#Chapter 3 Three Thousand Dollars

Victor stared at his stained clothes, his face filled with shock and anger.

 

I … I’m so … so suh … sorry,” I stuttered and rushed to the ladies’ room, where I vomited, over and over, into the toilet. After my stomach settled, I leaned against the wall to catch my breath. I threw up on Victor Klein! I’d never been this embarrassed in my life.

 

I let myself slide down the bathroom wall until I was seated on the floor. Then I pulled my knees to my face and cried. What I had done wasn't good for the restaurant. What if Amy’s dad fired me? Where else could I get a job?

 

I had to return to the dining room, find Victor, and apologize. Hopefully, Victor wouldn’t blame the restaurant for what I had done.

 

After rising to my feet, I washed my face and hands before rinsing my mouth and checking my clothing and apron for vomit. They were okay. Most of my spew had hit Victor. Ugh! The situation was unbelievable.

 

When I got up the courage to walk back into the dining room, I saw a young man I recognized from the TV as Victor’s assistant. He held a clean suit jacket as Victor buttoned a new dress shirt over his masculine torso. The beautiful woman who had been with Victor was gone.

 

“I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose, Mr. Klein,” Mr. Gray told the wealthy Alpha. “I must be working her too hard. I do apologize for the mess.”

 

I’m the one who should be apologizing, I told myself. Mr. Gray was helping me by giving me more hours, and I ruined the restaurant’s reputation by vomiting on an influential Alpha.

 

As I forced myself closer to Victor, I could tell he was angry by his grim expression. He tossed his dirty clothes into a pile at his assistant’s feet and looked around the restaurant. I cringed when he spotted me walking his way.

 

“You.” He pointed at me. “You ruined one of my best suits.”

 

“I …I’m suh… sorry.” My face felt like it was on fire as I forced the words from my mouth. I looked at the floor and took a deep breath. “Let … let me clean it for you. I will s...send it to the d...dry-cleaning place.”

 

Victor’s assistant snorted. “Do you expect Mr.Klein to wear this again?” the assistant snapped. He glared at Mr. Gray “Everyone should know what kind of riff-raff you employ as wait staff.”

 

“Don’t be so harsh, Findlay,” Victor told his assistant. He turned to Mr. Gray. “We’ll forget this incident happened if you leave a...let's see...three-thousand-dollar check at my company's front desk within the week.”

 

“Three … three thousand dollars?” I sputtered, hoping the assistant had been mistaken.

 

“That’s correct,” Victor replied. “I already cut the price in half for you.”

 

Was he trying to be nice? Should I be grateful for that?

 

I stood open-mouthed, thinking of a way to get that much money together in a week. I couldn’t let Amy’s dad pay for my blunder. It wouldn’t be fair, and he and Amy were so good to me. I nodded at Victor, and he strode toward the door.

 

“I’ll be checking the front desk for the money,” Findlay said as he followed Victor to the exit.

 

Three thousand dollars seemed like nothing to werewolves like Victor. The wealthy assumed everyone had thousands of dollars lying around.

 

Victor was the same as other rich Alphas. They’re all greedy and heartless. How could I have thought for a moment that he was any different?

 

“You couldn’t help getting sick, Daisy,” Mr. Gray said. “I’ll pay for the suit.

 

“No,” I insisted. Amy and her father worked hard every day in this restaurant to make a living. I couldn’t let them pay for my mistake. “I'll find the money. And I’m sorry if I made you lose any customers.”

 

Mr. Gray is a well-known chef. His upscale restaurant could be ruined if Victor chose to spread the story of what I had done. It would be a terrible way to repay Mr. Gray for his kindness to me by making him pay for my mistake in any way.

 

“Victor cares about his public image too much to talk about what just happened,” Mr. Gray said, brushing aside my concerns. “Most people eating here tonight know nothing about what happened.”

 

Victor didn’t need the money for that suit. He cared so much about his public image, but he didn't care enough to think about if three thousand dollars already exceeded everything I had.

 

Why do rich Alphas have to be such jerks?

 

***

 

I went home early. My stomach had settled, but I felt terrible about what had happened.

 

“Daisy, you’re home early,” Cecilia said. “I thought you’d be eating at the restaurant. We finished dinner a little while ago, but I didn’t save you anything.”

 

“I’m not very hungry,” I said. “A little soup would be good, and then I want to go to bed.”

 

Cecilia followed me to the kitchen. “You’re awfully down tonight,” she said. “Is something wrong?”

 

I nodded. I was too upset to keep it inside. I had to talk about what happened with someone.

 

Cecilia listened as I stammered every detail of my encounter with Victor. Her eyes showed anger, and her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline by the time I was finished.

 

“There is no question that you need to pay for the suit,” she told me. “And how could you not tell the butter on the toast was bad?”

 

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Maybe it was the toast, or maybe I have a stomach virus. Amy stayed home from school today because she wasn’t feeling well.” I slid a bowl of soup into the microwave. “If you help me pay for the suit, I promise to pay you back.”

 

“I’ll help you,” Cecilia said and sighed. “I don’t want your mess to reflect on this family.”

 

“Thank you, Cecilia,” I said.

 

“But I want you to change your mind about working a job like waitressing,” she added. “I know you’ve been saving money and I don’t know why. I barely even see you spend the money we gave you…. But if you really need a lot of money, you should probably pay more attention to your appearance. There are a lot of rich men out there looking for a young wife.”

 

I couldn’t believe what Cecilia had suggested. Didn’t she know me at all?

 

“I won’t marry someone for money,” I replied, my voice steady and determined. “I like waitressing, And I can take care of myself.”

 

“Then take care of this problem yourself,” Cecilia snapped and began walking away. “I swear, you must get this stubborn streak from your birth parents.”

 

After I ate the soup, I went to my room and counted the money I had saved in my secret hiding spot. There was a little over two thousand dollars. Where could I get a thousand dollars in less than a week?

 

I needed to look for another job. I turned on my ancient laptop and searched for a job to make money quickly. I searched for twenty minutes, getting more depressed, when I found only a few jobs for a high school student, and none paid very much.

 

I was about to give up when a giant ad caught my eye.

 

Alex Wilson was offering one thousand dollars to qualified girls around eighteen with naturally curly hair！

 

All I had to do was call the number, arrange to give them some information, and let them take my DNA. There was no way I was Alberta Wilson, but it would be an easy way to get the rest of the money I needed to pay for Victor’s suit.

 

I immediately dialed the number.