Chapter 7 Protected

Wren

Mag kept his word. After making sure we were safe, he ordered food and we talked late into the night. I'd fallen asleep on the bed, and he'd crashed on the floor with nothing but a pillow. In the morning, he was up before me, and we took off straight for the bakery after checking out of the hotel.

The sun was just coming up over the rooftops as we pulled up in front of the bakery ten minutes before the trucks were scheduled to arrive. "You don't have any employees?" He stared through the glass window into the store.

"No, just me."

"Is there an alarm?" His gaze moved quickly through all the corners of the bakery that were visible from the curb .

"Yes, at night. It's an old one my grandfather installed himself."

He nodded. "Close the shop for a few days while I get a system set up."

"What? No. I can't do that. It's my only source of income. If I closed for even one day, I wouldn't be able to make the rent."

"You'd be safer someplace else."

"It's Chinese New Year, my busiest week of the year." I stared at the closed doors, fear gripping my heart at the thought of not being there for the holiday and the customers who faithfully came to my shop for their treats.

"This Kenny guy is too much of an unknown." He stared down at me with concerned eyes, his face stern.

"I know, but the truth is that this is my safe place. This is my home, and I need some time there after all that's happened. I need to sell those holiday treats to the neighborhood." I also needed time alone in my room with some ice cream to process this away from Magnum and his big energy. "It's my happy place."

He looked back at the door, likely doubtful how a humble shop in LA could be my safe place. "Alright. I'm gonna upgrade your system today. I'm gonna hold onto your phone until I can get it checked out. For now, use this one." He pulled a new phone out of one of his bags along with a small piece of paper. "This is the number and the passcode. My name is under M for Mag."

I took the new phone from him. "I'm a little nervous to give up my phone."

"I know, but it's safer. If you need info from it, call me from that phone."

"Okay."

"If anything suspicious happens, don't hesitate to call."

"Okay. I'll call, but I can't afford a new security system right now."

"I know. I got it covered." He said it so easily, but I knew security systems could cost thousands of dollars for the equipment and labor. I'd looked into it before and could never afford it. It seemed like a very big gift from a man who'd met me less than a week ago and didn't trust me until last night.

"Why would you do that? "

He shrugged and gazed out at the row of palm trees along the sidewalk. "You're married to my brother. We're family now."

I gasped. I hadn't thought of that at all, but technically, I'd married Gavin yesterday and that made him my brother-in-law. Still, revamping the bakery security was a lot to ask of him. "And you do things like this for your family?"

"All the time."

I had actually seen him easily pay for the extravagant meal at Golden Dragon, and he didn't even blink when the bill came for the takeout food last night. "Gavin told me you have another brother and a sister."

"Yes. Julian and Sylvie. They live in New Orleans, but you can meet them on their next visit, or we could go out there to introduce you. Once Gavin gets back. Speaking of which, I need to go look for him."

"Right. Good luck. Let me know if you find anything." I grabbed my bag and climbed out of his Jeep. He waited and watched me open the door to the bakery with my key. I met the trucks at the loading dock, and he was still parked outside when I came back out. He was making calls on his phone and watching the front of the shop.

For the first time since my grandfather died, someone was there for me in a very physical sense. He was putting all his other work aside to do this for me, someone he'd just met, someone who wasn't forthcoming with him at first. I couldn't pay him for this. Did he really mean it when he called me family? If Magnum was part of the deal, maybe my nightmare with Kenny wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me .

Two hours later, Magnum met with another tall guy out on the street. This one had long hair tied in a ponytail at his nape and dark features. He had a strong chin and looked like he could be Latino or Native American. They talked for a while then entered the bakery together.

The two men spent some time staring at the ceiling and the front door then walked right past me into the kitchen. They pointed at the back door that led to the alley and then opened the electrical box. They went into my pathetic excuse for a room and didn't seem to notice my little dragon collection or the video game consoles, but I was mortified.

They did a quick inspection of the bathroom, and I really wished they'd given me a warning so I could've cleaned it. There was a lot of nodding and grunting before Magnum came back to me alone. The other guy walked past me heading toward his truck that was parked out front.

"Talon's going to have a crew install cameras and security today. New doors and locks Monday." He motioned toward the glass doors at the front of the bakery.

"New doors?"

"Your doors are shit." He hunched forward and shook his head like the doors were an insult to him. We'd had those same doors since I was a kid, and no one had ever said they weren't safe.

"I didn't know that. What about the logo on the glass?" My grandfather had custom ordered the music note and bakery name that were proudly displayed on the doors in both English and Mandarin.

"You're gonna need to order another one of those."

"I can't afford that. "

He whipped a silver card out of his wallet. "Charge it to this card. Whatever you need. Baking pans, dough and shit, cookie tins. Get a new register." He pointed at things in the bakery that had been there for years and never upgraded.

"What's wrong with that register?"

"It's ancient."

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 to upgrade 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.

I reviewed some stories and pictures about Navy SEALs. Magnum and his friends did all that? Jumping out of helicopters and fighting in wars, underwater attacks? He seemed like such a normal person, a very large person, but it was hard to imagine him doing those things while he was sitting in a restaurant meeting his brother's girlfriend or when he was looking into my eyes as we got fake married yesterday. Although the way he carried a gun seemed very natural to him, and this was definitely not his first security system. He also knew exactly what to do to lose the tail we had from the courthouse.

The dark web didn't show me anything about Gavin or Kenny, as usual, and I wished I had my phone so I could check for calls. One text came in on the new phone from Magnum. I scrambled to find the paper with the password and entered it.

Mag: Everything good?

Me: Yes, good. Thank you. Any sign of G?

Mag: Not yet.

Around eight pm, a soft knock at my bedroom door got me up. Talon was standing there looking at me expectantly.

"Uh, hi." I hadn't spoken to him before, but he'd seen every corner of my living space.

He handed me a tablet with a bunch of icons and video screens. "Front, back, storage, bathroom, kitchen. It's a good start. We'll add more later."

I stared at it in shock.

"Daytime passcode, nighttime passcode..." He explained a few more features that turned on and off at various times.

A video image of my toilet caught my eye. "What about when I need to... ya know?"

"Privacy button. Panic button. Cancel button." He showed me icons located next to each screen. It was an advanced set up for my little bakery.

"Ah, okay. "

He mounted the tablet onto a bracket in my room and connected it to a power supply. "I'll bring more control panels tomorrow, add panic buttons at the counters."

"It's fine. I'm sure this is more than enough."

He ignored my protests just like Magnum did. "After I leave, set it for nighttime, and don't open the doors unless it's me or Mag."

"Or Gavin," I added.

His brow furrowed. "Who's Gavin?"

"Magnum's brother."

He turned around and started talking to someone on his phone, presumably Magnum. He finished the call and turned back to face me again. "Gavin is not cleared for entry. Do not open the doors for him. If you see Gavin, or think you see Gavin, you call Mag at the number he gave you. My number is also in your phone under T for Talon."

"Okay." These guys were not messing around. I assumed I could trust Gavin, but the truth was that he hadn't shown up or contacted me, and maybe I couldn't. That was disappointing because he was my first boyfriend. The possibility remained he was in trouble somewhere, but I trusted Magnum to find him soon, so we could sort all of this out.