Alina moved to the doorway and found the toilet was overflowing. She looked at her stepmother. “You couldn’t have turned off the water?”
“That’s not my job. It’s yours.” She looked at her expectantly.
Alina inwardly seethed. This woman was going to let the bathroom flood and not care about the damage it would do to her apartment. Luckily the water pressure was low as a result of the old plumbing.
Alina gathered up her long dress, keeping it from getting wet. And then she moved slowly over the floor to the shutoff valve. It took a little bit of juggling to keep her gown safe and turn the tight valve. But at last the water was off. The crisis had been averted. And her dress had been saved. She could still make it to the ball.
She turned for the doorway. If her stepmother thought she was going to stay and clear up this mess, she had another thought coming. When Alina looked at the doorway to tell her stepmother just that, she found the woman had disappeared. It was quite fine by Alina. The less she saw of the woman, the happier she was.
Alina had just stepped into the hallway and turned for the living room when she bumped into someone. The next thing she knew hot liquid hit her chest. The liquid seeped down to her abdomen. Alina glanced down. A coffee stain spread from her chest down over her stomach and flowed onto her skirt.
“My dress!” Tears stung the backs of her eyes.
Alina blinked repeatedly. No way would she let these people see how upset she was over her dress. Her pretty dress. The dress that she’d searched for days to find. The dress she’d dipped into her savings to buy. The dress she’d worked so hard to make presentable. The dress she was going to wear to the ball where she’d hoped to dance with Graham.
Juniper sneered at her. “Look what you did. You spilled my drink.”
“You’re a jerk!” The emotionally charged words clogged in her throat. Alina pushed past her. If she didn’t get out of that apartment immediately, she would lose control of her emotions. And then her stepmother and stepsisters would get what they wanted, to see Alina upset. She simply wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. They’d already cost her enough emotional harm.
In the background, she heard Dorian calling out to her, insisting that Alina finish her work. But Alina kept her shoulders straight and her head held high as she walked through the doorway and turned toward the stairs. With all of the anger bubbling in her veins, she had plenty of energy to burn off.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IT WAS RUINED.
Alina didn’t need a mirror to know the extent of the damage to her dress. She also didn’t need an admission from her stepmother or stepsister to know that they’d done all of this intentionally. They just couldn’t stand for her to have a little bit of happiness. They had to ruin it.
This evening had meant so much to her. Someone like her didn’t get invited to big, splashy parties. She was the person in the background seeing to all of the details and helping to clean up when it was over. But at last she wasn’t going to be ugly, chubby Alina carrying around her toolbox. But in a blink, the opportunity slipped through her fingers.
She’d just reached her floor and yanked open the door when she ran into Merryweather. At first, he smiled at her but then his gaze moved to her dress. His eyes widened.
“Alina, what happened?”
“My stepmother and stepsisters.”
“But the ball. It’s time to go. I came up to escort you. The cars are waiting.”
The prickling of tears started again. She glanced away from his concerned gaze and continued walking toward her apartment. “I’m not going.”
“What? But you have to. You planned this whole night. Without you, none of us would get to go.”
She knew Merryweather was sweet, but right now she just wanted to be alone in her misery. “You’ll have to go without me. I...” Her voice crackled with emotion. She glanced down at her stained white cloth heels. A tear splashed onto her cheek. She swiped it away. “Please, just go without me.”
Merryweather quietly followed her back to her apartment. All the while he muttered, “This isn’t right. This just isn’t right.”
At her door, Alina paused and turned to him. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. You should go. Enjoy yourself.”
A determined look came over him. “Not without you.”
“But I can’t go like this.”
“You aren’t the only one with contacts. Go grab your stuff while I make a couple of phone calls.”
She’d never seen this determined side of Merryweather. She had no idea what had come over him. There was no way he was going to fix this. She glanced down at the brown stain on her dress. It was completely ruined.
But she wasn’t sure she should argue with him. This was the most animated she’d ever seen the man. Maybe it would be good to indulge him just a little. She would ride with him to the Diamond Building so he didn’t have to go alone. But she wasn’t getting out of the car—not like this. And then she’d come a
nd wallow in a heaping of self-pity.