Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Nathaniel Sloan Finds Out Zachery Is His Biological Son

Nathaniel Sloan paused, raising an eyebrow slightly. "You’re... not at Evernight Tower?"

Estelle Lockwood twirled a pen between her fingertips and said coolly, "If your eyes are failing you, go get them checked."

’So I was mistaken?’

Nathaniel didn’t dwell on it, naturally changing the subject. "Would I have the honor of inviting Miss Lockwood to dinner?"

Estelle refused without a second thought.

Nathaniel let out a low chuckle. "Mia and Zachery are here too."

Estelle: "..."

Estelle gritted her teeth. "Mr. Sloan, are you aware that you currently sound a lot like a kidnapper?"

Nathaniel was noncommittal.

After hanging up, he carried the cake back to his office. Before he even entered, he saw ’Zachery’ sitting with a perfectly straight back at the coffee table, reading a document.

The document was already expired and was supposed to have been disposed of, but Nathaniel had been in a hurry when he left and had tossed it onto the coffee table in the reception area.

Seeing ’Zachery’ reading it so intently, Nathaniel felt a momentary daze.

He kept feeling as if he were looking at Christian.

No... rather, Zachery and Christian were very similar.

’But they have completely different personalities. How can they be so alike?’

The two little ones in the office clearly hadn’t noticed Nathaniel’s return and were talking.

’Zachery’ was still looking at the document. Mia leaned in. "Can you understand that?"

’Zachery’ nodded. "It’s not hard."

Mia took a serious look, and her head immediately started to spin. She was deeply impressed. "This isn’t hard?"

"Mm," ’Zachery’ said, as if he genuinely thought nothing of it. His tone was serious. "But this document should be expired. The quoted price on it doesn’t align with the budget."

’Zachery has such a keen sense for business?’ Nathaniel subconsciously raised an eyebrow.

Mia tilted her head and leaned closer to ask, "Why?"

’Zachery’ explained patiently, "A land plot quoted at forty-five thousand per square meter is a bit high. You have to understand, a plot of land and a house are not the same concept. The profit margins and room for growth in real estate are currently declining. Winning the bid for the land at forty-five thousand and then building commercial housing on it is too risky."

Mia was surprised. "But aren’t housing prices really high right now?"

’Zachery’ shook his head. "It still depends on demand. For this lot, in this location, if you were to build a high-rise of over twenty floors with units over a hundred square meters, that would mean..."

Mia was completely lost. She couldn’t understand a single word the Young Master was saying. ’We’re the same age, both five years old, so why does everything the Young Master says sound like a foreign language?’

Nathaniel listened from the doorway for a while. ’Zachery’ actually understood all this! ’Did he study it specifically?’

If it were Christian analyzing this contract so coherently, Nathaniel wouldn’t have been surprised.

But... as far as he knew, Zachery had never been exposed to this kind of thing abroad, and he wasn’t interested in business either. How did he know so much?

A smile touched Nathaniel’s lips. ’If Zachery is genuinely interested in this, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to teach him.’

Just as he was about to step into the office, Mia suddenly put down the contract, flopped onto the sofa, and let out a frustrated cry:

"Agh! I can’t understand it at all! Let’s stop looking at it. Why isn’t Uncle Sloan back yet? I’m so bored, Young Master—"

Nathaniel’s steps froze. He snapped his head up!

’Young Master?’

Mia never called Zachery "Young Master." However, Nathaniel had heard Mia call Christian "Young Master" many times.

Then, he saw that ’Zachery’ on the sofa showed not the slightest surprise at being called ’Young Master’!

’Zachery’ turned around, a helpless look on his face. "If you’re bored, should I take you for a walk somewhere else?"

Mia’s interest was immediately piqued. She bounced up from the sofa. "Where are we going?"

’Zachery’ said, "The break room, the pantry, either is fine. Oh, right, there’s also an arcade room here for employees to de-stress, but someone might be in there now. Want to go to the pantry? There are lots of snacks there."

Mia had no doubts or objections to ’Zachery’s’ words. "Okay, okay! Let’s go now."

’Zachery’ looked left and right, and seeing no one around, he led Mia out through another door in the office.

As the sound of their footsteps faded, Nathaniel slowly closed his eyes.

Zachery had only been to Evernight a few times; it was impossible for him to be this familiar with the place. But this ’Zachery’ knew where the pantry was without even needing to look at a map.

’Combined with ’Zachery’s’ earlier analysis of the contract, a theory suddenly shot through his mind—’

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Just then, the intercom line rang.

It was Luke White. Luke asked in confusion, "Sir, the fingerprint lock on the tower’s back door was opened once today. But I checked the surveillance footage and saw that the person who opened it was Mr. Zachery. Did you register Mr. Zachery’s fingerprint as well?"

Nathaniel paused silently. "..."

After a two-second pause, he grunted in affirmation. "I registered it. Don’t worry about it."

"Understood, sir."

The call ended, and Nathaniel chuckled softly, still holding the receiver.

So, the situation was now obvious. Zachery and Christian had somehow swapped identities. This ’Zachery’ was actually Christian, which explained why he could open the fingerprint lock and why he was so unusually familiar with Evernight Tower.

He just didn’t understand why the two boys would swap places for no apparent reason.

’Wait...’

Nathaniel suddenly remembered that Laura Jennings had plucked a few of Christian’s hairs to run a paternity test between him and Christian.

He and Christian were, of course, father and son, so when the results came back, his aunt had given Laura Jennings a stern lecture.

’But thinking about it now... was the ’Christian’ back then really Christian himself?’

Zachery and Christian had swapped places, and no one had noticed. So, was the Christian who’d had his hair plucked back then actually Christian, or was he Zachery in disguise?

’If it was Zachery... then wouldn’t that mean...’

Nathaniel’s heart skipped a beat. An indescribable emotion surged through him. He braced himself against his desk with both hands, his breathing quickening.

’If, if the person back then was Zachery, that means—he and Zachery are, without a doubt, biological father and son!’

’Zachery and Mia aren’t some baggage, not Estelle Lockwood’s children with another man.’

’Furthermore, it would mean that Estelle Lockwood didn’t commit arson and kill two children back then!’

’If Estelle didn’t intentionally start the fire, then... was it murder?’

’But if it was murder, why hasn’t any evidence surfaced all these years? He had even received a video of Estelle—in the video, she said she couldn’t go on living and wanted to kill herself by starting a fire.’

Nathaniel’s lips tightened into a thin line.

"Uncle Sloan~" Mia chirped, running back after finishing her snacks.

Nathaniel composed himself. "Should I take you to find your mommy?"

Mia shook her head, waggling the small smartwatch on her wrist. "Mommy said she’s busy tonight. Uncle Sloan, let’s just go home for now."

’Estelle is busy tonight...’

For some reason, Nathaniel was suddenly overcome with the urge to find Estelle right now.

He couldn’t quite place the feeling, only that his heart was aching with sharp pangs.

It was as if he would never see her again if he didn’t go find her tonight.

"Mia..."

"Sir!" Luke White knocked and entered, his face worried. "Chapman is having a heart attack."

Nathaniel’s brows furrowed. "What happened?"