Chapter 523
Heather felt her heart twist with an inexplicable sense of guilt and she turned to look at Matthias in
frustration. She hadn’t been mocking him earlier, but he was making it sound as though she had
deemed him unworthy, and perhaps his over-the-top reaction had something to do with his fragile pride.
“Look, I don’t know why you fell for me in the first ce, but I hope you can understand that we are
ipatible. You know as well as I do that nothing good could evere from such ipatibility.”
She needed to cajole him by breaking things down logically, but she had a feeling that her words were
falling on deaf ears.
“Doespatibility truly matter when ites to falling in love?” Matthias retorted defiantly. Love
would not be quite so infuriating if one could make a rational choice on whom to fall in love with.
“Maybe it doesn’t for others, but it does to me. It’s pointless to be in a rtionship if I can’t see a future
with the person. I need to know that the person is someone whom I could spend the rest of my life
with,” she exined, giving him a contemtive look as she did so. Heather was more concerned
about equality than she was about love—the rtionship would be futile if there was ack of
“How would you know that I’m not that person you could spend forever with? You’vee to that
conclusion before you even gave us a shot. I’m not a fickle person, Heather, and if I’ve made up my
mind to be together with you, then I’m in it for the long haul.” Matthias disagreed with the reason behind
her rejection of him, and he couldn’t help but feel indignant. She is convinced that forever would never
work out for us and she refuses to give us a chance.
“You and I are two peas in a pod—we have far too much pride for our own good. I’d cross your line and
you’d hurt my pride. Besides, we’re both too headstrong andpetitive to ever make things work out
between us.” Once upon a time, Heather had thought about looking for someone who shared her
qualities as well but that notion was sanded down to nothing over the years, and she realized that she
would much rather be with somebody who couldplement her.
“If you and I are the same, then why shouldn’t we be together?” He was baffled by her argument, much
like how she was by his.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m going home now,” she dered. She didn’t want to dawdle
in the car either. It didn’t seem fair that she had to be coteral damage to his insanity.
Matthias, on the other hand, was adamantly clinging onto his rhetoric. He was sure that Heather had
feelings for him, however little they might be, which meant that he still stood a chance with her. “I hope
you’d consider what I’ve said today. Chemistry and affection are the ts of a rtionship, and you
shouldn’t have to think about anything else when you make your decision,”
She merely hummed in response, impassive as she made to barrel out of the car. She could not spend
another moment with him in this car, not while it was idling right outside the Langston Residence.
Matthias, too, did not stop Heather as she opened the door and stepped out of the car. She cast him a
sideways nce. She had thought she knew him well enough but as it turned out, they were as good
as strangers. After a series of cmitous events, she learned that there was a depth to him that she
had yet to explore.
Presently, Heather straightened as she walked through the front door of her family home. Knowing that
Matthias was staring at her from where he sat in the car, she refused to turn around. Out of all the
possible scenarios that she had imagined might happen between them, his affection for her was not
one of them.
After all, who could ever love an enemy? Her head was close to bursting and Robert appeared to have
yed a central part in her current predicament. At the thought of this, Heather recalled something
important—she must demand an exnation from Robert for the incident today.
With that in mind, she quickened her pace and made a beeline for his study, knowing that he would be
there brushing up his fine arts at this hour.
The door to the study mmed open with violent force, and a somber Heather marched into the room
with the purpose of confronting her grandfather.
However, Robert was not angry at her intrusion and instead, he beamed at her as he greeted cheerily,
“Heather!” Upon hearing that, she cringed, finding his disposition a suspicious one.
“You owe me an exnation, Grandpa,” she said stonily. Judging from the way he had acted earlier
today, it was clear that he had ns to set her up with Matthias.
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She hoped that she was reading too much into the situation but if Robert were to start putting his foot
into this, things would only get messier. He had basically cleared a path for Matthias and if thetter
was free to pursue her, she would only have a much harder time avoiding him.
“An exnation for what?” he asked, and she was angered that the older man was feigning innocence
even now.
Irritated, she demanded, “Why did you suddenly agree to partner up with the Locke Group? And why
did you invite him over in the first ce?” She wanted nothing more than to leave the Langston Group
at that moment.
If her family were to start working together with the Locke Group, then it would only give Matthias the
chance to pester her by visiting her daily at the Langston Group under the guise of a blooming
partnership.
Unable to imagine such a happenstance, Heather silently vowed to leave thepany should Robert
really have ns on pushing her and Matthias together.
“There’s been a change of circumstances that warrants the proposal of a partnership,” the old man
answered straightforwardly, having thought of a response beforehand.
Puzzled, she pressed further, “What happened to taking advantage of the strife?” It was strange that
Robert would abandon his initial ns without notice after all the time he had spent curating them, and
it looked like he had made up his mind on it too.
“I’m afraid that’s no longer a viable option, seeing as we can no longer stand on the sidelines. It would
be ideal for us to form an allegiance with another in the industry before the Moriartys intervene, and
you know that our family could never work together with the Hart Family, which leaves the Locke Group
as our next best choice,” he exined slowly. However, as well-structured and sensible as his
argument was, Heather still found herselfpletely dumbfounded by it.
She could tell that her grandfather was hiding something beneath his borate reasoning, and she
wanted him to be forthright with her. “Grandpa, there’s no need to beat around the bush here. I have
the right to know the truth,” she urged as she marched up to him with a look of grim determination.
“The Moriartys are not easily dealt with and neither is the Locke Group. It makes sense for us to curry
favor with thetter at the moment,” he replied somberly, then ced his stationery down and settled
into his chair.
