Chapter 49

Judy’s POV

“Ugh, you brought your slimy friend with you? This isn’t a thrift store,” the woman hissed. “I’m calling secur—” Before she could finish her sentence, the manager grabbed her arm and yanked her away from us. She nearly fell to the ground from the force.

Her startled eyes darted around the room until they landed on her boss.

“S… sir?” She stammered, trying to recover herself.

“Are you out of your mind?” He growled. “Do you have any idea who that is?”

Irene stepped beside me; her arms folded across her chest and her eyes narrowed at the two of them. She did not look pleased, and I wanted to take a step away from her, unable to take the heat of her aura any longer, but I remained rooted to the ground.

“This is Irene Landry,” he said under his breath, forcing a smile at Irene.

The woman’s eyes grew large at the mention of Irene’s name. She quickly turned to face Irene, bowing her head.

“Miss Landry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t recognize you. It’s such an honor to meet you,” she said, her tone holding a hint of nervousness.

Irene didn’t look amused.

Ignoring the woman, she turned to the manager.

“Is this how you train your staff, Rodrigo?” She asked coldly. “Do you really think this will blow over well with my father?”

The manager, Rodrigo, swallowed the lump in his throat; his face had gone pale, and he looked utterly defeated.

“Of course not,” he said, giving a nervous chuckle. “Shelly had been unwell lately and is lacking judgment. I assure you; it won’t happen again.”

“It wasn’t really you that I was aiming to disrespect,” the woman, Shelly, said, her eyes darting to me. “It was this woman. She doesn’t belong here—”

“This woman happens to be a dear friend of mine,” Irene shot back, making Shelly gasp dramatically. She staggered backward her eyes wide and filled with alarm. “Any disrespect towards her is disrespect towards me as well.”

“I… I had no idea—”

“And that makes it right?” Irene all but shouted. I had never seen this side of her before; she was usually so calm and collected but at this very moment she was acting like an entitled heiress.

Not that these people didn’t deserve it; they were terrible to me. I was grateful that Irene was standing up for me, but I also felt a little weird standing by her side while she shined so brightly in this boutique.

“N… no, of course not,” Shelly said, lowering her gaze, her body trembling.

Irene turned to the manager, her face lacking emotions.

“If you don’t do something about this, I’ll call my father, and he will. You won’t like what’ll happen if I have to call my father,” she told him in a cold and calculating tone.

He swallowed again; his Adam’s apple moving slightly.

He turned to Shelly and his face was stone cold as he glared down at her.

“P…please,” Shelly nearly whaled. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I can change…” she pleaded.

“It’s too late, Shelly. You’ve been disrespectful enough and this time, it was towards the wrong people. You must learn from your mistakes. I cannot keep employing you any longer. Finish with their transactions and make sure they get everything they need. After you finish bagging their items, you can grab your things and leave.”

“What?!” She gasped.

“I believe he just fired you,” Irene said innocently with a fake smile. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Shelly looked shocked but she knew better than to argue because it would only make things worse for her. She looked at me and I could see the fury in her eyes; it made me uneasy, and I was finally able to take a step away.

Irene turned to me and her face softened; she looked like her old self again.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

I blinked a few times, confused by the sudden change.

“I think so,” I told her. “But can we go?”

She frowned.

“Not until we shopped until our hearts contents,” she said, grabbing my arm. “Let’s keep them busy.”

I didn’t want to stay in this place, but I didn’t argue. An hour later, we were leaving with arms of bags. Thankfully, Leroy was still out front, so we were able to drop off our shopping bags with him while we continued to shop. By the time we finished, I was exhausted and starving.

“Can you two maybe go somewhere else for an hour while we eat?” I heard Irene asking her guards.

They both looked at one another.

“We have orders to stay with you—” One of them tried to say.

“I know the orders,” she said bitterly. “But we can manage dinner without an audience. Please… I just need some space, and I’d like to eat in peace.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” The other one asked.

“I don’t care. Stay here with Leroy,” she suggested. “That way you’ll be in range if anything happens.”

They looked uncertain, but they soon relented with a head nod.

“Okay, but the first sign of danger and we are getting you out of there,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.

Irene smiled sweetly and turned on her heel, motioning for me to follow. We went into a gorgeous small restaurant, and we were greeted by the hostess immediately. She knew Irene and greeted her by name, barely sparing me a glance.

Irene ordered us each a glass of white wine and glasses of lemon water while we looked over the menu. I finally settled on a BLT sandwich with a side of coleslaw and Irene ordered a Greek salad. Once we put our orders in, we remained silent for a long while, sipping on our glasses of wine and staring at our empty plates.

