Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 127

Reborn at Eighteen: The Billionaire’s Second…

Chapter 127

Elara

Her hands started shaking. “What about it?”

“When did your mother die?”

“Five years ago.”

“And when did you bury her?”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Six weeks ago.”

“Why the delay?”

Tears started forming. “I couldn’t afford it. The funeral home–they were charging me storage fees. Eight thousand dollars. Plus the burial

plot. I didn’t have that kind of money.”

“So what happened to her body?”

“It was it was in their cold storage. For almost five years.” Her voice broke. “They kept threatening to send her to Potter’s Field. To the mass grave. I kept begging them for more time. But then they gave me

Chapter 127

a final notice. Said if I didn’t pay by September twentieth, they’d

transfer her.”

“And then?”

“And then someone helped me.” She was crying now. “He said he’d

heard about my situation. That he wanted to help.”

“Who?”

“Damien Kennedy.”

Harris leaned forward. “When did he approach you?”

“I can’t remember very clearly. It should be something that happened

recently.” She wiped her eyes. “He just showed up at my apartment.

Said he knew about my mother. About the debt. He offered to pay for

everything.”

In exchange for what?”

Her face crumpled. “I had to sign a statement, Saying I must tell him

what happened at Blackwood Manor and listen to his arrangements if

necessary.”

“Then he sent you a message on the day of the birthday banquet and

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asked you to poison Sloane?”

She shook her head violently. “No. I never saw any bottle. I don’t

know what was in Sloane’s tea. I just–I just needed to bury my

mother. She’d been in that freezer for five years. Five years.” She

looked at me, desperate. “Do you know what that’s like? Knowing your

mother’s body is just sitting there? In a drawer? Like she’s nothing?”

My throat was tight. “No. I don’t.”

“I visit her grave every week now,” Anna whispered. “I bring her

daisies. I talk to her. I tell her I’m sorry it took so long. That I finally

gave her a proper resting place.”

“By lying about me.”

“Yes.” Fresh tears. “By lying about you. I’m so sorry. I thought–he said

that nothing would really happen to you.”

Harris closed his notepad. “Miss Petrova, you understand you’ve

committed perjury?”

“I know.” She looked at me, “I know what I did. And I know I have to

face the consequences.”

“How long?” I asked quietly.

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“What?”

“How long is the sentence for perjury?”

Harris answered. “In a case like this? Probably four to six months.

Maybe less with a plea deal.”

Anna went white. “I have a grandmother in the Bronx. She needs me

“You should have thought about that before you lied under oath.”

“I know. I know.” She was crying again. “But if I didn’t do it–they were

going to throw her away. Like she was garbage. Like she never

mattered.”

Something twisted in my chest. Anger. Pity. Understanding.

“The system failed you, Anna,” I said quietly. “They let your mother die because she couldn’t pay. They kept her body hostage for five years because you couldn’t pay. Damien Kennedy exploited that. He used your grief. Your desperation. Your love for your mother. That’s

not your fault.”

“But I still lied.”

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Reborn at Eighteen: The Billionaire’s Second…

Chapter 128