Hiding From The Tycoon

Part 5

Present

I stared at Hunter while trying to come up with the perfect retort to get him out of my cafe but words failed to support me. What was wrong with me? Why was I behaving like I would ten years ago? I needed to get him and his friends out of here. There was no way I could have him in my life again.

"I'm sorry, I believe you have the wrong person. There's no one named Lori here. Please leave and never come here again," I said, grateful to have found the words to tell Hunter exactly what I thought of him.

Hunter's eyebrow arched in a challenge while his lips curved into a smirk. "Oh darling, pretending is not going to work here."

I glared at him before rolling my eyes in an attempt to appear nonchalant. "No one's pretending. I have no idea who you are and in case you failed to read the sign, we're closed. So please leave or else I'll have no choice but to call the police."

He cocked his head to the side, the gesture so familiar it felt like a punch to the gut. "Ah yes, the police. You're really good at calling the police. But you know it's not going to work, right?"

I bristled at his words and as much as I wanted to pretend I had no idea what he was talking about, I couldn't help but think back to a decade when I kicked him out of my life. He was telling me there was no use calling the police and I believed him. He was standing in front of me because he was more powerful than the law.

"Please take your friends and leave. We're closed," I said, hoping he'd listen to me but knowing he wouldn't.

He eyed the mop in my hands and his eyes hardened to a solid gray. "You're working. You know I don't like my woman working."

His woman? The nerve of this man! I wasn't his woman. I hadn't been his woman for a long time.

"I'm not your woman, Mister whoever you are. Get out of my cafe or else I'm calling the police," I threatened.

The smirk on his face turned into a beautiful smile. "It's nice to know you're still as stubborn as you were ten years ago. But you know my woman doesn't work..."

I didn't let him finish. "I don't know who you think you are but I'm not your woman. And even if I was I would still live my life according to my rules. No one can tell me what to do with my life, especially not you."

"I think she's having a serious case of amnesia, Hunter," Cameron said and I really wanted to go to him and slap him across the face.

"Don't worry, she's just pretending. She knows how much I despise her working. She'll stop soon," Hunter said in a matter of fact tone.

"And what if she doesn't?" Kaiden asked.

"Then I'll make her," Hunter replied a little too casually.

His words took me back to the time where he indeed forced me to stop working, despite me telling him how much I enjoyed doing it. But he and his friends were dead set on making sure their girlfriends never worked.

"You can't tell me what to do."

"I don't have to tell you anything, Lori. You know I value actions more than words," he replied. And there it was, the warning. He knew I sensed the thinly veiled threat because his eyes flashed knowingly.

I took a step forward which brought me closer to him. "Stop calling me Lori. My name is Saylor and I want you to get the fuck out of my cafe. Right. Now."

"I will as soon as you promise to close down the cafe," he told me.

My jaw dropped at the command. "Excuse me? Do you hear yourself? This is my cafe. I worked hard to build my business and I'm never going to close it down."