Chapter 663 Selfish
Christina was not worried that she would be wronged. Nathaniel was with her, and this wonderful, clever man would definitely not let her suffer.
Her confidence in Nathaniel kept her calm as she fended herself against Barnaby’s questions and doubts.
“I’m fine.” Christina gave him a small smile.
Nathaniel shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over Christina’s shoulders. He looked at her with gen eyes, completely unaffected by the problem at hand.
“It may take some time to deal with this issue. Are you hungry? I’ll get someone to bring you some food.” he asked her casually.
Christina had been snacking on fruits earlier, so she shook her head and replied, “I’m not hungry.”
“If you start to feel tired, you must tell me. We’ll go home immediately and let Sebastian handle this on his own,” Nathaniel said softly into her ear.
Christina nodded gratefully. Wrapped up safely in Nathaniel’s love and affection, she really began to feel sleepy.
However, she shook off her drowsiness, reminding herself that the problem had been caused by her and that she should not be depending on Nathaniel to clean up her mess.
Sheridan felt a stab of envy watching the intimate interaction between the two of them, especially when he saw Christina smiling unabashedly at Nathaniel. He wished he could replace Nathaniel and be the only one in Christina’s eyes and heart.
Even though he knew that there was no hope for him to be with Christina, he still allowed himself to indulge in those feelings. By the time he snapped out of it, it was already too late.
Perhaps he had been staring too hard, and Nathaniel had sensed his eyes on Christina. Nathaniel raised b head and glared back at Sheridan with eyes full of warning.
At that moment, the butler, Walter, appeared in the lobby with the records from the surveillance cameras
Walter projected the recording onto a large blank wall so that they could all watch it together.
“I’ve looked through the surveillance recording for tonight, and I didn’t see anyone approaching Mrs. Hadley’s car,” said Walter. “There are security guards patrolling the parking lot regularly, and they did not see anything unusual tonight either.”
Christina stared unblinkingly at the recording playing on the wall. Something felt a little off about the recording, but she could not quite put her finger on it.
“Is this all the surveillance recording?” Sheridan asked Walter. “Is there anything else?”
“Nothing has been left out, Mr. Stone.”
“Mr. Stone, you won’t mind me making a copy of all these recordings, will you?” Nathaniel asked bluntly. “These things should be looked over by a professional. I have to be sure that these recordings have not
been tampered with.”
“Mr. Hadley, are you suspecting that I secretly tampered with the recording?” Walter asked pointedly.
Nathaniel glanced at him. “I don’t mean anything by it. I’m just accustomed to ascertaining facts for myself. This concerns my wife’s reputation, which in turn concerns the Hadley family’s reputation. We do not take lightly anyone besmirching our name. If the situation were reversed, I’m sure Mr. Stone would do the same. He did not even say anything. Why are you, a mere butler, so bothered by my request? Have the recordings actually been tampered with?”
The butler’s face instantly flushed red. His retort became stuck in his throat, and he could only shake his head vehemently.
“That’s quite enough. Since Mr. and Mrs. Hadley are the parties involved here, they have every right to make such a request. Cease talking right now., You’re attracting undue suspicion, Sheridan said coldly to Walter. “You have no business here anymore. Leave.”
Walter turned and left, looking dissatisfied.
Nathaniel instructed Lyle to make a copy of the surveillance recording and to have a professional inspect
“Mr. Hadley, is there really a need to blow this matter up to such an extent?” Sheridan asked in a mocking tone when he saw that Nathaniel had spared no expense in dealing with this matter. “Am I really so untrustworthy?”
“Mr. Stone, instead of questioning my intentions, why don’t you deal with your family first?” Nathaniel stood up. “If you don’t, you may find your position in the Stone family at risk. All right, it’s getting late. I’m taking my wife home. I hope we’ll be able to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion in three days’ time.”
Christina had been lost in her own thoughts, so she was startled by Nathaniel suddenly wrapping his arms around her and subconsciously resisted his gesture.
When she realized that it was Nathaniel, Christina relaxed and leaned into his embrace. “Mr. Stone, I’m so sorry for what happened tonight. Please call if you need to reach me. Good night.”
“Let me walk you out,” Sheridan replied.
“No need to trouble yourself, Mr. Stone. We can make our own way out as long as nobody stops us,” Nathaniel said pointedly and left with Christina in tow.
As soon as the Hadleys left, Walter appeared behind Sheridan and said, “Mr. Stone, are you really going to let them go so easily? It’ll be difficult to explain this to the elders.”
Sheridan smiled without humor. “No one can stop Nathaniel from doing what he wants. Haven’t you realized that yet by now?”
The butler hung his head in shame. “I apologize, Mr. Stone.”
Sheridan did not want to waste his time pressing the matter. Instead, he asked, “Where is my grandpa?”
“I saw him go into the study with two guests,” Walter replied.
“Go attend to the guests,” Sheridan instructed Walter in a flat voice. Then, he turned and headed toward
the study.
In the study, Barnaby, Azure, and Yerek were deep in an unpleasant conversation.
Emotions were running high in the room, especially when Azure heard Barnaby refuse to acknowledge. Nigel and Yerek as his blood.
“Barnaby, that’s not what you said back then when Nigel’s identity was first revealed!” Azure grabbed Barnaby’s collar and screamed into his face. “You swore that no matter what happened, you would grant Nigel and Yerek legitimacy. This wasn’t even that long ago, and now, you’ve already changed your mind!”
Barnaby tried to pull away from Azure’s claws, but he could not break free. He was not the kind of man who would lay his hand on a woman, so he merely stared back at her flatly.
“Let go. This is the Stone family’s home, not the Gibson residence. This is not the place for you to be acting like this. Don’t you have any dignity?”
“What’s the use of having dignity? Your son is about to go to prison. This will affect his future and his children’s future! Even if you deny it, Nigel is still your blood! You wouldn’t want anyone saying that you have a son who has been in prison, do you?”
“Don’t use those words to provoke me! You are also at fault for what has happened to Nigel. If I had known that you were pregnant back then, I wouldn’t have allowed you to have the baby!”
Azure stared at Barnaby in horror. It suddenly dawned on her that she had loved that man for her entire life, and still, she did not really understand him at all.
“Barnaby, you are so selfish!”
