Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law-Chapter 76: Status Symbol

[Jasmine’s POV]

"I was only looking at it, I wasn’t going to touch it," I protested.

The woman scoffed dismissively. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe-looking bun, and her name tag read Margaret. When her eyes met mine, my skin crawled.

"Why are you even in this store?" Her beady eyes took in my white dress, and she curled her lip in disgust. "You can’t even afford to breathe the air in here, let alone purchase a necklace that costs five million dollars."

My mouth dropped open. How could one piece of jewelry cost that much? Sure, it was beautiful, but who would spend that much on a necklace?

And how dare this woman judge me? She didn’t know the first thing about me.

My jaw clenched, and I narrowed my eyes at the rude saleswoman. "I’m a customer here. You can’t talk to me that way."

Margaret crossed her arms and gestured to my short dress.

"I don’t serve hookers. You need to leave."

She gave my exposed thigh a withering look like it had insulted her in some way.

I froze at her disrespect. How dare she? ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com

My wolf howled in rage inside my mind, and my hands started to shake in anger. I had to focus to calm my wolf down so I wouldn’t shift in an enclosed space. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt someone, but this woman was really pissing me off.

But Margaret wasn’t done with her disrespectful comments. She took a breath, and it seemed like she was just getting started.

"Do your knees hurt?" she asked, poison dripping from her sweet tone.

Her question threw me for a moment, and I blinked a few times before I could respond.

"Why would you ask me something like that?" I retorted.

"I want to know if your knees hurt from being on the ground and servicing men," Margaret smirked.

Bile threatened to climb up my throat, and I widened my eyes at her insinuation. Did this woman just insinuate that I was sucking cock just from a look? Why was she being so rude to me?

Her offensive comments were so out of line that they left me speechless.

"If you did actually touch that necklace with your whore hands, I would have made you pay for it," Margaret added with a decisive nod. "That would teach you a lesson. Think of how many men you would need to blow to afford something like this. Honestly, I don’t think there are enough guys in the world for you to service in order to pay for this necklace."

She pointed toward the door. Her nails were painted a bold red color. "Get out of here. And don’t let me catch you snooping around again. I know women like you - you’re just looking to steal something so you can stop spreading your legs for money. But you won’t be stealing from this store, missy."

My blood boiled with rage, and I opened my mouth to reply, but then another employee came over to Margaret. He was wearing a crisp black suit, and his name tag read Gavin.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked, looking at Margaret’s narrowed eyes and my tense posture.

The energy between us was filled with hostility.

"This prostitute almost just ruined the most expensive necklace we have in the store." Margaret gestured to the closed jewelry box. "She was going to pick it up with her grubby little hands and put it in her cheap purse because she could never afford something like this on her own."

"I was not!" I protested.

But Gavin’s gaze slid down my body, and a slight frown crossed his face. "I’m sorry, ma’am. But if you can’t afford to purchase anything here, you do need to leave. Our store only caters to individuals with high status, and you don’t seem to fit that standard."

What the hell?

I was wearing Gareth Laken’s daughter’s dress. How could I not fit the standard? Was my family’s lack of status stamped on my face?

"I can’t have lower-ranked citizens loitering around my store and scaring away my prestigious clientele," Gavin continued. "If you can’t afford to buy anything, then you need to leave."

I looked at the man in disbelief. How could they be so obsessed with status, when they themselves weren’t rich or noble to begin with? They were simply salaried employees, and I was a customer. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I wasn’t making a scene or causing trouble. This awful treatment was unfair.

It was the other side of the coin to what Isabella had said in the car earlier. She wanted to be treated like just any other girl, but was she aware that this was how some of us were treated? I hadn’t asked to be born low status, just like she hadn’t asked to be Lycan royalty.

Margaret let out a loud cackle. "Oh, that’s a good one, Gavin. There’s no way this girl can afford anything here. She couldn’t even purchase one of our shopping bags. I’ve been watching her since she walked in. You should have seen the way her mouth was hanging open, looking at all of our merchandise. You would think she’s never been in a store before." She paused, sizing me up and down. "Actually, who knows if this country bumpkin has actually ever been in a store? Did you get lost on the way to the farm, girl?"

I tried not to allow her awful words to get to me, but a lump developed in my throat. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that I wouldn’t cry in front of this horrible woman. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

Margaret took out a black walkie-talkie and turned to Gavin. "I’m going to call security to throw her out of here. She’s going to scare away our other customers or even steal from us if we don’t get her out of here, pronto."

But before she could call for backup, a familiar voice rang out from behind me.

"There’s no need to call security. Why don’t we talk things through like adults?"

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