The Surrogate He Discarded

The report continued.

Even after leaving the orphanage, Richard had continued writing to Isobel in secret.

The letters arrived without fail, each one filled with encouragement, quiet concern, and the comforting reminder that she was never truly alone. Richard did not disclose where he was or what kind of life he was living, yet he refused to let distance weaken the bond they shared.

As the years passed, handwritten letters were no longer enough.

Richard quietly arranged for a mobile phone to be delivered to her, giving them a safer and more convenient way to stay in touch.

Richard learned later that Isobel kept that cellphone, her very first in a wooden box which she brought with her when she moved out of the orphanage.

When Isobel entered college, she believed she had earned a generous scholarship from an anonymous benefactor.

Only now did the truth emerge.

Every tuition payment, every living allowance, every expense had been paid by Richard.

By then, he had already established himself in Shangville and was steadily building a reputation of his own.

Jack and Cindy had managed to uncover very little about Richard’s years overseas, but one fact stood beyond dispute.

He had never stopped watching over Isobel.

Not once.

Then...

Everything went silent. The calls stopped. The messages ended.

The last trace of Richard disappeared shortly before Isobel’s senior year in college.

Morgan slowly leaned back in his chair, his brows knitting together.

It didn’t make sense.

A man who had devoted nearly twenty years of his life to protecting a single person would never disappear without a reason.

Richard wasn’t someone who abandoned his responsibilities.

If he had vanished...

Then something must have happened.

Something so grave that it had forced him to cut every connection with the girl who brought color to his life.

Perhaps...

Perhaps fate had unfolded exactly as it was meant to.

Had Richard remained beside Isobel, her path would have been different.

She might never have met Kristoff. And without Kristoff...

Morgan himself might never have crossed paths with her.

If that had happened...

He would have lived the rest of his life never knowing that, somewhere in this vast world, he still had one more sister.

His gaze drifted to the final photograph attached to the report.

Richard was only eighteen when the picture had been taken before he left Novare.

Yet there was nothing youthful about his eyes. They carried a maturity far beyond his years, as though life had forced him to grow up long before he should have.

Morgan stared at the image for a long time. One question refused to leave his mind.

Why had Su San left Richard in that orphanage for ten whole years?

There was no way a woman of her capabilities had been unable to find him.

Which meant...it had to be intentional.

But why?

Was she hiding him from enemies lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to strike?

Or had she deliberately abandoned him to hardship, believing adversity would temper him into someone strong enough to survive anything?

If it was the latter...

Morgan’s eyes gradually turned cold.

Then Su San truly was a woman with a heart of stone.

No...

Perhaps even stone possessed more warmth than she did.

...

Just then, a notification flashed across Morgan’s screen.

He clicked it without hesitation.

A series of newly uploaded photographs filled the display.

They were all of Richard and Isobel.

The first few had been taken outside the restaurant.

Then came the ones from inside.

The two of them had spent more than two hours talking over lunch, completely absorbed in each other’s company. Time seemed to have slipped away unnoticed.

Morgan’s eyes lingered on Isobel.

The smile on her face was bright and unguarded, the kind that reached her eyes. Every photograph captured the same expression—curiosity, excitement, and genuine happiness as she listened to Richard recount the years they had lost.

It was the smile of someone who had finally found a long lost family.

Morgan couldn’t help but smile as well.

His gaze moved to another photograph.

It was the group picture with Kristoff and Charlotte—the same one that had gone viral online sometime ago.

This time, however, Morgan wasn’t looking at Isobel.

He was carefully studying Richard. His eyes narrowed.

Richard had changed.

Or perhaps...

It wasn’t Richard who had changed. It was the way he looked at Isobel.

Morgan enlarged the image until Richard’s expression filled most of the screen.

There it was.

The warmth in his eyes. The tenderness. The instinctive protectiveness.