Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 1018 Chapter 1019: Maia let out a small, awkward cough. "Kathie..." Kathie's brows lifted suddenly, and she peered at Maia with quiet curiosity. "By the way, Maia, I've heard people saying you're already married. Is that true? Something so important, and you never breathed a word to me. Why?" The atmosphere tightened, and the air in the room seemed to chill. Marisa let out a quiet click of her tongue. She hadn't imagined the older woman-clearly someone from Maia's family-would be unaware of Maia's supposed marriage. The situation struck her as strange.

Either Maia was hiding something she couldn't reveal, or... the whole marriage was a sham. Before Maia could get a word in, Ethan cut her off, quick to guard his sister's secret. "Kathie, don't pay attention to idle talk. If Maia were really married, she'd have told us." Maia's eyes slid toward her brother, a silent nod in her gaze. Good boy. He still remembered the promise and knew how to cover for her. Kathie mulled it over, then let out a small sigh with a smile. "I suppose you're right.

Still, talk like that only starts because your sister hasn't got a boyfriend yet." Chris' brows gave the faintest twitch at that comment, a sudden thought flashing through his mind. He almost blurted, "Who says she doesn't? I'm right here, and I'm her legal husband." But when he caught Maia's look from the corner of his eye, he bit back the words. His wife must have her own reasons for keeping the marriage under wraps from Ethan and Kathie. He also refused to let Maia become a bigger target for the Cooper Group because of who he was.

With Kolton still in the picture, he wouldn't dare expose Maia as his wife. But a thought crept into his mind-it was about time to stop living behind a mask. Chris, a man with many identities, had spent years in silence, gathering power in the dark, all for the day he could take revenge for himself and his parents. The bullet fragment in his brain kept whispering the same warning-he had to wipe out the Cooper family, root and branch. At the same time, before his worsening headaches pushed him toward something more dangerous, he longed to tell the world that Maia was his wife.

Just then, Kathie's sigh broke the quiet once more. "That's true. If Maia really had a husband, he'd have shown up to visit her." Maia let her eyes drift softly toward Chris, a faint curve forming at the corners of her mouth. Anyone who had claimed her husband wouldn't turn up had clearly been wrong. Not only had he come, but he'd also gone to the trouble of making her a spread of tasty food. On top of that, the whole ordeal had left him so racked with guilt and anger that his old headache had flared up again. Ethan, however, grew even hotter under the collar when he heard about it.

He snorted. "Exactly! That means Maia isn't truly married at all." In his rush of emotion, he made his injury worse, and his face drained of color. Still, he pushed on stubbornly. "Maia, tell me this... Is there any man alive who would stay away when his wife's been hurt? Could you even call such a man a husband?" . . .