Heartstrings on Fire novel Chapter 863

Ryder's voice was cold as ice. "Mom, you're right, I've always been competing with Uncle Jared. I didn't want to fall too far behind because he was the prodigy in your eyes. No matter how hard I tried, I was always in his shadow. Has anyone ever truly cared about how I felt? I like Agnes, and I don't know if it's love, or because of Uncle Jared's influence, or maybe it's both. But now, she's the one I want to fight for, the one I want to win over. It doesn't matter if she doesn't love me. As long as she's by my side, I'll find a way to make her fall for me. If you really want to treat me and Uncle Jared equally, you and Grandpa should stay out of it. This is a battle between me and him."

Alyssa was stunned into silence. Her fingers clenched tight, her temples throbbed with tension.

Ryder said it didn't matter if Agnes didn't love him, as long as she was by his side.

It was like a curse.

Hadn't Alyssa herself fallen for such an illusion once?

She had thought it didn't matter that Michael Albert didn't love her; she just had to bind him to her side by any means, showing him her whole heart.

She had believed that one day he would come to love her, but fate had slapped her hard in the face.

And now, Ryder was echoing her own words from back then. It was like reliving a nightmare. Her worst fears were coming true.

Ryder was truly her son, even his thoughts mirrored hers, but it was that same obsession that had tormented her all her life. She couldn't let her son walk down that same painful path.

"Fine, let's not talk about Agnes for now," Alyssa said. "Tell me, what's going on with the company?"