Chapter 1326:


    She spoke lightly, though secretly she rather liked the idea. If Maia were to be Mnie’s stepmother, then Mnie and Ethan would see any potential future extinguished. Yet the mere thought made Marisa’s cheeks warm unexpectedly.


    “I don’t mind in the least. After all, he wouldn’t be my true uncle. It wouldn’t shatter our friendship,” Mnie chortled. “Besides, Ethan might actually prefer that we bond more.”


    Marisa huffed and turned away, sealing her lips. Yet her eyes flickered toward Ethan periodically.


    Ever since Maia departed with Chris, Ethan had seemed utterly deted, hunched and motionless in his seat. No one could discern the current of his thoughts, but his expression clearly broadcast a deep disquiet.


    The next instant, Ethan shot to his feet and bolted outside without uttering a single word.


    Meanwhile, in a secluded pavilion away from the crowd, Maia stood with her fists subtly clenched, nerves drawn tight, as she met the intense gaze of Chris, who was staring fixedly at her.


    Maia had never known such profound nervousness. Not when she faced a difficult adversary in the underground boxing ring, nor when she parried the public nder and aggressive questioning on stage.


    Yet standing before Chris, the man who had rekindled her capacity to love, she trembled with a quiet, consuming anxiety. Her heart hammered against her ribs in a frantic, escting rhythm.


    Chris swept his final gaze around the secluded pavilion, ensuring their absolute safety before settling on Maia’s clear eyes. He lowered his voice. “I’ve scanned the perimeter. We are alone. We can speak freely.”


    The moonlight bathed Maia in a soft, ethereal radiance, lending her a luminous, romantic aura.


    Chris stood mesmerized, a sudden, powerful impulse to pull her into an embrace surging through him.


    Maia raised her chin, meeting Chris’s deep, searching gaze, and her voice emerged as a hesitant murmur. “Chris, I didn’t intend to withhold anything. It’s simply that those multiple secret roles and personas…”


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    “I understand.” Chris closed the distance between them in a single, swift stride, enveloping Maia in a tight embrace. “Everyone shelters secrets, don’t they? Besides, if Kiley had uncovered your hidden titles earlier, things might not have fractured this badly.”


    In that moment, a powerful urgepelled Chris to confess. “Maia, there are things I haven’t shared with you either… not just my hidden titles, but the instant, staggering attraction I felt for you. In fact, we met years ago.”


    However, the weight of the asion and the imminent charity g constrained him. Chris chose silence, swallowing the urgent words.


    Maia sank into the warmth radiating from his chest, feeling the steady, strong rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her cheek. A sudden doubt pricked her conscience, yet she dared to ask, her voice hushed against his shirt, “You’re truly not angry?”


    Chris shook his head, his hand settling gently on her back.


    As his words faded, Chris’s gaze scrutinized her expression, awaiting her reaction with palpable tension.


    He had spoken partly to validate Maia’s caution—a shared defense, given his own deceptions—and partly toy the foundation for his inevitable confession.


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