Chapter 3

Judy’s POV

“Shut up!” She gasped. “Are you serious?? You went to Gavin Landry’s VIP suite? As in THE Gavin Landry?!”

I nearly tackled her; she was being so loud!

“Keep your voice down!” I scolded, attempting to cover her mouth with my hands but she was too quick and dodged me.

“How can I possibly keep it down when my best friend went to Gavin Landry’s hotel room last night and waited until now to tell me!” She exclaimed.

Nan was a waitress at the hotel restaurant the engagement party was at last night. The hotel, called Carter Resorts, was in the human territory, and it was owned by Patrick Carter, the Delta of the Silver Crescent pack. Which happened to be Gavin Landry’s pack.

I wasn’t surprised to see Gavin there last night, especially considering his daughter was the bride-to-be. I was less surprised to see that he had a VIP suite at the hotel.

I sighed.

“It all happened so fast, and I had a bit too much to drink,” I admitted. “I all but forgot when I got home because other stuff happened.”

I wrapped my arms around my body and looked up at her concerned eyes.

“What else happened?” She asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

I took a deep breath, and I told Nan everything that happened, right up until Ethan came over and asked me to be his mistress in exchange for him paying off my father’s debt. By the time I finished talking, Nan’s jaw had dropped.

“The nerve of that asshole!” She hissed. “How dare he! He rejected you and now he wants you to be his little whore?! He has zero shame.”

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do, Nan,” I whispered. “There’s no way I could come up with 5 million dollars to pay off my father’s debt.”

We both fell silent as our thoughts consumed us and then her face lit up. I knew that look well and it grew nervous as a smile spread across her face. I knew right away that she had an idea, and I also knew that I wasn’t going to like it.

“You said that he gave you his shirt to wear?” She asked.

I nodded.

She gasped and grabbed my arm.

“Isn’t it obvious, Judy? Gavin is into you. That’s the only reason he’d give you his shirt. He wanted his scent on you! He's very picky. In all my time as a waitress, you're the first woman he's ever offered.”

I gawked at her. She had officially lost her mind.

“Gavin’s not into me,” I said, shaking my head. “He gave me his shirt because mine ripped. There was nothing to it.”

“Why would he even care?” Nan asked, folding her arms across her chest. “He’s Gavin Landry and doesn’t need to care about any of this. Besides, you mentioned that he kissed you heatedly. You were ready to go all the way with him, which is huge because you were planning on waiting until after you were married. There had to be some kind of connection last night.”

I glanced at my hands.

“Or maybe I was just hurting and wanted to get back at Ethan,” I murmured. “Plus, I had a little too much to drink.”

“Drunk actions are sober thoughts or something like that,” she said, waving away my words. Then, she smirked. “You could use this to your advantage. Do you still have that lingerie you bought for your wedding night? You should pay Gavin a little visit and make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

___

I knew it was a bad idea the moment she spoke the words, but her words continued to replay in my mind for the remainder of the day and night. When I woke up the next morning, my mind was made up.

I went to my closet and grabbed my red lingerie. I had only tried it on once and I felt a little self-conscious wearing it, but I knew the night of my wedding when I finally gave myself over to Ethan fully, it wouldn’t matter what I was wearing. My heart ached at the thought, and I quickly brushed it out of my head before I started to cry again.

I dressed in the lingerie, and I grabbed a long trench coat, wrapping it around my body. I left my hair down and I put on a little makeup to make my features pop.

For the last day or so, my mother had either been speaking on the phone to lawyers, visiting my father in prison, or in her room. I had barely seen or spoken to her since I told her Ethan wasn’t going to help us. I hated knowing I disappointed her, but hopefully, this would fix all our problems.

It was no secret where Gavin’s office was; everybody knew the famous Gavin Landry Corporation. When I walked through the front door, the receptionist was typing on her computer.

She barely spared me a look as I approached the desk.

“Good morning, I’m here to see Gavin Landry,” I said as politely as I could.

The receptionist looked upward at me and blinked a couple of times, looking less than amused.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“Uh, no, but—”

“Look, I don’t have time for this. Countless women come in here and request to speak with Gavin and I’m going to tell you what I tell them. Mr. Landry is incredibly busy, and he doesn’t have time or patience to be dealing with another fan girl,” she said bitterly.

“And what gives you the right to turn away those who come to see me?” A deep voice boomed.