MI MILAGRO, JJ maybank

Chapter 1 - There she goes

After what felt like the longest drive from the airport, she finally reached the house, no, sorry, mansion she would be spending her summer in.
Sorry! I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain from the beginning.

The last 3 years were the worst ones Maria had ever lived. The sudden, messy divorce of her parents really blew her world out of proportion. One day her parent's relationship and her daily routine was as it had always been, and then the next day she was facing a judge, having to decide whether she wanted to have a shared custody or not, seeing that love her parents once shared turn into bitter, pure hatred.

And then, with little warning, a new woman came into her father's life. Javier Lopez, one of Spain's most successful lawyers, went to North Carolina to help a close colleague on a case. It was at a party organized by the law firm that he met Elisabeth. A woman who knew what she wanted, and she wanted Javier. With her claws (on which she had painted a French manicure worth more than a kidney) she trapped him, seduced him into a world of exclusive clubs, unlimited golf outings, and contacts he had never dreamed of having.

A month after they started dating they decided to get married, and two months later Maria was packing her suitcase, as it had been decided (without her consent might I add) that she would spend her vacation at her new, wicked stepmother's house, in a place called Outer Banks.
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Maria hesitantly came out of the car that brought her and her father from the airport. She could not believe what was in front of him. Her father was not kidding when he said that Elisabeth had money, a lot of money.

She turned her head, stretching out her neck as if she were a lizard.
"Maria, ¿Qué estás haciendo? (Maria, what are you doing?)" Javier looked at his little "vermin" with bewilderment.
"Nah, nada estoy intentando ver si hay un jorobado en la torre de la casa (nothing I'm trying to see if there's a hunchback in the tower of the house)" .

Elizabeth may have converted and bewitched her father, but Maria knew that behind those stone facades, behind the exotic garden that surrounded said "palace", there was a lot of falsehood and many expectations that she knew she was not going to fulfill, nor was she interested in to be honest. This Meredith Blake that had come into her life did not give her good vibes at all.

"No empieces (Don't start)" he warned her.
"No estoy empezando nada (I'm not starting anything)"
"Por favor, tengamos la fiesta en paz. Me prometiste que le darías a Meredith una oportunidad (Please, let's have the party in peace. You promised me you'd give Meredith a chance)"
Mary opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, as if she had been listening to them, Meredith appeared from the porch. With the biggest (and fakest) smile possible, she approached her new tenants

And there she was, the devil personified, explaining to them which room was for whom, which bathrooms they could use and which ones were for guests, where the kitchen was but not where the cooking utensils were since (lest it be otherwise) they had personal chef, the living room, the father's office....

"And for the end of this tour, I will introduce you to the personal staff". Maria could not contain her laughter at the last comment, but when she saw that Elisabeth was not laughing, and in fact was looking at her with surprise, she realized that she was not joking. It wasn't that she had a wicked sense of humor, but that she had the money of Scrooge McDuck.

"Are you telling me you have your own staff and everything? Daaammnn that's very Emily Gilmore of you". Meredith laughed, in the humblest way she could muster, and turning to her father whispered "What a funny little girl."
Maria could not deduce if she said it with irony, with the intention of making fun of her, if it was her way of being kind... but what she did know was that she did not like the "little girl" comment at all.

"Well this is the maid, Berta, the cook, Nate, the butler, Sebastian, and our gardener and errand boy, JJ." Well, you can't even imagine the things that went through Maria's head (and I won't say them because they are somewhat inappropriate) to see such a tremendous Greek god, statue of Michelangelo, angel fallen from heaven. She put on her best smile and said "Hi, I'm Maria".

But here Prince Charming collapsed all the fantasies she had built up in the 10 seconds she had been next to him, because he didn't even flinch to answer. He just stared at the floor like a shy little child when he is introduced to an adult.

"Bueno, un hombre de pocas palabras supongo (Well, a man of few words I guess)" she whispered to herself, and, turning to her father said "If the sightseeing is over I'd like to take a walk around, see the town and all that." (this was a lie, she just wanted to get out of there ASAP)

Elisabeth smiled wickedly, as if she knew something no one else knew, and slightly shook her head. "You see dear, we already have a dinner engagement at the club and it is of the utmost importance that we all show up together, as a family." You've got to be kidding, Maria thought. Come on, she wasn't showing up at the club for dinner surrounded by some privileged daddy's little boys, sitting around while one of them explained to her how many horses his car had.

"As much as I would love to be hanging out with Riot club members, I already had plans. I'm sorry to say I won't be joining you this time." Just as she was heading for the door to escape the ambush, she felt slender, bony fingers on her arm, gripping her so tightly that she was prevented from proceeding.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear, we're going to dinner at the club and that's the end of the discussion."
The nerve of this woman! She just showed up and suddenly she's, what, god? Maria turned to her father with an amused face, expecting a look of complicity from her father but instead she was assaulted by a face she hadn't seen in a long time, the face that all dads master, used when they don't want to get into any arguments, the "Listen to your mother" face.