The Grand Mistress

"F*ck this!" Simione cussed again.

"Yes fuck the both of you!" Someone screamed and both Simione and Gabriella looked at each other wondering who was the person who just spoke. 

"Was that Lucy?" Gabriella chilled at the thought of the singer and when she said her name, Simione realized she tried to call Lucy earlier. In panic, she looked at her phone and realized it went through. Lucy was on the other line and she heard all their conversation loud and clear!

"Oh Gosh!" Simione instinctively stood up and hurried to the door. Gabriella too somehow forgot about her recent predicament and hastilty followed Simione. Lucy heard what they had just talked about and that means she knew what Erwan did to Gabriella and right then they were both afraid the singer would go berserk and kill Erwan right away.

"Lucy please don't do anything stupid!" Simione ran down the stairs ready to go where Lucy was rigth then. She must have been at the photoshoot site as she had another shoot today and hoped that she could still catch on to her before she could do anything that they will regret.

"Lucy, calm down! Calm down!" Gabriella screamed through the background. Sh*t! How could she be this careless? Why did she have to have an episode and be caught by Simione first hand and worst, Lucy figured out about it.

Before the two girls become crazy on how to stop Lucy from getting into Erwan, they both find the singer at the door. Her phone was in her ears, one hand on the waist and eyes skimming through her two friends that almost fell at the stairs upon seeing her.

"So you both plan to keep this a secret from me?" She raised a brow at their faces. "What a good betrayal and it all happened in my own house,"

"Hehe Lucy," Simione tried to appease Lucy as she walked toward her. Immediately she helped her with her coat and tried to massage her bare shoulder. "I didn't intend to keep it a secret to you. Gabriella influenced me to do it,"

Gabriella couldn't believe what she heard. Did Simione just throw her away to save herself from Lucy's fury?

"Hehe your face!" She snapped Simione's hand, acting annoyed. She then smashed Simione's head gently to make her realize she wasn't happy that she connived with Gabriella in hiding her recent predicament. "And you my dearest guardian angel Gabriella Monteria...how dare you keep a secret from me...I don't know angels can be traitors,"

"Lucifer is. He can be counted as an angel right?" Gabriella rebutted trying to hide away her guilt. With her folly answer, Lucy's handbag hit her face in just a minute. "Ouchie!"

"Ouchie," She repeated as if it really hrrt where in truth, she felt no other pain but the one that was in her heart. "Lucy can't you see that I'm already depressed and yet you dare to hurt me even more," She sulked and dragged herself into the sofa where they could all settle and have a good talk. She was just glad Lucy didn't decide to hunt Erwan Zhao tonight.

"Gabriella, how can you be okay with this?" Lucy started nagging. She was so mad and only if she learned about this earlier before coming home, she could have thrown a bomb right through the Zhao's mansion right then.

"I am not okay Lucy, can't you see?" Gabriella pointed to her messed up face. Because she hurried through the door, she could have run the streets with that same cobweb-like hair, reddened nose and tear jerked eyes.

"What I'm saying is that you should have not stayed here and cried the whole afternoon. You should have gone home and strangled that little brat sisters of yours!" Lucy's angry voice pierced through both Simione and Gabriella's ears, almost making them deaf. "God! I could not connect how in the word can Angelisa and Evangelina be twins when they are too different from each other. You all are sophisticated and modest and only that Angelisa had some dark roots as if she was taken from a dumpsite,"

"Lucy, Angelisa is still my sister," Gabriella emphasized.

"Did she think of that when she was fucking you fiancee?" Lucy couldn't believe how Gabriella was still defending that sister of hers. Gabriella's throat instantly went dry with the truths that Lucy was slapping her. "And please tell me your family didn't tolerate this. Please tell me they had stripped Angelisa off her inheritance because of this shameless deeds,"

Gabriella sighed. She didn't want to spill it all to Lucy because she didn't want to upset or anger her more. However Lucy had her ways to know the answers to all the questions she asked so there's no point in lying to her now and she wouldn't dare do such again as she and Simione were already caught by her.

"You know my family Lucy. Our good reputation is important to them," She said, feeling utterly upset that even when Angelisa did her wrong, she wasn't punished as she was supposed to. Instead, everyone was being good with her and was taking care of her especially that she was pregnant these days.

"This could be the reason why Erwan and Angelisa are getting married," Simione but in, "To save her from disgrace,"

"Even if they wed them, there is still going to be an issue as everyone in the whole country would talk about how suddenly Angelisa married Gabriella's fiance. It's obvious they cheated on you provided that the bitch was already months pregnant," Lucy commended trying to decipher the fact on how the Monteria's can escape this scandal.

The Monterias were a family of good reputation and for many years they had continued to be such. Thus, for the sake of a good public image, they were willing to overlook the fact that Angelisa poached her sister's fiance and hurt her.

"Actually my grandmother called. She wanted me to tell the media that me and Erwan had long called off the engagement and broke up," Gabriella's tears came back again. "They want to make it look like Angelisa and Erwan didn't cheat on me,"

"Whaaaaat?" Both Simione and Lucy were surprised with her announcement. 

"Damn!"-Lucy

"F*ck!"- Simione

"You are the victim here Gabriella!" Lucy was so mad, "How can they all do this to you! What do they think of you? A pushover?"

Even Simione couldn't believe it. How can the Monteria's be this cruel to their own blood. Was it not enough that Gabriella had been cheated?

"Don't you dare agree to this Gabie!" Simione warned her but even then, she knew Gabriella could do nothing. As a Monteria, she was also bound to protect their family's name.

"I already had Simione," Gabriella confessed. "I can't bear to see my family's reputation be ruined just because I couldn't forgive Angelisa and Erwan. I can't let the media feast on us. I don't want to be the reason of our own downfall,"

"No family is perfect Gabie," Simione tried to convince her. "Acting like the perfect family in front of everyone would do you all no good,"

"That's how my family had been for many generations, Simione," Gabriella sighed. "There's just some things you couldn't change,"

"I felt like there's more to this," Lucy blabbered. She had already managed to get a bottle of liquor from the mini bar, poured on three glasses and served herself and her two friends, "Go on shot!"

"Lucy you know I don't drink," Gabriella protested. She only looked at the glass of liquor, almost tempted.

"At this point. I think you should," Lucy pressed on. She even took the glass and raised it to level Gabriella's gaze. "Don't tell me Angelisa was the only Monteria who's allowed to rebel? This is just a liquor, not as bad as climbing into the bed of your sister's fiancee,"

Gabriella was conflicted as she had never drank any form of liquor before. However, hearing Angelisa's name and her misdeeds, she was annoyed to hell. Determined, she closed her eyes, and took the glass and drank. The liquor ran hot through her throat, stinging a little that she ended up grimacing at the end.

"Ahmp! Cough. Cough. couch!"Gabriella coughed, almost wanting to vomit it.

"It's going to get better after a few glasses," Lucy the lucifer encouraged. She knew her friend was depressed and she knew very much liquor can help forget a little. She poured another glass and gave it to Gabriella with the intention of getting her drunk.

"Go on," Simione joined the fun. It was not everyday that they saw Gabriella drink and so she was thrilled.

Gabriella didn't want another but there was something about the liquor that warmed her insides. It was comforting and so she took another of it and drank it all the way.

"That's the spirit girl!"

  That night, Gabriella got drunk for the first time and although a part of her was feeling guilty she drank what she considered as a forbidden drink all these years, for a moment she felt free and alive. The tres marias then had a  little party. They danced, cried, laughed and mocked the Monteria's for being the country's best hypocrites.