Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase Novel

Chapter 906: Right then, the faint honk of a car horn broke the silence. Her taxi had shown up at last. Maia let out a slow breath and climbed into the vehicle. She didn't realize that in a shadowy nook beneath a distant streetlamp, someone quietly moved, their eyes fixed on her as she drove away. "Damn it." A sharp breath escaped from the man hidden in the shadows. He was no ordinary hire. Melanie had shelled out a fortune just to bring him in. Cade Riley carried a name that needed no introduction in Wront. He was the kind of private eye you called when no one else could deliver.

Sweat gathered at his brow despite the cool air around him. He dragged a sleeve across his forehead and tried to calm his breathing. What had just unfolded moments ago still rattled his nerves. "That wasn't normal. Couldn't have just been by chance," Cade muttered under his breath, more to steady himself than anything else. Years of digging into people's secrets had made him sharp. Mistakes were rare, almost nonexistent. But tonight, while tailing Maia, he caught a flicker of something he didn't expect-she had stopped and turned like she sensed him. The moment froze him.

Cade had no choice but to melt into the shadows, heart thudding. Lucky for him, she didn't linger. She turned back around and got inside the taxi, none the wiser. Steadying himself with a slow exhale, he pulled out his phone and tapped in a familiar number. "Move now! A taxi just left-plate ends in 589," Cade said, voice clipped but urgent. The memory of nearly being spotted still lingered. "And don't tail her too close. Keep a low profile and make sure she doesn't catch on." "I've got it, sir," came the hushed reply on the other end. Once the call ended, Cade scanned his surroundings.

No eyes on him. He emerged from the tree line and made his way to a black sedan stationed a few feet away. The door clicked open under his grip, and he climbed in. With a quick inhale to settle his focus, he slammed his foot down on the gas and followed. Roughly twenty minutes later, the taxi pulled up in front of Elysium Apartments. While retracing her steps from Marvelous Garden, an unsettling sense lingered-like someone had been following her.

⧼gⱥν⧽ Instead of heading straight home, Maia turned aside and slipped through a nearby complex, her eyes quietly searching for anything out of place. Once she felt certain that the coast was clear, she let her guard down and turned toward Building No. 5, her pace a bit more relaxed. Not far off, hidden among the branches, Cade watched with growing satisfaction. There was no doubt she had keen instincts-but not sharp enough to shake him off. At that moment, a hushed voice came through his earpiece. "Sir, the target appears to be... Maia Watson." For a split second, Cade froze.

So, the client wanted him to follow Maia-the genius designer, composer, and artist who had saved so many people at Harmony Plaza today? It all made sense now... no wonder the client had thrown such a hefty sum his way. Still, Cade wasn't one to cross professional lines. He shot a warning, firm and direct. "Focus on the task. We don't need to know too much." That was enough to make the assistant slap a hand over his mouth. Even so, silence didn't last. A few beats later, curiosity slipped through. "Sir, Maia's kind of a hero right now after what she did at Harmony Plaza...

Doesn't it seem off that someone would pay us just to get her address?" . . .