Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law-Chapter 77: Girls Like Her

[Jasmine’s POV]

I turned around to see Isabella striding toward me, and my shoulders relaxed slightly. These horrible salespeople wouldn’t dare be rude to Gareth Laken’s daughter. I knew that Isabella wasn’t too fond of her high status, but this was an instance when it would come in handy.

Gavin’s eyes widened with fear when he saw Isabella, but Margaret crossed her arms and looked at Isabella’s dress with disgust.

"Sorry, Jasmine," Isabella murmured when she stood beside me. "I was in the dressing room and only just heard what this awful woman was saying to you." Then, she turned to Margaret with her hands on her hips. "Now, I think that we have a few things to discuss. Like your job, for instance. And how I don’t think you deserve to have one if you treat your customers with such blatant disrespect."

"Well, look what we have here. Another floozy who thinks she can afford to shop in a place like this." Margaret scoffed loudly. "Your baseless threats don’t scare me. I know that you’re nothing but a hooker just like your friend." The woman nodded at me. "You have no authority to do anything to me."

Shock and fury flowed through me. How could she speak to Isabella that way?

Gavin’s face went white at his employee’s rudeness, and he grabbed Margaret’s arm, glaring at her. "Do you have any idea who you’re speaking to like that? Shut up! I beg you," he hissed, his eyes glancing over at Isabella nervously.

But Margaret was on a roll and didn’t even look at Gavin. She kept her gaze on Isabella and me, her eyes narrowed with hatred.

"I’m sick of sluts like you two coming into this store and acting like you deserve to be in here," she snarled. "All you do is waste my time and steal from our—"

At this point, Gavin pushed her to the side to get her to stop talking. His face was red with embarrassment, and his breathing was shallow.

"Shut your mouth!" He growled at her and gestured to Isabella. "You’re insulting Gareth Laken’s daughter! Right to her face!"

Margaret’s eyes widened in horror. She slapped a hand over her mouth as if that could take back the vile words she had said to us.

"Oh my Goddess! I’m so sorry, Ms. Laken," she muttered, her behavior changing immediately. "I would have never said those things to you if I had recognized you. My deepest apologies."

Isabella didn’t even spare Margaret a glance. She ignored her groveling and narrowed her eyes at the man with ice in her stare.

"Is this how you handle your staff, Gavin?" she questioned in a cold tone. "You allow them to insult your customers, call them horrible names, and judge them based on the way they dress? What just happened is not acceptable." Isabella crossed her arms.

Sweat poured down Gavin’s brow, and his mouth trembled. "I’m so sorry for Margaret’s behavior, Ms. Laken. You’re absolutely correct. She shouldn’t have said anything like that to you. Margaret is new and will be punished accordingly for her actions."

"I wasn’t insulting you, Ms. Laken," Margaret hurriedly chimed in. "I would never dream of talking that way to someone as beautiful and poised as you."

I scoffed. Margaret had called Isabella a floozy not even two minutes ago.

The woman’s eyes cut to me, but then she looked back at Isabella. "I was only insulting your friend, who clearly doesn’t belong in a high-class establishment like this. I’ve dealt with enough girls like her to know the type. She’s a social climber who is taking advantage of you!"

My hands clenched in anger.

Isabella’s face hardened even more, and she leaned threateningly toward Margaret. "Jasmine is my friend, and you are not allowed to speak to her in such a way, no matter what she wears. You shouldn’t speak to anyone that way, for that matter. And for your information, the dress that she is wearing is mine. I’m the ’floozy’ who picked it out for her."

Gavin’s face grew as white as snow, and Margaret shook with fear.

She shook her head in denial. "I didn’t know the dress was yours, Ms. Laken! Or that she was your friend!"

Isabella threw her hands up in exasperation. "It doesn’t matter! You shouldn’t be speaking to anyone like that, no matter how much money they have or where they rank on the social hierarchy. It’s called being a decent person. Maybe you should try it sometime."

I gazed at Isabella in awe. My respect for her, which had already been high, rose tremendously in that moment.

Her gaze swung to Gavin. "Fire her. Immediately," she demanded.

"Get out of here," Gavin snarled at Margaret, not even hesitating to follow Isabella’s order.

She opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. As she sulked into the back room, I didn’t miss her shooting me one last glare.

"Good luck trying to find another job in this town!" Isabella called after her, then turned to Gavin again. "And to make sure that this lesson sticks with you, I’m cutting your salary by twenty percent for the next six months. I’ll be speaking to your general manager soon." Her voice was dripping with venom.

I’d never seen Isabella this angry. She hadn’t even acted this mad when we were at the prison, and she discovered that I was denied a visit with my dad. But as I gazed at her rigid posture and unwavering cold gaze, I saw the Lycan King’s power radiating from her for the first time. She was emitting a strong aura that made the entire store feel her energy. The hair on the back of my neck raised, and I noticed that the rest of the customers milling around the store had paused.

"I’m so sorry about all of this, Ms. Laken." Gavin’s hands shook with anxiety as he nervously straightened his tie. "I’ll make sure that Margaret never steps foot in this store and that nothing like this ever happens again." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Isabella’s jaw clenched, and her words came out clipped. "Make sure that it doesn’t."

Then, like a flip of a switch, Isabella took a deep breath, and her body relaxed. She was back to her usual calm self. The customers in the store began to shop and talk again. Isabella turned to me and smiled. It was like nothing had happened.

"Are you alright, Jasmine?" she asked me sympathetically.

All I could do was nod numbly. Who knew Isabella was such a badass? I hoped that she used that trick on Elliot when he made her mad.

Isabella looped her arm through mine. "Let’s do what we came here to do and shop till we drop. Please pick out whatever you’d like in the store."

"Seventy-five percent off whatever you ladies would like to purchase," Gavin added quickly, wanting to get back into Isabella’s good graces. "As an apology for today."

Isabella raised her eyebrow.

"Eighty-five percent off," he corrected.

"That’s more like it," Isabella said cheerily and swept me away from the jewelry counter. "Come on, Jasmine. I saw a few dresses that would look lovely with your skin tone."

***

After an hour of shopping, I was the owner of three designer dresses, two expensive purses, and a pair of giant black sunglasses. I didn’t want the five-million-dollar necklace despite Isabella urging me to get it. I couldn’t justify her buying me something like that, even with a massive discount.

When we left the store, Isabella’s stomach growled, and we decided to have dinner at a French restaurant next to the mall. At the car, while Beta Kevin put our bags in the trunk, Isabella stopped beside him.

"Can you please ask the guards to back off?" she muttered. "We’re just going to a restaurant next door. Can’t they just wait outside while we eat?"

Beta Kevin sighed. "I’m sorry, Isabella. They have to go in with you. We are under strict orders from your father."

"Fine," Isabella grumbled.

At the restaurant, the guards stayed a respectful distance back, so they couldn’t hear us, but they always had eyes on Isabella. Because of her status, we were seated in a private booth in the back. We were served our food quickly, and when the server left our table, something between us shifted. Isabella played with her white-clothed napkin instead of eating, and her nervous energy unsettled me.

"Are you ready to talk now?" I asked her gently and took a bite of my steak tartare as I waited for her response.

Her bright blue eyes met mine. Then, she let out a slow breath and nodded. After a moment, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Are you sleeping with Elliot?"

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel