Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase

Chapter 825:

Mariana’s hands shook, her brush slipping from her fingers to clatter on the floor. She knew that face. How could she not?

“Is that… Nicola?” Mariana’s voice climbed, sharp with disbelief. She took two unsteady steps toward Maia’s canvas, her heart pounding.

Her reaction startled everyone. “How could you know her face? Nicola passed years ago. You were a child then — no way you saw her!” Her words tumbled out, frantic, until they snagged in her throat.

Her eyes, now rimmed with red, flicked to Chris. Had he shown Maia a photo of his mother?

But Chris had once confessed that he barely recalled his mother’s face, with no pictures to jog his memory. So how?

Mariana’s mind reeled, questions piling up. What tied Maia to Chris? She pushed the thought away, unwilling to chase it further.

Maia set her brush down with deliberate grace, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Your reaction confirms it,” she said, her voice steady. “I painted her true. Nicola, was it? A name that carries weight, like a whisper from the past.”

— offered further proof. The woman on Maia’s

to paint Nicola for this art duel to stir exactly this

the Cooper family and had lived with them for some time, so Kiley and Mariana would recognize

is A Mother’s Timeless Love,” she said, her voice soft but clear. “It captures a mother gazing at her

held its breath, then erupted. Applause crashed like waves, relentless

??????

one had expected Maia to conjure a woman she had never met with

away quiet sobs. They saw

painting, though skilled, paled beside Maia’s. It was not just technique — Maia’s

turned to Chris, her smile gentle but sure. “Chris,

created the painting for this man?” someone muttered, curiosity lacing

implying? Is she painting this