Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 280: Sandra's expression darkened, her disgust evident as her fingers tightened around her dress.

Richard gazed at Maia, who looked back impassively, and he realized he no longer recognized the girl they had once fostered.

"Impossible! How could Maia be both K and Eileen? She's always been nothing but a disgrace to our family, a constant annoyance." Jarrod staggered slightly as he spoke, his anger evident.

Pattie spoke, her laugh sounding forced and empty. She looked at Jarrod with scorn, chuckling coldly. "And yet, Maia thought of you as her beloved older brother…" She moved closer to Jarrod. "It looks like you know nothing about her! Did you know? Back in school, when a group of bullies insulted you in public, Maia rushed in to defend you. She grabbed the leader and refused to back down, even as the others hit her. In the end, she forced him to apologize.

And you likely don't know that she stayed up nights to make your birthday present by hand. She was so tired that she fell asleep in class and got punished, having to stand outside in the cold for hours. There's more to tell…"

Pattie was ready to continue, but Maia stopped her, grabbing her arm.

"That's enough," Maia told Pattie, giving a firm shake of her head.

Pattie pressed her lips together, pained. Since high school, she had been Maia's confidante and knew how deeply Maia had cared for the Morgan family. Yet, those Maia cherished had let her down time and again.

Feeling Maia's pain, Pattie couldn't suppress her indignation. She clasped Maia's hand tightly, lifting her arm. As the sleeve fell back, the onlookers gasped upon seeing the prominent scar that marred Maia's otherwise flawless skin.

Pattie, her voice sharp as a whip, shouted at Jarrod, whose face had drained of all color. "And you! What about you? What have you done? Look at that scar on her arm! Don't you remember? It's from four years ago - when you hurt her while trying to shield Rosanna, the long-lost sister you had only just welcomed back into your life."

Jarrod stumbled back a few paces, swaying like a tree battered by a sudden gust. His eyes fell upon the glaring scar, and it felt as though an invisible hand was tightening around his heart, squeezing the breath from his lungs.

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"No… that's not how it happened," he stammered, the floor seeming to tilt beneath his feet. "That time… Maia came home injured because she got into a fight at school. She stirred up trouble, and that's why she got hurt…"

That day played vividly in his mind, as if time had folded back on itself. He had berated Maia mercilessly for it.

"And… and that birthday present you mentioned… Wasn't it just some cheap, thoughtless thing she threw together?"

Jarrod's voice cracked as the memory cut deeper. He remembered - the only gift Maia had ever given him was for his sixteenth birthday. A scarf, its stitches clumsy and uneven.

The snow had been falling heavily that day. Without hesitation, he had flung the scarf into the drifts and sneered at her, "How could you even think of giving me something so shabby?"

Maia had stood there, silent and unmoving, as the snow piled onto her slender shoulders, turning her into a living statue swallowed by the cold.

From that day on, no birthday ever came from Maia's hands again. Jarrod often grumbled about how indifferent she was, especially when he compared her to Rosanna, who, year after year, always presented him with some polished, store-bought gift.

Though Rosanna's presents were nothing more than ordinary trinkets anyone could have picked up, they still seemed grander than the poor, hand-knit scarf Maia once offered.

What Jarrod never knew - and never cared enough to ask - was that Maia had been just a child back then. Sandra and Richard, who showered Rosanna with everything she could wish for, barely spared Maia a penny. Determined, Maia had…

She borrowed money from Pattie, bought the finest cashmere yarn she could afford, and spent countless nights weaving that scarf stitch by stitch, pouring her heart into every loop.

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