Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase

Chapter 570:

If all of this was just a dream, she didn’t care — she’d gladly stay in it a while longer.

As the kiss faded into silence, Chris cupped Maia’s cheeks and leaned in, resting his forehead against hers, their breaths tangled in the space between them.

“We’ve got the whole night,” he murmured, his voice low and coaxing. “Stay with me a little longer…”

Maia thought of everything he’d done for her that night — the waiting, the quiet care, the thoughtful surprises he’d left at home. Turning him down felt impossible.

She gave a small nod, and without a word, Chris took her hand and guided her to the sofa.

Lowering himself to one knee in front of her, he looked up and asked, “What’ll it be, champagne or juice?”

He hadn’t forgotten that she’d probably had more than enough alcohol back at the birthday banquet, so he left the choice in her hands.

“Juice,” she replied softly. The memory of Mariana’s drugged champagne offering still churned unpleasantly in her stomach.

chilled bottle of orange juice, and brought back two clean glasses. After

automatically, reaching for

When she looked up, she found him grinning, that familiar spark in his eyes. “If you keep talking to me, your husband, like I’m a guest

crept up Maia’s cheeks again, a quiet flush she tried to hide by lowering

soft moonlight to spill into the living

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of flowers, a lingering note from earlier preparations — as if the room itself was part of an unspoken dream. The memory of his kiss still hovered at

couch, one leg crossed neatly over the other. In one

Maia suddenly sat a little straighter, a note of concern rising in her voice. “Is it your

Chris blinked, momentarily surprised.

barely registered the ache himself — it was a familiar, dull throb he usually ignored.

fact that she

he turned to her. “It was bothering me a little. But hearing you

fooled by his playful tone. He really was impossible when he