Chapter 66

Lucy was surprised. She hadn't expected such underhanded tactics. The Stones' rise to a third-tier family clearly hadn't been easy; such schemes likely played a significant role. For example, Jada had devised the plan to deal with Severin.

Soon, everything was in place.

After the wealthy woman left, Severin and his family breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed their meal.

"May I have the bill, please?" Severin asked the waitress as they finished.

The waitress smiled, approached, and presented the bill. Severin frowned. "There must be a mistake."

The waitress smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir, but this is the correct total." Her manager had instructed her to present this bill.

Severin scoffed, throwing the bill onto the table. "Guess we'll dine and dash, then. I'm not paying this!"

Judith was shocked. "Severin! Didn't you say you had enough money?" She frowned, puzzled by his reaction.

Diane was displeased. "You shouldn't have brought us here if you couldn't afford it. We could have chosen a more affordable restaurant. There's no shame in that! But dine and dashing? I've never done that, and you'll make us all look bad!"

"I won't pay, honey. Look at the price! It's a scam!" Severin insisted.

Diane examined the bill, her expression falling. "The dishes we ordered should total just over sixteen thousand. Why does this say one hundred and sixty thousand? Did they add extra zeros?"

"One hundred and sixty thousand?" Judith gasped, realizing she'd misjudged her son. She examined the bill, nearly suffering a heart attack. "Young lady, there must be a mistake! It's clearly an error!" She showed the bill to the waitress.

The waitress didn't bother to examine it. She called to a man nearby, "Sir, these guests are trying to leave without paying!"

Severin smiled at his mother. "Please sit down, Mom. There's no point. This restaurant is run by scammers!"

The extraneous text advertising a website has been removed. The passage has been improved for grammar, punctuation, and flow. Word choices have been refined for clarity and conciseness.