Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Chapter 162
Seraphina’s POV

My heart was racing now. This was escalating fast, and I was alone behind the counter with no backup in sight.

“I need to call my manager, or the police,” I said, reaching for the phone.

He reached across the counter, grabbing for my shirt. I jerked backward, but not fast enough. His fingers caught the fabric, yanking me forward.

“Let go of me!” I shouted.

“I’ll let go when I’m damn good and ready!”

I grabbed his wrist with both hands and twisted hard, using his own momentum against him. He yelped and released my shirt, stumbling backward.

“What the hell—”

“Touch me again and you’ll regret it,” I said, my voice cold as winter.

He stared at me for a moment, probably trying to process the fact that the scared little cashier had just made him back down. Then his expression shifted to something ugly and dangerous.

“You attacked me! I’m calling the cops! I’m suing this store! I’m suing YOU personally!”

Before I could respond, Gary appeared from the back office like a genie summoned by trouble. His face was already flushed with stress, his tie askew.

“What’s going on out here?” he demanded.

“Your employee attacked me!” the man shouted immediately. “I was trying to pay for my stuff and she went crazy! Grabbed my arm, twisted it! I think she sprained something!”

Gary’s eyes went wide with panic. “Sir, I’m so sorry! Please, let’s talk about this calmly—”

“Calmly?” The man held up his wrist like he was displaying a war wound. “Look at this! She could have broken it! I might need medical attention!”

“That’s not what happened,” I started to say.

“SHUT UP!” Gary whirled on me. “Don’t say another word!”

He turned back to the customer with the kind of groveling smile that made my skin crawl. “Sir, I am deeply, deeply sorry for this incident. Please, let me make this right.”

For the next twenty minutes, I watched Gary apologize, offer free merchandise, and promise to “investigate this thoroughly” while the man milked every second of attention. He claimed his wrist hurt, his back hurt, his feelings were hurt.

When he finally left—with a bag full of free beer and lottery tickets—Gary turned on me with fury in his eyes.

“My office. Now.”

The walk to Gary’s office felt like a death march. Other employees watched with sympathy and curiosity as I passed. Mia’s register stood empty, a reminder of how I’d ended up in this mess.

Gary slammed the door behind us.

“Sit down,” he ordered.

I sat.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he exploded. “Putting your hands on a customer? Are you insane?”

“He grabbed me first,” I said. “I was defending myself.”

“I don’t care if he set you on fire! You don’t touch customers! Ever!”

“I was protecting myself,” I repeated.

“Well, your protection just cost this store a lot of money,” Gary snapped. “That card reader he broke? That’s coming out of your paycheck. The merchandise I had to give him to calm him down? Also your paycheck. And if he follows through on his threats to sue or complain to corporate, you’re fired.”

My mouth fell open. “You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious. The damage comes to about three hundred dollars. I’ll take it out of your next few paychecks.”

Three hundred dollars. More than I made in a week. Money I didn’t have. Money I needed for rent and food and basic survival.

“Gary, please,” I said, hating how desperate I sounded. “I can’t afford that. You know what I make here. Three hundred dollars is—”

“Should have thought of that before you decided to play wrestling with a customer,” he cut me off.

“But it was Mia’s shift!” The words exploded out of me. “I was covering for her! If she’d been here doing her job instead of running off on another date—”

“I don’t see Mia in this office,” Gary said coldly. “I see you. You were behind that register when this happened, which makes you responsible.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Life’s not fair! You want to keep this job or not?”

The question hung in the air like a threat. I thought about my empty apartment. My dwindling bank account. The stack of rejection letters growing on my kitchen table.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I want to keep the job.”

“Then you pay the damages and you keep your mouth shut. No more complaints about Mia, no more drama with customers. You do your job quietly and professionally, or you can find somewhere else to work. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Good. Clean up the mess at register three and finish your shift. And next time? Think before you act.”

He dismissed me with a wave of his hand like I was an annoying insect. I walked back to the sales floor feeling hollowed out and humiliated.

The broken card reader pieces were still scattered across the floor. Other employees had cleaned up the scattered papers and promotional materials, but nobody had touched the electronic carnage.

I knelt down and started picking up plastic shards, my hands shaking with leftover adrenaline and rage. Three hundred dollars. For defending myself against a drunk asshole who’d grabbed me.

The rest of my shift passed in a haze of exhausted numbness. I processed customers mechanically, smiled when required, and counted down the minutes until I could escape.

Finally—finally—the clock hit ten PM.

I clocked out, grabbed my jacket from the employee break room, and headed for the exit. My whole body ached with exhaustion and stress. All I wanted was to go home, eat something that didn’t come from a packet, and sleep for twelve hours straight.

The automatic doors slid open, and cool night air hit my face. I took a deep breath, savoring the first moment of peace I’d had all day.

That’s when I heard it.

“SERA!”

I turned, and there was Mia. Running across the parking lot like her life depended on it. Her usually perfect cotton candy hair was a disaster, half falling out of its ponytail. Her makeup was smeared. She looked like she’d been through a blender.

“Sera!” she gasped, nearly tripping over her own feet as she reached me. “Oh my God, you’re still here! Thank God you’re still here!”

She grabbed my arms, her fingers digging into my jacket with desperate strength.

“Help me!” she panted, her eyes wide with terror. “Please, Sera, you have to help me!”