Irene looked uneasy and I knew there was something on her mind. She wanted to talk to me during dinner and I guessed it was difficult for her to bring up. I sighed and cleared my throat, bringing her attention to me.

“You said you wanted to talk about something,” I reminded her.

She nodded and bit her lower lip.

“It’s about Ethan,” she said in a whisper. She looked around to make sure no one was listening to our conversation.

My heart felt heavy in my chest; I had a feeling it was going to be about Ethan. But I was hoping it wouldn’t be.

I sat back in my seat and watched her warily.

“Go on,” I said hesitantly.

“I don’t know how to ask this and I’m sorry if I’m coming off a bit weird…” she began to say quickly. “But is there something going on between you two?”

I raised my brows.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you sleeping with him?” She blurted.

I gasped at her erupt question and nearly shot to my feet. But I kept my composure and just stared at her, dumbfounded. Why would she think we were sleeping together? Had I done something to make her think this?

When I didn’t respond right away, Irene winced.

“I’m sorry, but I need to know if you are sleeping with my fiancé, Judy…”

“Of course, I’m not,” I told her in a harsh whisper. “Why would you think that?”

She bit her lip and chewed on it for a moment.

“Because you both act strangely around one another,” she answered. “You get weird and Ethan… well Ethan can’t take his eyes off you.”

I felt heat rushing to my cheeks. She truly was observant.

“I’m not sleeping with him,” I assured her. “I barely even know him. We are from the same pack, so I knew him before you introduced us. But I would never sleep with him knowing he’s in a relationship with someone else,” I assured her.

She lifted her gaze to meet mine; she stared at me for a long while as if she was trying to figure out if I was being truthful or not.

“Really?” She finally asked.

“Yes,” I told her. “Besides, your father would kill me if I overstepped.”

She smirked and then shrugged.

“He is very protective,” she admitted. “I just don’t get where Ethan’s head has been at lately. He’s hard to read.”

“From what I remember, he’s always been like that,” I told her. “I wouldn’t take it to heart though, Irene. He loves you and wants to be with you. He chose you.”

She seemed to have relaxed because she finally smiled, a genuine smile, and then she nodded.

The waitress gave us our meals and we talked mindlessly as we ate. I felt a bit hollow since the conversation though; I didn’t like lying to her about my history with Ethan and the fact that Ethan loves her. I knew he was only using her and if she found out about that, it would destroy her.

Once dinner concluded, Irene grabbed my arm before I could go out the front door.

“Let’s go out the back,” she whispered, a devilish and humored look in her eyes.

“What?” I asked her, raising my eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because the guards are out front and I just want a little longer without them,” she said, glancing out the front door. “Let’s take a walk.”

I didn’t argue with her; I followed her out the back door and we walked through the dirty alley until we reached the street. I could see Leroy's car and the guard's car a distance away near the front door of the restaurant. Irene saw them too and we quickly hurried in the opposite direction.

As we ran, I couldn’t help but laugh. I felt like a child sneaking around her parents. Irene was also chuckling, both of us gasping for breath and holding our stomachs as we laughed around the corner. I leaned against the building we were near, sure that we were far enough away to rest for a minute.

“We can’t avoid them forever,” I chuckled.

“I know,” she sighed. “I just wanted to have some fun.”

I wrapped an arm through hers.

“I get it,” I assured her. “Maybe we can hang out again?”

She perked up, a look of pure happiness in her eyes.

“Really?” She asked.

I had to admit, I liked hanging out with her. She was easy to be around and easy to love. It was no wonder Ethan wanted her and not me… it was more than just her status; it was who she was as a person. She deserved better than Ethan.

I wanted to tell her the truth, I hated lying to her. It didn’t make me feel good and she was only going to get hurt as a result. Gavin was wrong for keeping this from her.

“Come on,” she said, pulling me along with her. “Let’s get back before they send a search party out for us.”

I nodded but as we walked, I grew more apprehensive. I wanted to tell her the truth despite what Gavin might want. But as I opened my mouth to speak, a white van pulled up beside us and a ton of men piled out of the car, surrounding us.

They were masked strangers with sickly scents, and they were huge. I got in my fighting stance knowing that I didn’t stand a chance because there were so many of them and only one of me.

The look of panic was clear on Irene’s face. She went to scream, but she immediately passed out when someone stuck a syringe into her neck.

“Irene!” I yelled, trying to get to her, but I felt a sting in my neck and then arms wrapped around my limp body, just as everything went black.