Bullied Cinderella - Hollie Hutchins Page 0,43
claimed that hiring the lawyers to confirm the property lines was my idea. I would never admit that Leonardo Valencia had been right. I felt so bad for the unexpected lawyer’s fees that I went to Dario in secrecy and asked him to pay me back the money I had earned during my time working for them. I wouldn’t let my errors cost us any of the money we had inherited. I was determined to ensure that our fortune stayed intact.
Though I knew it would have brought Leo great joy to see us torn back down to what we came from all because of my vendetta against them. I may have been too drunk and upset to formulate much of a defense with him in his truck the last time we saw each other, but I was not as hopeless as he would like to think.
The sun was shining bright on that day as we prepared for Elaina’s visit. She tried to come at least once a week, and each time we made sure it was a big affair. When we were all together, it was not just a celebration of our family, but a way of us basking in just how far we had come. I put on one of my best dresses and made my way into the kitchen to see if Jada needed any help.
“You wouldn’t know what to do even if I did need your help,” she teased.
“I don’t know why you all pretend that I’m so lost in the kitchen. I did just as much as you before we came here.”
“That was before you had these lands to explore and fences to build and Valencia cousins to destroy,” she laughed. “Now you’ve forgotten everything.”
Mama sat in the corner knitting, but I could see the lines on her face deepen. She was not amused by anything that reminded her of how unfit for marriage I was.
Once again, I was saved by the door opening. I whisked away to greet Elaina and show her in. Even she could see how particularly beautiful everything looked that day with the fresh air, luscious plants and flowers, and beams of sunlight shining across everything.
“And you!” she marveled affectionately. “You’re a vision!”
I was wearing a spring green dress that complimented my skin tone and eyes, and I had braided flowers from the field into my long dark hair. I couldn’t disagree with her or pretend to be modest. I did look like a vision, but then again, I thought both of my sisters did too.
I took my niece from Elaina’s arms and fixed the blanket wrapped around her, but of course, Mama immediately held out her arms and demanded to take her from me. Her favorite thing in the world was to listen to us chatter while she held her grandbaby and rocked her to sleep or counted all of her fingers and toes.
Elaina turned to me with a mischievous grin. “I’ve brought gifts. Just some perfumes and other things. You and Jada should show me to your bedroom so I can give them to you.”
It was her code for giving us a chance to escape and gossip out of our mother’s earshot. Jada quickly finished what she was working on in the kitchen and we all rushed off, giggling. Once we were inside my room, Elaina did always have a bundle of goods for us wrapped up in silk scarves. She would lay them out on the bed for us to look through so we wouldn’t be entirely lying. But the real reason for us gathering off had nothing to do with her gifts.
“Tell me everything,” Elaina demanded as she laid out across the bed next to the loot. “How is your revenge plot coming along?”
“Well enough,” I lied. “Truthfully, I’ve been a little distracted from it lately. The lawyers are still mitigating over the property lines for the fence, and I’ve been…”
Jada took her chance to finish my sentence. “...frolicking through the fields daydreaming about the Valencia cousins.”
“Hardly,” I scoffed.
But Elaina wasn’t so convinced. “Not even one of them has caught your fancy?”
“Of course not! What’s wrong with you two? I told you how they treated me!”
She was still unmoved. “Maybe it’s not just one of them,” she suggested. “But two of them. Or maybe all three.”
Jada and I both glared at her. It’d be a strange thing to request if we didn’t have our suspicions that she was conquering both of the Perez brothers on a nightly basis.