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If someone didn’t know about those issues, they wouldn’t notice them, right? She turned in front of the mirror and assured herself the dress would do just fine. After all, it wasn’t like she would stand out in a crowd.
As her anxiety rose, so did her insecurities. Words from the past came roaring back in her mind. “Al, you have to accept that you just aren’t pretty.” “Al, no one will notice you.”
She pushed away the negative thoughts. It wasn’t like she was going with the intent of impressing anyone—well, maybe just one person. What would Graham think of her appearance?
She glanced at the time. There was no time for a debate. If she didn’t hurry, she was going to be late. And she didn’t want to miss a moment of Graham’s big night. She hoped it all worked out for him. She knew how much he was counting on it.
Her makeup consisted of the usual powder and mascara. But she couldn’t decide about her hair. Should she wear it up? Or down? As she lifted her hair and turned to the side, her insides shivered with nerves. Maybe down would work—
Buzz-buzz.
That was probably someone with last-minute questions about the evening’s events. As she continued to ponder her hair dilemma, she pressed the phone to her ear.
Before she
could utter a word, she heard, “Alina, you have to come quick.”
The sound of her stepmother’s voice had Alina releasing her hair. “Dorian, is that you?”
“Of course it is. Now hurry.” And with that the line went dead.
Alina frowned as she stared at the phone. What could be such an emergency? And it didn’t escape her notice that this happened the night of the ball. Could her stepmother be low enough to want to ruin it for her? Surely nobody could be that mean.
She glanced back in the mirror at her reflection. There was no time to debate. She opted to put her long hair up in a neat and formal French twist. Once it was secure with an army of bobby pins, she gave it a light mist of hair spray.
And then Alina, knowing Graham was occupied on this big night, went to investigate what was bothering her stepmother. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long. Graham was sending cars to pick up the Stirling residents and she didn’t want to miss her ride.
Knock-knock.
The door immediately flung open. Her stepmother stood there in a sparkly navy-blue dress, but it was the frown on her face that drew Alina’s attention. Her stepmother made a point of taking in Alina’s dress.
“Al, what are you wearing?”
Alina struggled not to roll her eyes. “You know perfectly well that everyone in the building was invited to the ball tonight.”
“But not you.”
“Of course I was included. I helped plan it.”
Her stepmother’s face creased with deep frown lines. “But you have a building to manage.”
“And it will be fine for one evening. Now if that’s all you wanted, I have to go finish getting ready.” Alina went to turn away.
“Not so fast,” Dorian said. “You have a mess to clean up.”
Dread churned in Alina’s empty stomach. She would not let her stepmother ruin this evening for her. She’d been looking forward to it since they’d come up with the idea. And Graham had made her promise him a dance.
“What mess?” Alina’s insides knotted up.
“Mother.” Juniper, Alina’s oldest stepsister, rushed into the room. She wore a hot-pink dress that was short on the hemline and long in the plunging neckline. “You have to do something. I can’t get ready in the bathroom.”
“Your stepsister was just about to fix the problem. Go finish getting ready in your room.” Then Dorian turned back to Alina. “You, come with me.”
Alina didn’t want to go anywhere with the woman. She knew when Dorian felt crossed or believed Alina was getting away with something, there was a price to be paid. What did she have in store for Alina this time?
As Alina entered the living room, she noticed her youngest stepsister, Gretel, sitting on the couch in a fluorescent green dress. Her red curls were pull up with a big green bow. She glanced at Alina and scowled.
“It’s in here.” Dorian pointed into the bathroom.
