Rising from the Ashes The Heiress They Tried to Erase

Chapter 833:

Bit by bit, the letters took shape in ink — right there on the paper. And then it was clear to everyone as the long signature revealed itself: “S. S. S.!”

“It’s truly her!” Alice gasped and drew in a shaky breath. Her voice wavered, thick with feelings she hadn’t expected to rise up. “Chris,” she said softly, “I think your mother used the name Sophie S. Schrader when she painted. Isn’t that right?”

“How would you know that?” Chris asked, his voice rough and strained. He locked eyes with Alice, stunned, barely able to process what he was hearing. “Did you… actually know my mother?”

“Of course!” Alice gave a firm nod, her eyes glowing with emotion. “And it wasn’t just me — lots of collectors here, even the curator, knew your mother. Honestly, she was a legend to many of us.”

She hadn’t even finished her sentence before the room broke into a buzz of excitement.

“Surely you all haven’t forgotten who she is?” Alice turned to face the crowd, lifting the notebook with Chris’ handwriting high above her head. She raised her voice. “This signature — doesn’t it say it all?”

“I just thought the woman in Maia’s painting looked familiar!” someone called out. “She seemed a bit younger than I remember, but now it’s clicking. That woman in Maia’s painting is the brilliant artist who once took all of Otruitho by storm fifteen years ago, and then disappeared like smoke — Sophia S. Schrader!”

bolt out of nowhere. Her eyes darted across the rows — from the stern faces of

respected elders of Otruitho stood abruptly. The surprise etched on their faces and the swiftness of their reaction silenced the room as if someone had

attention snapped to Chris in perfect

?????

disbelief. “Are you really the son

a dull ache pulsed in

mother suddenly become a legendary figure in Otruitho’s art

locked eyes with Grover,

of the blue. The signature Chris had just penned spoke volumes without a single word —

an eye, the hall buzzed

the son

I thought the woman in that portrait rang a bell. I should’ve known the

me