The Billionaire's Mistake (Anya and Daniel)



After settling her matters at the gallery, Lydia was happy to leave. Mark went on his way to handle his own matters while she left with Harry. He stopped bay hotel to pick up some documents while having her wait in the lobby.

While he was gone, Lydia walked over to her seating area and took a seat. She realized she had not eaten much during breakfast when her stomach started craving the coffee one of the guests was drinking.

She recalled someone online saying that a person could order a coffee in a hotel, so she called a staff and ordered one. Surprisingly, it was not expensive.

She took a sip of the hot liquid and it rolled down her throat. It tasted good. For a moment, she was satisfied. But her satisfaction was broken by the familiar sound of a woman's voice.

"Lydia? What are you doing here?" the person asked and Lydia turned to see who it was only for her mood to dip.

A tall blonde-haired woman walked towards Lydia. She was Lydia's Aunt, Hannah. The same who had been so obsessed with James Grey, she plotted against him and separated him from his family for more than a decade.

Lydia could smell the drama coming. She suddenly had a head ache.

"I saw you from over there, what are you doing here?" Hannah asked, but Lydia acted as though she had not seen her and continued sipping on her coffee.

Lydia's behaviour caused those around her to look her way since Hannah had all but screamed when she walked over.

Lydia had no energy for this childish Aunt. This Aunt, Hannah was full of tricks since her mother and father had a headache each day, but grandma indulged her. Lydia's parents had cut ties with the main family so, she had no reason to accommodate Hannah.

“Hey, there is no need to ignore Your Aunt. Who ignores people talking to them?" a girl standing next to Hannah spoke up, but Lydia did not even bother looking their way.

"Aunt, are you not tired of disturbing people? I should be asking why you are here. Are you sure you are not busy looking for a man to plot against?" Lydia asked.

"Shut your mouth! How dare you talk to you Aunt like that?" the woman beside her Aunt shouted.

"She did it, but does not want people to talk about it?" Lydia asked.novelbin

"You are shaming me? I am you Aunt!" Hannah shouted. She was already getting frustrated as she is unable to meet James recently and the family was almost bankrupt. She was even captured and thrown into a sex trafficking ring some time ago and her mother had to pull strings to get her out. She was not stupid. She knew it was James who had done that.

The drugs the pumped into her when she was in the ring made her more irrational than usual. She could not take her niece mocking her. It reminded her of her lowest moment.

"You held a married man captive for over a decade hoping to use some new technology to wipe his memory of his wife. But, you are worried about shame? Shame is what you lack. If you had shame, the family would not be in the position it is in. since grandma thinks you need pampering, it is best if I deliver you some shame tax included. Maybe with some shame, you will keep yourself out of trouble," Lydia said.

"What?" the woman beside Hannah asked. She had not heard of this news before. What did she mean by Hannah held a married man captive. Was she not obsessed with James Grey?

"You would even make up stories to harm me?” Hanna cried. To this, Lydia rolled her eyes.

"If you have this much tears to spill, please I beg you. Offer it to the man you had capture so that he will spare our family. So that grandma will not die an early death,"

Lydia was done with this conversation. She was not willing to speak with her again, so she took a sip of her coffee and looked away.

Hannah felt shamed. She could tell people were looking at her oddly. She had no choice but to try her usual tactic that had never failed her; tears.

"You have been away from home for

a while. Your grandma is worried that you will be pushed to a wall and do odd things you should not be doing at your age. Come back home, there is no need to insult me. I just want you to come home," Hannah said, tears magically spilling from her eyes. If Lydia had not seen this trick of hers used so many times, she would have fallen for it.

Hannah spoke so loudly, as though she was afraid the entire hotel would not hear them. She sobbed as though Lydia had bullied her. But, Lydia just sat there drinking her coffee, watching her sob without responding.

Without a response, Hannah's cry was starting to seem dramatic, like a one-woman show. Hannah did not seem to notice this. Lydia on the other hand, was amused.

This trick of her Aunt Hannah was always used to make it seem that she was bullied.

Lydia almost laughed. If any of her

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family had walked in now, they would immediately think she had done something. But those tricks only worked when family was involved. Those people who claimed to be her family were very biased in nature. So, their every action and reaction was always going to be biased.

But strangers were just watching a show. Just like Lydia, they watched the interaction and saw Hannah being consoled by her friend. It was hard to understand why she would break into tears in a few words.

Before the one-woman show could continue, Harry returned.

"Let's go," Harry said and Lydia stood. He only glanced at Hannah for a second before leaving with Lydia. It was as though there was no one there. When Hannah saw that Lydia had left suddenly with some unknown man, she took out her phone and messaged the family to tell them she had met Lydia. Of course, she did not forget to embellish the entire encounter.

But the girl beside her recognised him.

"Wait, isn't that Harry Madison?" the girl asked.

"Madison? Which Madison?" Hannah asked hurriedly.

"The same Madison you know, one of the great families," the girl answered. Her words made Hannah's anger boil over. Her niece was moving around with the people who put her in this predicament?

Lydia and Harry got into the car and he drove away.

"Someone you know?" Harry asked, making Lydia realize that he had noticed the entire incident.

"No," Lydia answered. She was not

willing to talk about her family. Harry on the other hand, did not really

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need her to. He already knew enough about her situation when he had been keeping an eye on her, but he did not want her to know

"I need to go back to my studio," she said.

"You are coming back with me," he insisted, "I don't want to have this conversation again."

"I just need to pack up my studio!" she said and he paused before nodding. Harry was more pleased that she was no longer resisting the idea of going back with him.

He drove over to her studio and walked inside with her. Just seeing the amount of things inside, he was sure they could not take it all in one try. "Just get the things most important. I will have movers come over," he said.

Lydia did not like the idea of leaving her studio, but it was a must. Harry only mildly explained that it was not safe. She did not understand it much but she trusted him.