“The Moriartys’ stronghold is all the way in Leisfeld! I hardly think they have much say in Bradfort City,”
Heather countered exasperatedly. She was beginning to think that her grandfather was being
melodramatic. As things stood, even if the Moriartys had taken over the whole of Leisfeld, they still
wouldn’t wield much authority over Bradfort City.
“Don’t underestimate them, Heather. They have their own enterprise in Atrigall City as well, and they’ve
slowly infiltrated the Bradfort City market,” he warned, believing that Heather had little to no knowledge
of the Moriartys and their formidability, which he thought ounted for herck of fear of them.
“I’d be a fool to underestimate them, but why is it that we’ve never heard of the business empire they’ve
built in Atrigall City? Surely that means they’re not as powerful as you say they are,” she protested. The
subtext of her argument was clear, in that she did not believe the Moriartys were strong enough in the
business world to trifle with the Langstons’ enterprise.
“That’s because there hasn’t been any word of their activities thus far and their business expansion has
been kept off the grid. Nheless, the reality is that they’ve dominated most, if not all, of Atrigall City’s
market and they’re working towards monopolizing themercial scene there.” Robert, too, had been
taken aback when he first caught wind of the Moriartys’ ruthless climb to sess. While Atrigall City
wasparatively smaller than Bradfort City, it was no hamlet.
“Where did you even get the intel?” Heather doubted the uracy of this information. Which of the
Moriartys have been disrupting the business circle in Atrigall City if the rest of them were thousands of
miles away in Leisfeld?
“The news came from a reliable source. Don’t you trust me at all, Heather?” This was not the first time
Robert had been exasperated with his granddaughter’s line of questioning. She was so inherently
suspicious of everything and she would not relent until she had gotten the whole truth.
“Grandpa, even if the Moriartys are as rich and powerful as you say, could we not stand on our own
against them? Must we form an allegiance with another?” Heather couldn’t help but feel as if Robert
had an ulterior motive for wanting to work together with the Locke Group, and she wanted him to
exin what it was rather than hear him talk about the Moriartys.
“Of course we must. We might even have to coborate with the Hart Family as a desperate measure,”
he said solemnly. He couldn’t let his guard down when it came to the Moriartys. He didn’t want to have
to work together with the Hart Family either, and he wasn’t even sure if he had the courage or the
humility to partner up with them.
Upon hearing this, Heather felt as though her mind had imploded. The situation was dire indeed if it
could make Robert contemte a partnership with the Hart Family. She thought about how stubborn
the old man was and how he would never willingly choose to be acquainted with them. Looks like the
Moriartys are a terrifying entity indeed.
“Could the Moriartys dominate Bradfort City if they wanted to?” She felt oddly frustrated and her skin
prickled at the thought of Caleb’s menacing face.
“It’s hard to say, seeing as no one knows about the strength of their forces here in the city. They’re not
to be trifled with, and desperate times call for desperate measures.” A dark look passed over his face
as he thought about the heavy blow the Moriartys had dealt against the Langstons all those years ago.
He wasn’t sure if his family could take another hit should the former choose to strike again.
Just then, Heather asked, “Why are theying after us?” She had gone to the root of the mystery,
making Robert falter. It seemed as if he had said something he shouldn’t have earlier.
He stammered, “W-Well…” He had wanted to talk to her about this the day before, but she had left so
abruptly that he couldn’t get a word in with her. Now that she had asked about it, he was suddenly
having a hard timeposing an answer.
Finally, after a moment of hesitation, he dered, “It’s a long story, so let’s just leave this conversation
for another day. Besides, it’s almost time for dinner.” It was going to be difficult for him to exin the
Langstons’ feud with the Moriartys and if he were to be precise in his narrative, it would be even harder
to bypass the Hart Family’s role in the whole thing.
Heather did not try to force an answer out of her grandfather as she was in no rush to learn about what
had happened in the past. It must have been a dark time, one which revolved around a feud between
their families, and it was likely a feud that could not be resolved even in her time.
“If the Moriartys are more foe than friend, then why were you so courteous with Caleb yesterday?” She
was puzzled by how civil Robert had been the day before, particrly when it came to dealing with a
supposed enemy. Unless…
“Surely you would have figured out the stakes in this whole situation,” he remarked with a meaningful
smile. Putting on an act was part of the business world survival guide, and it was amon strategy
for one to be civil with the enemy before striking.
s, Heather was not one to be humored. “Grandpa, I’ve never seen you treat anyone the way you
treated Caleb, not even when you were dealing with business elites,” she pointed out, standing her
ground as she tried to force him to tell the truth.
“It’s dinner time now. I’m sure the others are waiting for us to join them in the dining room,” he said,
ncing at his watch. She had been the one to ignore him when he tried to tell her about the feud with
the Moriartys, so he didn’t see why he shouldn’t hold out on her now that she was so desperate for the
story.
However, Heather’s hand shot out and grabbed Robert’s arm before he could leave the study. “They
won’t mind waiting just a bit longer, Grandpa. Just tell me what in the world is going on here.”
She tugged at his arm like a little girl asking for candy, all the while coquettish and relentless. Robert,
on the other hand, gave her a look of mute despair as the both of them stood in silence. Atst, with a
sigh of resignation, he promised, “We’re going to need more time if you want to hear the whole story.
We’ll talk about this again tomorrow, alright?”
Having thought that he would spill the details, Heather grew disappointed that he remained adamant on
humoring her. Disgruntled, she pouted and eyed him with childish resentment.
“Stop pouting. You look like a duckling,” he said affectionately as he gently brushed his finger over the
tip of her nose, much like how he did when she had been younger.
It was as if they had both returned to the good old days, when a single pout and puppy eyes from
Heather were all it took for Robert topromise. She had been a proud and determined child back
then, foreshadowing the adult she would grow to be.