Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 247: Overhead, the dim light threw harsh angles across Vince's face, one side lit in cold sharpness, the other swallowed by darkness.

Maia's chest heaved, beads of sweat slipping down her temple as panic gnawed at her insides.

She couldn't move. Her entire body refused to obey her frantic commands to fight back.

Step by deliberate step, Vince closed the distance between them. "What… what are you trying to do?"

A whisper of panic flickered across her face as she forced the words out. She staggered backward, each step heavier than the last, until the back of her knees hit the edge of a sofa, and she collapsed onto it.

Before she could even scramble away, Vince leaned over her, his arms braced on either side of her head, trapping her inside a prison of his own making.

For a long moment, their gazes locked.

All Maia could offer him was pure, cutting hatred.

But in Vince's darkened stare, a storm raged - full of madness, desperation, and a twisted longing that had been caged for far too long.

"Stop putting on an act, Maia. Just tell me what is real. Every word you threw at me today - you only said it because you wanted to get under my skin, didn't you?"

His voice came out rough, weighed down by something heavier than anger. His eyes, rimmed with red, looked ready to tear her apart, wild like an animal that had been backed into a corner.

"Deep down, you still cannot move past me, can you? You heard about my engagement to Rosanna, and it is eating you up inside, isn't it? You are playing it cool, acting like you do not care, but this is all just some twisted way to pull me back to you, isn't it?"

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The questions kept coming, one after another, but Maia just remained silent.

Frustration deepened the shadows across Vince's face.

His gaze bore into hers, desperate to find a crack - a flinch, a flicker of regret.

Instead, he found only a glacial chill in her stare, sharpened with hatred.

"Say something!" Vince shouted, the alcohol tearing down the last of his restraint.

Had he completely lost his mind?

A cold laugh spilled from Maia's lips, sharp as broken glass. "Every single word I said, I meant."

Even though her body wavered under the strain, her will remained unyielding. "Vince, you're delusional if you think you matter to me. Your engagement, your life - they're none of my business. The sooner you marry Rosanna, the better. Just make sure I never have to see either of you again."

Her voice might have been low and fragile, but her words landed like arrows, sinking deep into Vince's heart without mercy.

Shock twisted across his face, giving way to a flash of pure, burning rage in his dark eyes.

He refused to believe it. He couldn't believe it.

Without warning, he shot forward, his fingers closing tightly around her neck, his breath coming in harsh, uneven bursts. "You are not telling the truth! You spent so many years loving me. How could all of that disappear just like that? You used to swear up and down that no one else would ever matter to you except me. Am I wrong?"

Lowering his head, he shuddered violently, his voice unraveling into something almost childlike and broken. "I'm right here, Maia. Isn't this what you always wanted?"

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