?Chapter 1545:


    He sank deeper into the sofa, head bowed, fingers inteced tightly, knuckles pale with tension. “Back then, my people in Wront did find your parents. I even had one final phone call with your mother. It didn’t end well—it turned into a heated argument. After that, she and your father disappeared from my people’s sight.”


    Dominic drew a shaky breath, his voice quivering. “I thought they had gone to another city, so I widened the search. But who would have thought they were still in Wront, hiding so carefully? They never left the city at all.”


    His vision blurred as the shell he had built around himself finally gave way, tears spilling freely down his lined face. “I was the one who caused them trouble. I hurt them. If I hadn’t pushed so hard, they would never have gone to such extremes. Who could have imagined that two people like them would choose to live in a ce like that?”


    Dominic covered his face, his voice breaking. “Do you know what your mother was like? She was proud. Meticulous to a fault. She couldn’t tolerate even a speck of dust on her clothes. How could someone like that endure such an environment?”


    Regret surged through him, swallowing him whole.


    Maia watched him without reacting, her expression steady and untouched. She stepped closer, bent down, and pulled a few tissues from the nearby box, handing them to him without a word.


    “So you assumed she would never go to a ce like that—never adapt to such conditions,” she said quietly, her tone calm and unwavering. “But did you ever consider that precisely because of that assumption, they would choose the opposite? Go to the ce you thought impossible?”


    Dominic froze mid-motion as he epted the tissues, his face going nk—as though the truth had finally struck him after all this time. The answer that had escaped him for over twenty years suddenly seemed painfully simple.


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    “It’s all my fault. I let your mother down. I failed you too.”


    Maia pressed her lips together, holding back whatever feelings might have surfaced. Perhaps it was because she had endured too much coldness and false affection in the Morgan family, or perhaps four years behind bars had already worn away her longing for familial warmth. His bted apology stirred nothing in her. Her heart felt hollow, incapable of producing even the smallest reaction.


    Even so, Dominic was still—aside from Ethan—the only blood rtive she had left in this world. Looking at the aging man before her, she couldn’t bring herself to imagine him spending whatever years remained weighed down by endless remorse.


    After a brief pause, she softened her tone. “What’s done is done. Regret won’t change anything. That’s something I learned in prison—there, regret is the most useless emotion. You survive only by looking forward.”


    Dominic wiped his tears with trembling hands. “Maia… do you think your mother, watching from heaven, would forgive me? If I could go back, I’d never force her to live ording to my wishes.”


    Maia let out a quiet sigh. “Life doesn’t give do-overs. What’s missed is already gone.” She hesitated, then met Dominic’s hopeful gaze and decided to offer him a small measure offort. “But I believe my mother may have forgiven you long ago.”


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