A bad feeling welled up in her heart.
In the next second, that bad feeling came true.
"Let’s get acquainted, Miss Yeats. I am Nathaniel Sloan," Nathaniel said calmly.
After he spoke, the man suddenly shifted the conversation. "However, Miss Yeats and I should have only met for the first time today. I wonder who this ’friend of yours,’ the Mr. Sloan you mentioned, might be?"
The air grew quiet once more. Estelle could feel Claire’s awkwardness and embarrassment. Claire gritted her teeth.
Her lackey was completely dumbfounded. To be Claire’s lackey, one must be... not too bright. This lack of intelligence was clearly displayed when, in the midst of Claire’s utter embarrassment, the lackey actually blurted out, "Claire, what’s going on? Why did he say he’s not friends with you?
"That’s impossible! You told me before that you and Mr. Sloan were childhood sweethearts. Could this guy be a fake? That makes sense—how could the real Mr. Sloan marry Estelle Lockwood!"
Estelle was speechless. She almost couldn’t hold back her laughter. This lackey... could someone really be this stupid? She almost thought it was on purpose.
Nathaniel’s eyes held a hint of a smile. "Oh? Miss Yeats, is that so?"
Claire was speechless. Taking a deep breath, she looked incredibly stubborn, as if she had suffered a massive grievance.
"Mr. Sloan, we’ve known each other for so many years. You really don’t have to act like this. I know I offended Miss Lockwood earlier over some trivial matters, but I represent the Yeats Family after all. Mr. Sloan, won’t you give me any face at all?"
The smile vanished from Nathaniel’s eyes.
Claire continued, "We’ve known each other since we were kids. Please, for the sake of our childhood, help me waive this bill. Can you?
"After all, this meal wasn’t supposed to be this expensive. It’s only like this because Miss Lockwood demanded I treat her."
Estelle was genuinely getting curious about how Claire’s brain worked. Was this the spoiled Miss Yeats? Did she think the whole world was her parents and the earth revolved around her?
Even Nathaniel probably hadn’t expected someone to be this shameless.
The man casually raised his eyes. "Treat? Indeed. If it wasn’t a treat, this meal certainly wouldn’t have cost so much."
A look of pleasant surprise appeared on Claire’s face.
Nathaniel’s tone turned cold. "But I recall it was Miss Yeats who offered to treat, and it was Miss Yeats who ordered the dishes. Since you were the one who initiated it, why are you demanding the guest to foot the bill in the end?"
Estelle nodded coolly. "Nathaniel, maybe this is just a habit of the Yeats Family. They say they’re treating, but in reality, they force the guests to pay. I’ll go ask Quentin right now if this is the rule of the Yeats Family."
"Estelle Lockwood!" Claire’s expression turned ugly. She took a deep breath. It was as if she, the dignified Miss Yeats, had already given them the utmost face by lowering herself to speak to them.
"Mr. Sloan, are you really not going to consider our past relationship at all? We have known each other for so long. Are you just going to throw away our friendship like this?"
Nathaniel fell silent.
Liam’s heart leaped into his throat. He thought, "No way, my dear brother, are you getting soft-hearted now?!"
The next moment, Liam saw Nathaniel frown slightly and voice a genuine question, "Who are you?"
Liam was speechless. He stayed silent for a full five seconds before coughing and stepping forward. He deliberately asked, "I wonder when Miss Yeats met my brother? I usually know all the women my brother knows, but how come I don’t seem to recognize Miss Yeats?"
The scene was dead silent.
Neither Estelle nor Nathaniel spoke. With no one to break the awkwardness, Claire’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red. She could barely maintain her smile.
Finally, pretending to be heartbroken, Claire said, "Mr. Sloan, when I was five, I visited the Sloan Family as a guest. At that time, you looked at me from a distance..."
Nathaniel nodded as he listened.
Claire was thrilled. "You remember?"
Nathaniel pondered. "How old is Miss Yeats this year?"
Claire hurriedly replied, "I’m the same age as Miss Lockwood. Mr. Sloan, I knew you would remember, right?"
Nathaniel shook his head, sounding deeply moved. "Not quite. I’m just a bit amazed by Miss Yeats’s memory. Twenty years have passed, and you actually still remember something from when you were only five, while I have absolutely no impression of it.
"When it comes to memory, I am truly inferior to Miss Yeats."
Liam clearly saw the expression on this Miss Yeats instantly twist. He silently lit a candle for her in his mind.
Estelle rested her chin on her hand, her fingers tapping away non-stop as she typed something on her phone.
Not long after, before Claire could even recover from her embarrassment, the door to the private room was pushed open.
Quentin’s sharp gaze swept around the room. "Claire."
Claire bit her lip.
Quentin’s temples throbbed. Estelle hadn’t even returned to the Yeats Family yet, and they were already leaving her with such a bad impression. Coupled with the Lockwood Family’s ’stellar example,’ Estelle was already estranged from these so-called biological families.
Claire was merely a young lady from a branch family of the Yeats. Who gave her the audacity to use her status as a member of the Yeats to bully Estelle, the true eldest daughter of the Yeats Family, right to her face!
Quentin’s gaze darkened. "Claire, have I or have I not warned you?"
"Quentin?" Claire was in disbelief. She thought he had come to help her, but just like at the banquet, he was here to reprimand her!
Tears spilled from her eyes. "What did I do wrong? Why are you treating me like this!"
"You offered to treat everyone to a meal but couldn’t afford to pay, so you demanded the guests pay for you. And your excuse was ’you are the eldest Miss Yeats.’ Who gave you such confidence?" Quentin asked coldly.
"Or is this how Third Uncle and Third Aunt have been teaching you all along? If that’s the case, I really need to have a good talk with them and ask if they know how to raise a child at all."
Quentin pulled out a card and handed it to the manager. "Swipe this."
Claire felt incredibly wronged. "My card got locked. On what grounds?!"
Quentin said flatly, "I don’t have the authority to lock your card. The only person who can is Grandpa. As for why, maybe you can ask him yourself."
Claire bit her lip. She thought, "Isn’t it just because the real eldest daughter is coming back, so they’re cutting off my allowance?!"
"Young Mr. Yeats, when you have the time, you really should discipline your sister," Nathaniel said mildly.
Quentin nodded. "I know. Thank you, Mr. Sloan."
Claire still felt terribly wronged. She believed the root cause of everything was Estelle, and suddenly she couldn’t control herself anymore. "This is all your fault!!"
Being inexplicably singled out and blamed, Estelle was baffled. "?"
Claire continued to yell, tears streaming down her face in anger, having completely lost her usual arrogance.
"If it weren’t for you insisting on picking a fight, why would Grandpa suspend my card? Why would Quentin reprimand me!"
It was as if everything was someone else’s fault. She completely ignored the fact that she was the one who started the trouble, the one who plagiarized, and the one who slandered others.
Estelle’s gaze turned cold. Instead of looking at Claire, she turned to Quentin and tilted her head.
How strange. A single Yeats Family had actually raised two completely different children.