The Billionaire's Mistake

MISTAKE 118

Chapter 118: Must keep up the lie

Hazel blinked, momentarily stunned. "My... sister? You mean Anya? But I've never even met her, and you know it is because she is not my..." "Shut it! If I say she is, then she is." Shaina replied, her attention focused on the safe's contents

"Someone has paid a lot of money for the to show.. same face as me,

but her daughter is married Into the Shaw family. If anyone can help us with a Mafia problem, it's them."

I can't believe she has the

Hazel's mind reeled with this new information. She'd always known there was no sister. Her

mother had made it up. Some paid her? Well, she did not care as long as they could use her.

"Are you sure they're that powerful? I mean, how do you know they can help?"

Shaina didn't answer immediately. She was staring into the safe, her face a mask of shock and disbelief. "No," she whispered. "No, no, no!"

"Mom? What's wrong?" Hazel asked, alarmed by her mother's sudden panic.

Shaina began tearing through the bedroom, yanking open drawers and upending boxes. "It's gone," she muttered, more to herself than to Hazel. "It can't be gone. Where is it?" Hazel watched in bewilderment as her usually composed mother descended into frantic searching. "What's gone? Mom, you're scaring me. What are you looking for?"

Shaina whirled to face her daughter, her eyes wide with fear and frustration. "The leverage," she said, her voice cracking. "I've lost our leverage."

"Leverage? What leverage?" Hazel asked, struggling to keep up with the rapid turn of events.

Shaina sank onto the bed; her energy

uddenly depleted. She looked up at Hazel, tears glistening in her eyes. "I abandoned Anya when she was a child," she confessed, the words

heavy with long-buried guilt. "I wasn't sure she'd be willing to help us, so II took something from her father's safe. Something to bargain with if she refused."

Hazel stared at her mother, shocked by this revelation. "You stole Mafia family?"

from Anya's father? From a

miserably. "It was insurance. A last resort. But now it's gone, and without it... She trailed off, the implications

suddenly seemed to pale in comparison to the web of

as though fate was on their side, Shaina's phone started ringing. It

don't care what you are doing. I sent you to Appletown to inspect the orchard.

past few days because she felt she would soon meet Anya as long as she could find out her location. But

going over," Shaina answered

Rose Mansion,

need to go on a trip to inspect a factory in

keep

Daniel, her eyes filled

you telling me this?" Anya asked, her tone

softly at Anya's skepticism, understanding her reluctance to trust him after the

if you'd like to come with me."

Daniel was up to something. "Are you going

"No."

her head in agreement, her curiosity getting the better of her as she wondered what

widened at Anya's acceptance, his heart swelling with gratitude as he realized that he had a chance to spend some quality time with her. He knew that he had a long way to go before he

voice filled with excitement. "Let's pack up. We'll be gone

days."

for the trip ahead, Daniel

of anticipation building

led Anya out

of excitement coursing through her veins. It was her first

never seen a city from this angle, the towering buildings and bustling streets a stark contrast to the quiet solitude of the Shaw family estate or Rose

way to the hotel, Anya's excitement quickly gave way to confusion as Daniel led

our room first," he said, and she shot him

have her own room, but

with disbelief. Even at home, they

playing at the corners of his lips as

to you?" Daniel asked,

he do to her? A

they checked in, she couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy.

believe he would