FileNotFoundException even if it exists in Laravel

In laravel, I am making an application that uploads a file and the user can retrieve that same file.

But each time I click to upload I get this error.

FileNotFoundException in FilesystemAdapter.php line 91:
/storage/ap/payments/98AcresResort_25.pdf

my controller code is this:

$filePath = "/storage/ap/payments/".$payment->payment_image;
$file = storage::disk('public')->get($filePath);

my file is located at /public/storage/ap/payments/filename.pdf

Can anyone suggest any solution, please?

via Chebli Mohamed