Bullied Cinderella - Hollie Hutchins Page 0,21

fed up. I could see him charging towards us through the corner of my eye. It seemed he had one too many drinks, and I could smell the liquor on his breath from two feet away. The other gentleman excused himself, leaving me and Leo alone as he swayed and slurred in front of me.

“Care to dance?” he asked, even though that portion of the evening was obviously over.

“Even if people were still dancing, I think you’d fall over and probably drag me down with you.” I eyed him up and down as he wobbled on his feet.

He let out a snarky laugh. “I’m impressed with you, Lucia Chavez.”

“Is that so?” I raised a brow, bracing myself for what he might say next. His tone insinuated he wasn’t impressed at all.

“Oh yes,” he nodded and hiccuped. “I’m impressed by how underneath that expensive dress and all that fancy makeup, you are still just as ugly, irrelevant, and low-class as you have always been!”

He seemed quite pleased with himself and the little blow, but his drunkenness made the delivery of it a lot less impactful. I could have slapped him across the face, but I imagined my gossip about him to all of his rich friends was enough damage for the evening. The rest, he’d take care of himself by being three sheets to the wind. I smiled back at him, looking completely unphased, and spun around on my heels to prance away, still holding my head high.

7

Leonardo

I slowly wake up to what quickly becomes the most blistering hangover I had experienced to date. My stomach churned, my head was pounding, my eye sockets ached...the total package. I very carefully flung the covers off and moved my legs to the edge of the bed. I let out a low roaring grumble of agony and shuffled across my room to throw on a robe.

The only thing motivating me was the smell of eggs and bacon wafting from the kitchen. I knew my mother and cousins would be gathered around the table to eat, and while I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone, I knew I needed food. And a few gallons of water.

As I splashed some water on my face, it all started coming back to me. The monthly landowner’s party the night before. Lucia Chavez. That dress she wore. How snide she was. The way she was obviously talking trash about us to everyone who gave her the chance. Oh...and then the things I said. I was proud of that, right? That I got in some jab back at her at least? But I could barely remember her response, and that made the thrill of it less satisfying.

How the hell did she turn things around for herself so fast anyway? To go from one of our servants to owning land right next to us in such a short amount of time was no small feat. She hadn’t married and wasn’t promised to anyone. The Perez brothers may have done well for themselves, but it was hard to believe they’d float both of Elaina’s sisters and their mother so extravagantly. A guest house in the back of the property, maybe. But a whole damn estate and hacienda? It was unheard of.

Dario and Jorge were wondering the same things as I joined them around the breakfast table. I barely listened to their obnoxious chatter as I piled my plate high with biscuits, eggs, gravy, bacon, sausage...anything and everything to soak up the alcohol still sloshing around in my gut. I didn’t know how they had made it through the evening without drowning themselves in booze, but they were obviously faring better than I was. And of course, our mother looked smug and fresh as ever, having not bothered to attend the party at all. Or if she did, she popped by for a quick hello just for appearances, and then left.

“She was hardly recognizable,” Dario marveled.

Mother chimed back over her morning tea. “Who’s that dear?”

“Lucia Chavez. Grandfather’s old caregiver.”

“Oh, do we really have to keep talking about that dreadful girl? She stole from us like most employees are want to do, and you three threw her out. Rightly so.”

We shot each other glances around the table. We had managed to keep Don German’s peanut incident a secret from her. If she knew, she’d never leave him again, and we thrived on those breaks from her presence. Regardless, it seemed if she had made an appearance the night before, she missed Lucia’s