Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law
Chapter 55: Shame

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Shame

I was shocked into silence. All I could do was blink at the disgusting man in front of me. How could such a pervert be in charge of kids? And the sickening truth was, I wasn’t that much older than the kids who went to school here.

But how should I handle this situation? If I ran out of here, they could get my car’s license plate and call the cops.

Principal Thompson and his receptionist waited for me to say something. All I could think to do was stall for time.

The creep’s hand was still on me, and his fingers closed tightly around my wrist. His face lit up with glee.

“Good, you’ve made the right decision.” He began to pull me toward his office. “Who knows, you might even enjoy yourself.”

He must have taken my hesitance as an agreement. I shouldn’t be surprised that a pervert didn’t understand how consent worked.

From her chair, his secretary laughed shrilly.

“I knew you’d agree to it,” she told me mockingly.

I dug my feet into the carpet, but the principal’s hold on me was strong. My pulse quickened, and my anxiety rose as he pulled on me.

But before we could get anywhere, the door to the main office opened.

The three of us turned to see Gareth, his Beta, and a few of his guards enter the room.

My heart sank to the floor in anguish. As if my situation couldn’t get any worse. Now I was doomed. I had the worst luck. I couldn’t believe that the man whose wife I was currently impersonating just walked through the door. But this was his daughter’s school, after all. Maybe he had somehow heard about the parent-teacher conference.

Gareth immediately spotted the principal’s hand wrapped around my wrist. The veins in his neck bulged, and his jaw clenched.

“What’s going on?” he snapped, his gray eyes zeroing in on Principal Thompson.

The secretary immediately jumped to her feet. As she ran up to Gareth, she smoothed her short red hair into place and smiled widely.

“Alpha Gareth!” she practically purred. “How lovely to see you. Welcome! Can I get you anything?”

Gareth’s eyes slid to her for only a fraction of a second.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said dismissively.

The secretary grew red with embarrassment and mumbled something that sounded apologetic. Then she hung her head and returned to her seat.

Gareth looked back at the principal and dropped his steely gaze to the creep’s hand, still around my wrist.

Finally getting the hint, Principal Thompson let go of me and awkwardly cleared his throat.

I winced as the blood started to flow back to my hand again. While glaring at Principal Thompson’s sheepish experience, I rubbed at the red mark he had left on me, wishing that I could have just slapped him earlier.

What a creepy jerk.

Gareth’s guards surrounded me, and as they approached, my heart slammed against my rib cage. If they knew I was pretending to be Gareth’s wife, they were definitely going to arrest me!

Surprisingly, they didn’t handcuff my hands behind my back. They didn’t even touch me. The man who seemed like the head guard gestured for me to walk forward until I was standing by Gareth’s side.

His warm presence calmed my rapidly beating heart, and my anxiety decreased. But it was replaced with confusion. Wasn’t Gareth angry with me?

But all of the Lycan King’s rage seemed to be directed at Principal Thompson. Gareth’s eyes were narrowed into slits as he glared at him, and the Alpha aura he was giving off almost knocked me to my feet. It was so strong.

Principal Thompson swallowed nervously, then pointed an accusing finger at me.

“You should be angry with that liar, Alpha Gareth!” he said with passion. “She was pretending to be your wife and Michelle’s mother. I was just about to punish her, and now that you’re here, you can take over.”

“It’s true,” the secretary confirmed. She had been sulking ever since Gareth’s dismissal, but at the chance to insult me, she straightened in her chair. “I knew that she was a liar as soon as she stepped into the office. I could smell the deceit coming off of her just like that cheap perfume she’s wearing!”

Gareth’s hypnotic gaze swung to me. But before his eyes met mine, I dropped my head and stared at the floor. The back of my neck burned with shame.

I couldn’t even look him in the eye after I pretended to be his wife. Why did I agree to this awful plan in the first place? I should’ve tried harder to convince Michelle to be honest with her dad. Then I wouldn’t be in this horrible mess.

Now, Gareth was going to fire me as Michelle’s tutor—a job that had been perfect for me. It paid well. It was flexible with my school hours, and, best of all, I enjoyed teaching Michelle.

Being fired wasn’t my only worry, though. Gareth could decide to take things a step further. He could throw me into the same prison as my dad for this crime. Then, I would have to watch as my father weakened before my eyes from those silver chains, and my mother would die without me there to take care of her.

How could one bad decision cause this much pain?

“How could you treat my wife with such disrespect?” Gareth snapped.

The room froze for a moment. Did I imagine that just now? Gareth couldn’t have said that I was his wife... He couldn’t possibly go along with my plan. When I glanced up hopefully at him, Gareth was glaring at the principal then at the receptionist.

My heart lifted with hope. Could he actually be defending me?

“How dare you question her? Then, lay your hands on her. You left a bruise on her wrist!” Gareth pointed to the red mark the principal left on me. “And you have the nerve to call her a liar?” He turned to the receptionist.

Their faces turned white with horror, and they began to stutter out excuses.

“B-but you’ve never dated anyone seriously... since y-your mate died.” The woman said, wringing her hands together nervously.

“Y-yes! That’s common knowledge,” Principal Thompson agreed, nodding. “We never heard of a new wife!”

Gareth cut off their words of denial with a cold stare. Then, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against his muscular body, enveloping me in that cedar wood scent. I immediately relaxed and had to resist the urge to nuzzle into his warm embrace.

“Jasmine is my wife,” Gareth said vehemently, tightening his grip on my hip. “She’s Michelle’s mother, and she will be treated with the utmost respect. And you two owe her one hell of an apology,” he growled.

Goosebumps went down my arm, and my whole body felt warm.

I stared up at Gareth’s handsome face, and my stomach swooped with a starling realization.

At that moment, I was wildly attracted to Gareth Laken.