Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 855: But it never came to pass. Days turned into a painful test of patience for Vince. Waiting felt like being trapped, slowly eating away at his mind. Then he remembered Maia's real prison - four long years behind bars - while he had only waited a handful of days. For the first time, Vince truly grasped the depth of Maia's suffering. He felt a heavy sadness thinking about how he hadn't visited her even once during those four years. Doubt crept in, making him wonder if his past mistakes had burned any chance of a future with Maia.

The thought gnawed at him, a dull ache pressing on his chest. Maia had once trusted him with her whole heart, giving herself to him, but he had shattered that love without mercy. Every silent night, when Vince shut his eyes, Maia's tear-filled gaze and her desperate plea rang in his ears: "I didn't steal. Why don't you believe me?" He remembered her last look - full of hopelessness and icy coldness. He no longer dared to dream of Maia's full forgiveness. If she could just spare him one glance, one chance to make things right, Vince would hold it close to his heart.

But that moment still hadn't come. He slipped deeper into gloom. He started to wonder if Maia had known all along that he was waiting below and simply chose to turn a blind eye. Only after catching the news just now did Vince suddenly realize how wrong he'd been. Maia wasn't even in the country; she had already left for Sceibar. In a flash, a tiny spark of hope reignited in Vince's dull, tired eyes. He frantically tapped through his phone, searching for more updates. Amid a sea of headlines, he quickly found a story about Maia's rise to fame in Otrultho's art scene.

⧸ ɢⲩ．ⅽ His heart pounded as he eagerly opened the most popular video report online. On screen, Maia stood center stage, looking confident and commanding, while loud, lasting applause filled the room. His eyes flicked to the caption below: "The prodigy Maia Watson presented her masterpiece, 'A Mother's Timeless Love,' to the son of renowned artist Sophia S. Schrader. It's said she recreated Sophia's youthful image using her son's features." "The son of Sophia?" Vince frowned, a gut feeling telling him that something wasn't quite right.

How had Maia managed to cross paths with the son of such a renowned artist? Could it be possible that the person in question was just a young child, maybe seven or eight years old? Yet the way the news broke made it seem intentionally vague, as if something was being kept out of sight. No name was shared. No photograph was released. Doubt started to settle in Vince's mind. He immediately contacted a friend in Sceibar, asking them to help investigate who exactly the mysterious son of Sophia was. While he waited for any word, Vince found himself lost in thought.

If Maia's ambition was simply to make her mark in the art world, she could easily rely on the Ward family's influence and connections. All she had to do was return to him. If Maia came back, Vince promised himself that he would treat her with twice as much care and never allow her to face any more hardship. . . .