Chapter 155: The Weight Of A Confession

The woman sitting across from him looked composed as ever. Yet, beneath that practiced calm, he noticed details he had overlooked before.

The faint lines etched across her forehead. The weariness hidden behind her sharp eyes. The subtle tension in her jaw.

Time—and responsibility—had not been kind to her.

Morgan had always respected Su San.

In an industry where boardrooms were overwhelmingly occupied by men, she had not merely survived—she had excelled.

She had taken Learson Group to heights many of her male counterparts could only envy, keeping the company firmly among Novare’s fifty most influential corporations.

Few people understood how difficult that achievement truly was.

She was not someone who wasted time on meaningless visits. Which made today’s meeting all the more unusual.

"You don’t need to investigate anymore."

Her words landed quietly.

Yet they carried enough weight to make the room feel noticeably colder.

Morgan’s expression hardened.

"What exactly do you mean?"

His voice remained even, but his eyes had sharpened.

Every instinct told him the conversation had just taken a dangerous turn.

"I was the one who ordered Isobel’s abduction."

The confession fell into the silence with startling clarity.

Su San’s voice never wavered.

Only the guarded look she cast Morgan betrayed the first crack in her carefully cultivated composure.

Morgan stared at her. For a heartbeat, the words refused to register.

Then he shot to his feet so abruptly that his leather chair rolled backward, spinning slightly before coming to a stop.

"What did you just say?"

Su San rose as well.

She met his gaze without flinching, though her clasped hands tightened almost imperceptibly.

"I never intended for anyone to hurt her," she said evenly. "My instructions were to frighten her—to make her stay away from Richard."

Morgan’s eyes hardened.

"So that’s what this is about."

His voice carried an edge that hadn’t been there before.

"You wanted Isobel out of Richard’s life."

Su San remained silent. Instead, she asked quietly,

"Do you know how their story began?"

Morgan held her gaze. He knew fragments.

Richard had found Isobel as an abandoned infant and had grown up with her in the orphanage.

But beyond that... he knew very little.

He had only recently begun looking into Isobel’s past, and there were still countless gaps waiting to be filled.

Seeing that he didn’t answer, Su San continued.

"Richard was the one who found her."

A distant look entered her eyes, as though she were watching a memory unfold.

"He carried that tiny baby into the orphanage with such pride, insisting she’d stay with him."

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips before disappearing.

"From that day forward, he treasured her more than anything."

Her expression darkened.

"When I took Richard away from the orphanage, he hated me for it."

"He ran away. Several times."

"He climbed walls, slipped past security, and disappeared without a word, returning to the orphanage every chance he got."

The memory drew a weary sigh from her.

"I tried reason. I tried patience. Neither worked."

Her voice dropped lower.

"In the end..."

"I threatened him with Isobel."

The words were barely above a whisper.

"I told him that if he continued to defy me, I would make sure she disappeared from his life."

She closed her eyes briefly.

"It was the only threat that ever made him stop fighting."

The office fell silent.

Even now, the memory left a bitter taste in her mouth. She knew what she did was despicable.

Morgan looked at her with undisguised disbelief.

"And after all these years, Richard came back..."

"The first thing he did," Su San finished quietly, "was return to the orphanage. To find her."

Morgan frowned.

"Then why target Isobel?"

"If Richard is the one making these choices, why not talk to your nephew instead of terrorizing an innocent young woman?"

Su San let out a slow breath.

"You still don’t understand."

She turned toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Novare’s skyline.

"Richard is the last blood my brother left behind."

"The sole heir to the Learson empire."

Her reflection stared back at her from the glass.

"He has inherited unimaginable wealth..."

"...and just as many enemies."

She folded her arms across her chest.

"His life was never going to belong entirely to himself."

After a long silence, she spoke again. Each word was measured and deliberate.

"If he allows his heart to rule him..."

Her gaze drifted toward the city below.

"...Isobel will become his greatest weakness."

She finally looked back at Morgan.

"And in our world..."

A shadow crossed her face.

"Weakness is always the first thing our enemies destroy."

"I don’t want Isobel to become a burden that keeps Richard from reaching his full potential."

The moment the words left her lips, Su San knew she had chosen them poorly.

Bang!

Morgan’s palm came down hard against the mahogany desk.

The sharp sound echoed through the office.

Pens rattled inside their holder. The crystal paperweight shifted.

Even the polished wood seemed to shudder beneath the force.

For the first time since she entered the office, Su San saw genuine anger flash across his face.

"Are you looking down on Isobel?"

His voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be.

The disappointment in it carried far more weight than any shout.

Su San was taken aback.

She had expected outrage over the kidnapping.

Not this.

A question surfaced in her mind.

Who exactly is Isobel to him?

"I didn’t mean it that way," she replied, carefully steadying her voice.

What she truly wanted to say was that Richard needed someone from an equally powerful family.

Someone with influence and connections. Someone with resources.

Someone who could stand beside him as he carried the Learson name into the top five, if not the very top.

Not an orphan with neither status nor backing.

But she swallowed those words before they could escape.

Think before you speak. She warned herself.

She forced herself to choose each word with care.

"When it comes to Isobel..." she said quietly, "...Richard loses his objectivity."

"He stops thinking like the heir to one of Novare’s largest corporations."

"My greatest fear is that one day he’ll choose his heart over the future of the Learson family..."

A shadow crossed her face.

"...and that decision will become the beginning of Learson’s downfall."

Morgan remained silent for a long moment.

He couldn’t deny that she had a point.

History was filled with powerful men who had destroyed empires because they allowed emotion to outweigh reason.

But Richard...he wasn’t one of those men...

because Su San had underestimated the woman Richard had chosen.