The Billionaire Is a Jerk

Chapter 5 You Lost What?!

Vanessa's POV:

My days started pretty early with my brother, Victor, waking me from my sleep. "Vanessa, aren't you going to work today?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern. I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake off the remnants of sleep. He was wearing an apron and I could perceive burnt food in the air. Did he cook? I asked myself and wondered why he went to the kitchen again as I remembered, he was an awful cook.

Seeing his stern look, I realized that he asked a question earlier. "Work? I lost-" My tongue slipped, almost revealing my secret. Panic surged through me, and I quickly recovered, "I mean, I'm on off."

Victor raised an eyebrow, giving me a suspicious look. "You lost what?"

"N-nothing," I stammered, my heart racing. "I mean, I didn't say lost. I said I'm on off." I corrected.

He stared at me for a moment longer before letting out a sigh. "You're getting so many days off recently. Did you do something wrong?"

I swallowed hard, my mind racing to come up with a plausible explanation. "Why would I?" I replied, trying to sound casual.

Victor crossed his arms, giving me a scrutinizing look. "It's unlike you to not go to any of your jobs in the last few days. How did you manage to align your days off together?"

My heart sank. The bad news is that I had lost my second job at the nightclub after my stint at Taylor's, and finding new employment had been a string of failures.

I managed to avoid further questioning and retreated to my bed and covering myself with the blanket with my eyes distant, feeling a mix of relief and guilt. I had to be more careful if I wanted to keep my little secret from Victor.

"What are you thinking, Vanessa? You didn't answer my question." Victor said.

"Question? What question?" I mumbled.

"I said how'd you manage to align your days off together?"

"I've been working extra shifts, you know, to accumulate off days. Just trying to rest for a bit," I replied, my voice tinged with a hint of frustration.

Victor's suspicion seemed to lessen, and he shrugged. "Well, okay. Just making sure everything's okay."

"Go outside Victor, please don't disturb me," I said, covering my whole form with the blanket this time and preparing to go back to sleep as he left the room which gave me relief for a while until his sharp knock graced the door, and informed me that my mother wanted to see me.

I groaned internally. I wasn't in the mood to deal with anything right now. I am stuck in my head thinking of possible options I could do to get money. We needed it for survival.

"Tell her I'll come to see her later," I replied, hoping to buy myself more time to sort through my thoughts and emotions.

"It's important, Vanessa. She wants to talk to you," Victor insisted.

With a resigned sigh, I got out of bed and made my way to my mother's room. She looked frail, lying in bed with a tired smile on her face. "Come closer, my baby," she beckoned the moment she noticed my presence.

I approached her bed, my heart heavy with sadness and my limbs weighed down by helplessness "I'm sorry for putting so much pressure on you over the last few years, Vanessa." She started,
"I must have forgotten how much it weighed down on you. It's all my fault, everything."

I exchanged a confused glance with Victor, who stood by the door, equally perplexed. "W-what are you talking about, Mom?" I asked, trying to find a meaning to her every expression.