch didn’t even invite Mr. Yeats to dinner..."

"Keep your voice down, will you? How is she not one of the Yeats? Old Mr. Yeats personally acknowledged her, and Young Mr. Yeats brought her home himself."

"But Old Mrs. Yeats and Mr. Yeats..."

"Are you out of your mind? Who is going to inherit the Yeats Family in the future? It’s Young Mr. Yeats. If he acknowledges her, that’s enough."

A man lowered his voice. "Let me ask you, how many years does the old lady have left? Even if she lives a long life and lasts another twenty years, she’ll be too old to manage much. She’s protecting Evan now, but he’s truly a..."

In the end, the man couldn’t bring himself to say the word ’loser’. Instead, he said vaguely, "Even with Old Mrs. Yeats’ protection now, he can’t compete with Quentin, let alone Estelle. Moreover, Estelle is rooted here in Crestfall, where she has a family and a company."

"If Old Mr. Yeats is going to choose a junior to develop the Yeats Group in Crestfall, who do you think is more suitable? Estelle or Evan?"

"Wow... Then it definitely has to be Estelle."

"So you see now? It’s too early to take sides."

However, some people thought differently. After all, Evan came from the direct line of descent. He was the biological son of Old Mr. Yeats. Even if Old Mr. Yeats wanted to give up on him, Old Mr. Yeats couldn’t possibly abandon his own son to groom his niece.

Meanwhile, in a high-end restaurant in Crestfall.

Nathaniel Sloan took off his mask, revealing his true face.

Estelle rested her chin on her hand. "Rumors say that Mr. Lynch is nearly fifty years old. Even though you wore a mask, anyone could tell you are very young. Aren’t you afraid of making people suspicious?"

Nathaniel calmly curled his lips. "Suspicious of what? No one ever said there was only one Mr. Lynch."

"Oh..." Estelle understood. "You want others to mistakenly believe that the Lynch Family is backing you, rather than you fighting alone?"

Nathaniel casually cut his steak. "Sometimes, leaving things ambiguous and letting people guess is for the best. If they can’t figure out Mr. Lynch’s true identity, it buys me more time."

Estelle’s eyes flickered. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing much. I just find the Sloan Family to be an eyesore." Nathaniel offered a faint, enigmatic smile. "Wouldn’t you agree?"

Estelle drew in a sharp breath. So Nathaniel had harbored the thought of destroying the Sloan Family for a long time. Just how much of an eyesore did he find them? However, Estelle felt it wasn’t a bad idea. The Sloan Family... Other than her aunt and Liam, the rest of them...

Even Old Mr. Sloan, who used to treat her well, had his own ulterior motives. Furthermore, when Nathaniel had misunderstood her and they were ’forced to marry’, Old Mr. Sloan had been very kind to her, telling her she could come to him with any grievances.

But now that she and Nathaniel had resolved their conflicts, reconciled, and were deeply in love, Old Mr. Sloan gave her the cold shoulder. He even refused her visits. Let alone asking about her well-being like before, Old Mr. Sloan now wished she didn’t exist, heavily hinting that Laura Jennings should provoke them into getting a divorce.

So, Estelle finally figured it out. Old Mr. Sloan’s kindness hadn’t been for her sake. He was only kind to a woman who could cause trouble for Nathaniel.

For instance, right now, Old Mr. Sloan treated Thea York quite well.

Estelle couldn’t understand what the old man was trying to do. Was his life so dull and uninteresting that creating trouble for the younger generation brought him joy?

Therefore, she wasn’t surprised at all by Nathaniel’s thoughts. She nodded in agreement. "You’re right."

Estelle was growing a bit impatient with cutting her steak. Seeing this, Nathaniel swapped their plates, placing his already-cut steak in front of her.

"We’re not eating here next time," Estelle muttered. She wasn’t particularly fond of Western cuisine.

"Alright. This place was just the closest. Your stomach isn’t great, so you need to eat your three meals on time and in proper portions."

After their meal, Estelle went to her company, while Nathaniel returned to Evernight International.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered his office, he saw Liam and two uninvited guests.

Liam shot him a look, gesturing that his hands were tied. Nathaniel gave a curt nod.

"Nathaniel, you’re back!" Thea walked up to him with a beaming smile. "Your mother originally planned to bring you lunch, but you weren’t here, so we just waited."

Laura Jennings coldly snorted. "You really need to teach your receptionist a lesson. She actually didn’t recognize me! She even tried to stop me downstairs, saying I couldn’t enter without an appointment. What a joke! If I can’t enter, who can?

"I’ve already had the HR department fire that receptionist! And Liam, you need to scold him properly too. Just now, he actually sided with the receptionist and tried to keep his own mother out. Who knows how people would laugh at me if they saw that!"

Nathaniel had long lost interest in pretending to be polite with Laura. His expression was icy. "Without an appointment, you indeed cannot enter. And who are you? Why should my employees be expected to remember you? What did Liam do wrong?"

"You!" Laura was furious, shouting loudly, "Do you even act like a son?! I’m the biological mother of you and Liam! You—"

"Is that so?"

Nathaniel had always known that he wasn’t Laura’s biological son, and Laura knew it too. The two of them were just putting on an act, but—