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We still had the original steel register that rang when the cash drawer opened. "It adds to the historic charm."
"Get a safe register with locks and passcodes to open. Charge it to this card." He handed it to me, and I reluctantly took it.
I didn't know how much all that would cost, but I knew it was too much for a brother-in-law to invest in his new sister-in-law. "I really can't accept all of that from you."
He leaned on one hip and crossed his arms over his chest. Man, he was big and intimidating. "We gonna talk about you being family again?"
I bit my lip. Okay then. Magnum came from a very nice family, and he was convinced I was part of it now.
"I gotta go down to San Diego to get some supplies, so Talon will stay until I'm back."
"Okay."
"You hear anything from Kenny or Gavin, you blow up my phone."
"Got it."
He looked around again like he was expecting monkeys to jump on his back.
"It's really safe here."
"You said he came here and took you at gunpoint." Anger flashed in his eyes, and I suddenly understood the urgency toupgrade the bakery's security. He was worried Tommy would come back for me. Even though I'd married Gavin, I hadn't paid Kenny his money so he could very well come after me.
"One of his men did, yes, but Tommy didn't hurt me. They just wanted their money. I distracted them with the whole wedding thing."
He grunted.
"Did he come in the front or the back?"
I pointed to the back door. "He caught me in the alley when I was feeding the birds in the morning."
He stared at me, and I knew he was thinking about how he hated birds. "Did you call the police?"
"No."
"Instead you told Gavin, and he came up with this brilliant plan to hack Kenny's business?"
At the time, Gavin was confident it would work. It wasn't until I ran it by Magnum that it suddenly felt like a bad plan. "It could've worked if we'd just had the right access."
"That plan is on hold for now. No more hacking attempts and no more feeding the birds."
God, he was extremely bossy. "I stopped feeding the birds in the alley after it happened. I'm not that dumb."
"And where do you feed them now?" He smirked as he peered down at me.
"Across the street in the park."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, much safer." He was chuckling as he walked out.
***
Talon worked silently all day with a crew of four men. They had wires, drills, screwdrivers, hammers, and lots of high tech panels. They were mostly quiet and clean, and I was able to serve the customers in the front.
I closed the shop at sunset, and the men worked late into the evening. I sat on my bed and ate some ramen as I listened to the sounds of their work. It was so weird having workers inside my safe place. We'd had people make repairs over the years, but mostly my grandfather fixed things himself. He wanted to save money, but he also didn't trust anyone to do a good job. I trusted these guys. They seemed very confident and talented.
In a way, I trusted Magnum too. Maybe he was putting on an act for me, pretending to be concerned about my safety, but why would he do that? It seemed like he genuinely cared for his family and did things like this for them.
I'd searched commando for hire briefly before but didn't look too closely. Now that I was paying closer attention, I could see that he was basically a military-style bodyguard, and private security firms protected diplomats and celebrities for very high dollar amounts. There was nothing about revamping security systems in little Chinese bakeries in Los Angeles even if it was family.
