The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella)

After a little while, James threw on his jacket and came downstairs, heading straight for Mirabella. "Ready to roll?" he asked.

Mirabella shot him a sideways glance, "I can get to school by myself, you know."

But James just took her hand naturally, their fingers interlocking snugly. "I've got some business at the school too. It's on the way," he said.noveldrama

Mirabella raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it.

James gave her hand a gentle squeeze, leaving no room for argument, and started leading her out the door. "I'm meeting someone at the Physics Department," he added, finally offering an explanation.

Hearing this, Mirabella remembered the project at the Science and Technology Department and decided to drop the subject.

Half an hour later, they pulled up to the school. James didn't bother parking outside; he drove right in and dropped Mirabella off at the Biology Department before heading off to the Physics Department himself.

Mirabella made her way straight to her classroom.

Lisa had been looking much better over the past couple of days. When she saw Mirabella walk in, she asked with concern, "You rushed out this morning, everything okay?"

"Yeah, all good," Mirabella replied with a smile.

Lisa nodded, relieved. "That's great. I almost called to check on you, but I didn't want to bug you."

Lisa muttered a few more words before diving back into her books. But as her gaze wandered over Mirabella's neck, she froze, blinking rapidly as if she'd just stumbled upon something unbelievable. "Mira, your neck..."

She gestured at Mirabella's neck.

"Hmm?" Mirabella turned to Lisa, reaching up to touch her neck. "What is it?"

Lisa covered her face, pulling out her phone and turning on the camera. She handed it to Mirabella, "Take a look."

Mirabella glanced at the screen, noticing the mark on her neck. Her cheeks twitched slightly before she casually handed the phone back to Lisa. "Oh, I adopted a cat," she said nonchalantly, pulling her collar up a bit.

Lisa's lips twitched in disbelief. Could a cat really do that? She felt like she was being fed a tale as unlikely as being handed a bag of cat treats.

Mirabella cleared her throat as her phone buzzed in her pocket. Without looking back at Lisa, she pulled it out.

It was a voice message from Nikolai, who hadn't been in touch for a while. Nearly sixty seconds long, it played through her earphones as she listened intently.

Once she finished listening, the earlier apology from Nikolai finally made sense.

**

Meanwhile, just after sending the voice message, Nikolai was startled when Dane, who had been standing outside, suddenly barged into the room.

The door banged loudly against the wall, making Nikolai jump. He looked up at his eldest son, frowning, "Ever heard of knocking?"

Dane eyed his father's pocket and extended his hand, "Dad, I heard what you said. Hand over the phone."

Nikolai stayed seated, "I've told you

before, even if the Reeves family falls apart, we won't stoop to underhanded tactics. If you're hoping to use me to get the formula from Mirabella, forget it."

In just two days, Nikolai seemed to have aged years, burdened by a struggle

between his conscience and guilt.

"Dad, why are you so stubborn? I'm your son. Are you trying to drive me crazy?" Dane asked, rubbing his face in frustration. He couldn't wrap his head around why a few simple formulas were causing such a fuss.