Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Wife-Chasing Crematorium Begins
Noelle Lockwood was losing her mind. What was this manipulative little brat doing!
Meeting the disdainful gazes of the people around them and Nathaniel Sloan’s icy eyes, Noelle shuddered and hurriedly tried to explain, "Nathaniel, listen to me, it’s not like that! Christian... Christian just likes playing games with me lately..."
Noelle was frantic, desperately trying to blame everything on "Christian playing games with her."
Christian curled his lip. The manipulative little brat decided to add fuel to the fire. With a slight tremble in his voice and the words "I was forced to do this" practically written across his face, he said submissively, "Mhm, yes, Daddy. I was just playing a game with Aunt Noelle. Please, everyone, don’t misunderstand."
Nathaniel’s expression darkened even further.
Sensing that things were going south, Rose Lowell stammered as she tried to smooth things over. "Nathaniel, this is a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding! You’ve seen how well Noelle treats Christian on a daily basis. Besides, Mrs. Sloan is Christian’s grandmother! There’s no way Mrs. Sloan would mistreat Christian either, right?"
Laura Jennings suddenly snapped back to reality. "Right, this is a misunderstanding! Nathaniel, someone must have put Christian up to this. Don’t be misled!"
Christian’s tears began to fall one by one again.
The bystanders couldn’t stand it anymore. "Mrs. Sloan, your grandson is crying his eyes out, and you’re still calling it a misunderstanding! How can there be so many misunderstandings in the world?"
"I seriously doubt if Mr. Sloan is your son and if Young Mr. Sloan is your grandson!"
Laura seemed to have her sore spot poked as she raised her voice. "Of course they are!"
"If they are, then why can’t I see your care for them? Instead, Noelle looks more like your daughter!"
"Exactly! If she loves Noelle so much, why doesn’t she just marry her herself and cut out the middleman?"
"The Sloan family is a prestigious household, after all. How did they ever take a liking to her in the first place?"
"I don’t get it either. Could it be that the Sloan family was drawn to her pettiness, her knack for stirring up trouble, her mean-spiritedness, and her vicious arrogance?"
"Well, then I sort of understand why Mrs. Sloan wants Noelle as her daughter-in-law."
"Because Noelle is even more petty, vicious, arrogant, and mean-spirited than she is. By letting Noelle marry into the Sloan family, it just goes to show that Mrs. Sloan isn’t quite as terrible in comparison."
These remarks made both Laura and Noelle grind their teeth in anger.
Rose was truly dizzy with panic, speaking without thinking. "Nathaniel, they’re all slandering my daughter! My daughter is kind-hearted by nature. How could she possibly bully Christian? It’s all them..."
Nathaniel kept a dark expression. "Are you saying that Christian is lying?"
Rose felt as if she were being choked, instantly losing her voice. "No, no... I’m just, I’m just..."
"Enough already! Young Mr. Sloan is still so young and in poor health. How could you bear to abuse him? And to think Noelle constantly markets herself as a kind person, yet she could be so cruel to a child!"
"It’s the inherited hypocrisy of the Lockwood family. Just look at the news and see what President Lockwood has been up to!"
"Gasp... President Lockwood caused a scene at the hospital for no reason, disturbed the patients’ rest, and got kicked out? Is this really the CEO of a listed company?"
"Now I know why Noelle is both stupid and wicked. After all, she is the biological daughter of President Lockwood and Rose. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!"
Noelle glanced at the news notification on her phone and nearly fainted. Heaven knew how badly she wanted to tell everyone that Estelle Lockwood was Rose’s daughter, not her! Aaaargh!
As the farce came to an end, Nathaniel left directly with Christian.
Once they got in the car, Luke White spoke up. "Sir, there was a bit of trouble on Miss Lockwood’s end. She might have been startled. Do you want to go over and take a look?"
Nathaniel massaged his temples. "Did Austin Lockwood go looking for her?"
Since Austin Lockwood was President Lockwood, Luke nodded.
Nathaniel secretly frowned. His intuition told him that the woman wouldn’t allow herself to be bullied, but she was sick and running a fever...
The man said in a hoarse voice, "To the hospital."
Christian sat in his seat, secretly texting Zachery, when he suddenly heard Nathaniel call out, "Christian."
He immediately put his phone away. "Daddy."
Nathaniel didn’t scold him. He simply looked at him with an impassive gaze. "Who taught you to put on that act today?"
He wasn’t an idiot. How could he not see that Christian was deliberately scheming against Noelle?
Even though he had been caught, Christian wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Meeting Nathaniel’s eyes, he said frankly, "Aunt Noelle leads by example. I’ve seen it so much that I just picked it up. Daddy, do you want me to brew you a fresh cup of fake innocence?"
The driver and Luke White, who was in the passenger seat, almost burst out laughing.
Luke nodded inwardly. The young master was right. Noelle Lockwood was the absolute embodiment of fake innocence!
Nathaniel remained silent for two seconds, feeling somewhat helpless. "Learn something good for a change."
Christian curled his lip. "I can’t do that. You letting Aunt Noelle ’take care’ of me is just you wanting me to learn from her, isn’t it? And this is only just the beginning."
Nathaniel didn’t answer, simply narrowing his eyes. For some reason, his thoughts suddenly drifted to Yara.
If the woman taking care of Christian had always been Yara...
"Sir, we’ve arrived at the hospital," Luke suddenly spoke up.
Nathaniel pulled himself out of his thoughts and slowly stepped out of the car. "Christian, Daddy is going to go see Dr. Lockwood."
Christian immediately followed. "Daddy, I want to go too!"
At the same time, he sent Zachery a text message, "Zachery, we’re here."
Zachery excitedly replied, "!!! Is your daddy here too? Great, great, great. Hurry up and come over. The wife-chasing groveling arc has officially begun!"
Christian replied with a speechless ellipsis, "..."
What groveling arc? No, wait, why was there a groveling arc? Just what had happened at the hospital anyway?
Half an hour ago.
"Sir, Miss Lockwood just took her medicine and went to sleep. You can’t go in," the nurse urged.
A male voice responded, leaving no room for argument, "Step aside. I’m just going to say a few words to Miss Lockwood."
The nurse looked conflicted. "But Mr. Sloan ordered..."
"I am Nathaniel’s father-in-law. If you delay our family matters, are you going to take responsibility?"
The nurse wanted to say something else, but Estelle had already been woken up. Shaking off her grogginess, she focused her gaze and got a clear look at the person who had arrived—Austin Lockwood. Her biological father. This was her first time seeing Austin since she returned to the country.
Estelle waved her hand, signaling for the nurse to leave first. Then, looking up with a half-smile, she said, "President Lockwood, trespassing into someone else’s hospital room seems a bit ill-mannered, don’t you think?"
Austin’s pupils shrank.
Even though Rose had mentioned earlier that Yara looked a lot like Estelle, he had mentally prepared himself for it. But in this moment, he was still shocked! How could they look so identical?!
She was Estelle... No, impossible. Back then, they had watched Estelle burn to death. It absolutely couldn’t be her. The dead couldn’t come back to life!
A gentlemanly smile hung on Austin’s face. "Showing up uninvited is my fault. However, Miss Lockwood, I came over just to give you a quick reminder. My daughter is going to marry Nathaniel very soon. Don’t you think it’s a bit shameless for you to be pestering a married man?"
Estelle suddenly thought of those news articles and let out a laugh, raising an eyebrow. "President Lockwood, I wonder which daughter you’re referring to? Is it Noelle, or is it... Estelle, who has been dead for five years?"
Austin’s expression froze.