A Night of Desire

Chapter 264 - 261: Dealing with Sarah Shelby

"She’ll be graduating next year. Besides, I’m not saying she has to get married right now, just find someone suitable and get them engaged first." Seeing her opening, Yvette Zimmerman quickly pressed her advantage. "What’s more, people who don’t know the real situation will think I only care about my own daughter and couldn’t care less about the one who isn’t my own flesh and blood. I don’t want to be seen as magnanimous for taking her and her mother in, only to be saddled with such a terrible reputation."

Perhaps it was because Yvette Zimmerman had mentioned Cherie Rhodes and Sarah so many times that day, dredging up all the guilt Evan Shelby felt toward them. So, when she put it that way, Evan Shelby hesitated for a moment before surprisingly agreeing.

"Alright, you can handle it. But his family’s background can’t be too poor, or it will damage the Shelby Family’s reputation."

Yvette Zimmerman was ecstatic. She quickly agreed with a smile, "Of course! Don’t you worry, I’ll absolutely pick a family that’s a match for the Shelby Family. Well, I’ll be on my way then."

Evan Shelby nodded. As Yvette Zimmerman turned away, a triumphant smile spread across her face. ’Mrs. Linden, from Novaria’s second most powerful family, has mentioned it to me several times. Her older brother has a son named Ewan Stratton. He’s thirty-two and still not married, and she asked me to help look for a suitable young woman for him.’

’Mrs. Linden’s maiden name is Stratton. And speaking of which, with a powerful backer like the Linden Family, you’d think the Strattons would have a secure place among Novaria’s elite. And yet, in the past two years, their family has been in a gradual decline.’

’The problem, as it turns out, lies with the eldest young master of the Stratton family, Ewan Stratton. The man’s a cripple, confined to a wheelchair.’

’Apparently, his disability isn’t congenital; he ended up this way after a car accident two years ago. And rumor has it, the accident was because of a woman.’

’The gossip continues that the accident didn’t just injure his legs—it also damaged his manhood, leaving him impotent ever since.’

’Of course, this is all just hearsay. It wasn’t as if she could ask Mrs. Linden directly about something so private, right? But things like this are never baseless rumors. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. If people are talking, there’s a good chance it’s true.’

’True or not, the fact was that the eldest young master of the Stratton family had become completely decadent. He not only lost all interest in managing the business, wasting his days away, but his personality had also become gloomy, unstable, and violently temperamental.’

’The Strattons only had one son in this generation. Once he was down, the entire family devoted all their attention to him, and as a result, the family’s business collapsed beyond recovery.’

’The Strattons were probably desperate to help their young master regain his confidence and pull himself together, which is why the family patriarch had spent the last two years searching everywhere for a wife for his grandson. Perhaps with a considerate wife to care for him, his spirits would lift, and he’d go back to being the old Ewan Stratton he once was.’

Yvette Zimmerman felt that Sarah Shelby and Ewan Stratton were a match made in heaven: one an illegitimate daughter with an awkward social standing, the other a pessimistic, world-weary cripple.

’True, she’d promised Evan she wouldn’t find a family with a background that was too poor for Sarah. But she had promised the *in-laws’* status would be good, not that the *husband’s* condition would be.’

’Although the Stratton Family was now in decline, they still have the powerful backing of the Linden Family. If Sarah marries Ewan Stratton, the Shelby Family would then be connected by marriage to the Linden Family.’

’When the time comes, Autumn will marry Seth Quinn, and Sarah will marry Ewan Stratton. The Shelby Family will be related to both the Quinn and Linden families. Then we’ll be able to do whatever we want in Novaria!’

’As long as she made that point clear to Evan, even if he wasn’t happy with Ewan Stratton as a person, he wouldn’t be willing to miss such a golden opportunity to ally the family with the Lindens through marriage.’

’This way, she could get rid of Sarah Shelby and benefit the Shelby Family at the same time. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.’

The more Yvette Zimmerman thought about it, the happier she became. Her steps were light as she walked out of Evan Shelby’s office.