THE BILLIONAIRE'S GIRL WITH THE FAKE ID

Mother!!”

“Mother!!”

My scream tore through the night like shattering glass as my knees hit the cold floor with my mother's body. She just convulsed, blood gushing out of her mouth, greasing my trembling palms as she coughed blood and gasping for air.

“Mom! No! Mother! Don't leave me now! I pleaded, touching my shaking fingers on my mother’s face, as tears ran uncontrollably in my eyes. The clock ticked louder than her heartbeat as I watched my mother dying in my arms. Her eyes fluttered, closing slowly, her voice was barely heard this time as her temperature ran cold, her pulse barely noticed.

I stretched my hands towards her inhaler on the couch, grabbing it with my last breath and forcing it in her mouth. Immediately, I saw my world blurring in my eyes as I thought my mother was going to die. Just then, after she had inhaled twice, her breathing slowed, and her heartbeat revived.

At fifteen, my childhood ended the day my mother’s health collapsed. Overnight, I became the sole pillar of survival, dragging my mother's failing body through this merciless world. The fragile utopia she had built for me right from childhood crumbled into dust. From then on, my world dimmed. My youth dissolved into a grey blur of unpaid bills and midnight tears.

When my mother could breath normally my friend Andrey was already at the door. Just with one knock,she slammed the door open and rushed to us. She didn't need to ask as she already knew the answer to the drama in front of her. I was still on the floor, with my mother in my arms.

“Andrey thank God you are here”. I spoke with my shaky voice amid fear.

Andrey said nothing,but just took over immediately. She lifted my Mother's head, straightening the pillow and fixing the blanket like she’d done this a hundred times.

I could barely breathe as I almost collapsed from relief seeing my mother's breath reviving gently.

As we noticed, my mother is slowly recovering. Andrey held me. “Come,” she whispered.

Outside, our balcony was calm. She pulled a brown envelope from her coat, with her eyes dark and steady.

“Take this Clara”

“Andrey, don't tell me this is the evidence of what we discussed last night”. I refused.

I already knew what was inside the envelope during our discussion last night.

—-----------------

“If you don’t take this identity, Clara, your mother will die.”

Andrey’s voice came through, slithering across the café table like silk-wrapped poison. Her manicured fingers held the brown envelope toward me, its weight pressing against the polished wood like a verdict.

My gaze locked on the envelope as my breath hitched, my chest tightening as though the city itself had paused around me. That envelope was not an ordinary file. It was a blade wrapped in paper. A secret, powerful enough to slice my life into two - a fake identity.

At twenty-five, reality has stripped me of my last illusion and this choice before me was one of them. That envelope sat between us, staring at me.

“I can’t,” I whispered to Andrey, though as the words left my mouth, they trembled with hesitation and anxiety.

Andrey’s gaze sliced through me as she responded. “Clara, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity. This luck doesn’t knock for girls like us without demanding a ransom.” she said while her eyes pierced through me with all conviction.

Her words dragged me back to Oakland’s broken sidewalks, where we had grown up side by side as hunger shadowed us both in our early stage. Andrey’s ambition had always pushed her forward. As my childhood friend, secrets clung to her like perfume, intoxicating and dangerous. She is always up to something, and now, she is offering me one - a job that requires my true identity hidden.

“Clara,It’s only a cleaning job”. She continued. “It's high-paying, with no questions and this file will get you this job with the Bishops.” She said boldly.

The name hit me like a slap, ‘The Bishops’.

Their reputation carried the weight of whispered warnings, their wealth staining across the city with untouchable power. They were rumoured to be one the most dangerous families in the history of San Francisco.

My throat tightened. “Andrey, where did you even get this fake identity from?” My voice cracked nervously as I asked her.

Immediately, her face squeezed into a growl. “Shh.. don’t ask me, your mother is at the point of death. You need this job.

Just know this, the Bishops don’t forgive lies. If you’re in, you’re in, and if you’re caught…” She paused, her silence hanging like a blade slicing through my chest. “You will be eliminated”

I didn’t need her to finish as I already knew that this wasn’t just a job. It was a trap. But my mother’s health is my utmost fear. She is already fading to death, her body collapsing beneath illness and poverty. After I got a heartbreak from Dennis in a relationship that ended soar when I caught him having a threesome with strange women. He had been the one helping with my mother's bills but manipulated me with it. Since then, hospitals had slammed their doors in our faces and bills strangled us daily. In fact, our hopes had become a luxury.

I thought of my mother’s laugh. So soft and tender, even when her bones ached. I thought of her eyes, still burning with love despite the illness stealing her strength. Hardship had stolen my dreams and ripped my youth apart, and now, it dangled my mother’s life in front of me in exchange for a lie.

“Andrey”. “Are there no questions the Bishops will ask concerning this?” I enquired.

“None Clara.” Her glare hardened. “You’ll just clean, remain silent and get paid.”

“Simple!”

The knot in my stomach pulled tighter as every instinct in me screamed danger. Yet, my choice at this point was just an illusion. In fact, right now, I had no choice.

“I’ll do it,” I responded, giving in finally as my

words rasped against my throat, bitter as ash.

If I perish, I perish.