Page 65 of Love Bites
A short time later, Katheryn heard a key turn in the lock and the front door opened. She turned and watched her guard usher in a young woman with a serving cart. He stood for a moment and watched the woman roll it to Katheryn before closing the door and locking it again.
On the cart was a large silver tray, loaded with covered dishes. Katheryn barely noticed. She was too busy staring at the young woman.
The maid was of medium height, with long blonde hair worn loose around her shoulders. The woman seemed to avoid Katheryn’s gaze as she began setting plates and silverware on the coffee table. Katheryn followed her movements, certain she’d recognized her from somewhere.
“Hey,” Katheryn said. “Look at me.”
The girl, startled, dropped the silverware she held and stood before Katheryn with her head bowed. Her blonde hair fell forward to cover most of her face, but Katheryn saw she was biting her lip.
“Look at me,” Katheryn repeated. When the girl looked up, Katheryn registered a moment of surprise.
Katheryn recognized her immediately. Even though she’d only seen her briefly before. The girl had a large nose—big enough to land an airplane on, Katheryn had thought at the time– and her eyes were too far apart. All in all, Katheryn had considered her rather ugly to be Hunter’s slut.
But that was before. Now, when Katheryn looked into the face of Hunter’s mistress, those same hateful thoughts didn’t flutter through her head.
“You’re Hunter’s mistress,” Katheryn stated, matter-of-factly.
The girl flinched as if she’d been slapped.
“Do you work for him?” Katheryn asked. No reply was necessary since the woman wore a uniform Katheryn recognized as one of the ones housekeeping wore at the Francis family hotels.
“Yes, ma’am,” the girl answered quietly, bowing her head again.
Katheryn crinkled her nose.
“Also, if I may apologize, ma’am.”
The comment surprised Katheryn. “First of all,” she told the maid, “stop calling mema’am. I’m not that much older than you. And second, apologize for what? For fucking my fiancé?”
The girl flinched again but nodded, sadly.
Katheryn laughed. “I should probably be thanking you.”
“Thanking me?”
“Yes.” Katheryn nodded. “Thanks to you, after catching you sleeping with another woman’s fiancé—myfiancé—my eyes opened to reality. You made me see what a selfish, narcissistic little prick Hunter truly is. Thanks to catching you two in my bed, I made the best decision of my life and went to Spain, where I met my Soul Mate.”
Katheryn threw back her head and laughed again. Then laughed harder when the other woman stared incredulously, as if Katheryn had blown a gasket or something. And maybe she had, but Katheryn didn’t care.
“So, what’s your name?” Katheryn asked her.
“Monica.”
“So, Monica, are you in love with Hunter?”
Monica flushed and didn’t reply, but Katheryn could read the answer in her eyes. Maybe, the girl was actually in love with Hunter, or maybe she was in love with the idea of his wealth. Either way, Monica was doomed. Hunter would string her along until he got sick and tired of her. Then, he’d get rid of her in the harshest way imaginable.
“Here’s a piece of advice,” Katheryn offered, leaning forward. “Next time you fall in love, make sure you don’t do it with an engaged man or a man who’s in any sort of a relationship. You don’t need to act like a slut, Monica, to get a man.”
Monica flushed a deep shade of crimson, and started to stammer a reply, but Katheryn waved a hand to dismiss her.
“Just get the fuck out of my sight.”
Katheryn sighed when the door clicked shut behind the woman then turned her attention to the food Monica had brought her. It was a simple meal, pasta and bread, a glass of cranberry juice and a bottle of champagne. Katheryn looked it over, but none of it appealed to her except the alcohol.
I just want to numb the pain.
With tears in her eyes, she reached for the bottle, uncorked it then lifted it to her lips. Getting drunk on champagne probably wasn’t the wisest decision, but with her Soul Mate dead, she had nothing to live for. There was no escaping her prison, no way to convince anyone to help her, so she’d just accept her fate. She would drown her sorrows in that bottle, drown away the hopelessness of her love for Ignacio.
