Mandy's words left Hattie completely floored.
What on earth has this kid been watching on TV?
“Mandy, Josie is my own flesh and blood, and I’ve never treated Lena poorly. How could you ever think I’d push her away just because Josie’s here?”
“And what about Lena? She’s not at home either, right? I texted her, and she hasn’t replied.”
Hattie felt a headache forming. She hadn’t yet broken the news about Lena to her family back home.
Her mom has a heart condition, and she feared the old lady wouldn’t be able to take the shock. Plus, since Josefina wanted to keep her identity a secret, Hattie had kept quiet about everything.
Facing Mandy, Hattie could only say as calmly as possible, “Mandy, I’ll explain everything later.”
Mandy snapped, “Auntie, you’ve changed, how could you do this!”
Fuming, Mandy stormed off, and Hattie quickly sat down beside Josefina, her voice soft and soothing, “Josie, don’t be upset. This is all on me. I didn’t mention it because your grandma has a heart condition, and I was afraid it’d be too much for her. And with our family being poisoned, I was scared that revealing the assassination attempt would tip off our enemies.”
Hattie was worried Josefina might misunderstand and didn’t want this to affect their relationship.
As Hattie fretted, Josefina turned around and comforted her instead, “Mom, I’m not upset. You’re right; we can’t just tell anyone about this.”
Hattie breathed a sigh of relief, “Now that things have calmed down a bit, I’ll go and tell grandma.”
Josefina grabbed Hattie’s arm, “Mom, let’s not tell grandma just yet. Dorian mentioned how much grandma loves Lena, and if she finds out Lena is gone, I worry she won’t be able to handle it.”
Hattie felt a mix of anxiety and heartbreak, “Josie, this means you’ll have to bear a lot of unfair treatment. Grandma won’t understand, and Mandy’s being unreasonable—they’ll surely blame you.”
Josefina didn’t care about that; her mom was protecting her, and she wanted to protect the ones her mom cared about.

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