Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 871: "You've cornered me, Maia. Don't you see? I have nowhere left to go. Life means nothing without you. Say you'll marry me, here and now, and I'll listen to anything you want... I swear it." Maia kept silent, her brow furrowing as unease clouded her face. Nothing in that moment felt more volatile than Vince himself - a human powder keg ready to explode at the slightest spark. His breaths came fast and ragged, chest rising and falling like a storm on the verge of breaking. Then, with a sudden shout, his plea tore through the air, wild and desperate. "Maia!

Will you marry me?" The words carried a force that turned every head, pulling even more eyes toward them. Excitement rippled through the bystanders who hadn't noticed until then. Several rushed closer, shouting: "Hurry, come see! There's a proposal happening!" Phones and cameras shot up instantly, recording, snapping, streaming - the crowd capturing every second in a frenzy. Within moments, livestream links flooded social media, headlines surging into trending lists: Vince Proposes to Maia.

But the truth - the hidden threat strapped beneath his jacket - remained invisible to all but Maia and Chris, even as the growing audience only strengthened Vince's leverage. The tension pressed in from all sides, nerves stretched to breaking point. One wrong move and everything could unravel. Was Vince still clinging to sanity, or had he already slipped past the edge into madness? Maia couldn't tell. Her only hope was to keep him talking, to stall, to search for any crack of reason left in him. Behind her, Chris stayed sharp, every sense on high alert.

One look at those concealed detonators told him enough: this was no bluff. Vince was far more dangerous than his worst suspicions had allowed. : ‎‎‎‎‎ν‎‎‎‎﹒‎‎‎ As Maia stepped forward, drawing Vince's focus, Chris used the moment to slip his phone from his pocket. He silenced it, dialed Maxwell from memory, and held it close, his mind already calculating their only chance. No one in the crowd - not even Vince - suspected a thing. The call had connected in perfect silence, with Maxwell on the other end catching every sound nearby.

Inside his car, Maxwell glanced at the caller ID and tapped his Bluetooth headset without hesitation. "Chris, you just landed a few hours ago, and now you're calling me? Shouldn't you be spending time with Maia?" His tone carried its usual swagger, a grin tugging at his lips. Chris had only just returned, and already his name lit up Maxwell's phone. Calls like that weren't routine - it was proof of how much Chris valued their friendship. For a fleeting moment, pride sparked across Maxwell's face. But as the silence stretched on, unease crept in. Something was wrong. . . .