Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase

Chapter 530:

As he spoke, he pulled a red scarf from his pocket — aged around the edges but clearly cared for. Its fraying threads didn’t hide the fact that it had been washed, folded, and held onto.

Maia’s brow creased the moment she saw it. Recognition was instant. She distinctly remembered Jarrod throwing it away.

Jarrod caught the flicker of emotion in her eyes and continued, his voice softer now, “I was a kid back then. I didn’t get what it meant. But now I do. That scarf… you put time into it. You cared. And I was too stupid to see that. I’m lucky I got it back. So today, this is me trying to make it right. If the scarf can find its way back, maybe we can too. We’re still family… right?”

Moved by his own words, Jarrod truly believed that he’d reached her. Surely Maia would feel something too — wouldn’t she?

He waited, almost smiling, expecting her to soften, accept the gift, and step back into the Morgan family as if nothing had ever broken. Maia, his good sister, would return at last.

But no emotion crossed Maia’s face. Her voice was steady and flat as she said, “I don’t want it.”

scarf or

voice dropped, heavy with restrained anger as he said, “Maia, Jarrod’s putting

Maia carried herself made it obvious to the guests that she hadn’t made peace with the Morgan family, and that left him feeling deeply

to him, Sandra looked like all the color had drained from her face. Furious, but too proud to make a scene, she kept

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their fury had to simmer under a mask of fake warmth.

But why should she show courtesy to the very people who had wounded her? Whatever debt she owed the Morgan family had been paid long ago, yet the pain they had inflicted was something she would

let out a short laugh. “Respect isn’t something you demand. It’s something you

about to keep playing the part they had written for her. Lifting her chin, she looked between Richard and Sandra and said

veiled amusement, as if caught up in

ash and crimson. Fury burned just beneath the surface, but he clenched his jaw.

to swallow the bitter