Page 52 of Forbidden Kisses

"Yes, and clearly you have no idea how to talk to your employees. She was robbed. You can’t expect her to continue working."

"Nothing happened to her, but the guy did take some of my cash. She'll have to work for free until she makes it back," he sneered.

"No, she won’t," I said. "That's not how this works."

"It fucking does if she wants to keep her job."

"No. I’m a lawyer," Riley said.

The guy froze. Fuck, was I proud of Riley.

"You haven't even taken steps to ensure your employees' security because you’re too cheap to repair that camera. She's not liable for anything except suing your fucking ass."

"She wouldn't do that."

"Oh yes, she would. You know why? Because she'd have a lawyer pro bono."

I'd never seen Riley like this. She'd been so lost in the car, but now she was 100 percent confident.

"You don't need this job, do you? What with your fancy-ass lawyer sister. Why the fuck would you even take it?"

"You say one more word and I'm going to knock your teeth out," I told him.

I didn't give a fuck if that made things worse or not. He couldn’t treat anyone like that. I despised people who thought their employees were their servants and expected them to put his profit above everything else, including their health and safety.

"All right, fine. I changed my mind. You can leave," he said, looking straight at Riley's sister. "Don't bother coming back."

She was red in the face, and for a split second, I thought she might burst into tears, but instead she cleared her throat.

"You know what? My pleasure. Everyone warned me not to take this job, but I was stubborn. But I'm not going to risk my life for $8 an hour."

She looked up at Riley and said, "Let's go."

Both of them rounded the corner. The guy looked like he wanted to do something, but I stepped in front of him.

"Shut your fucking mouth."

He jerked his head back. "Out of my store."

"Gladly," I snapped.

He looked behind me at Riley and her sister. "What the fuck am I supposed to do? Man my own counter?"

They didn't bother to reply.

I snorted, walking right behind them with quick steps. I didn't want them to be alone outside for a split second.

Once we were all in the car, I turned around to look at her sister and then at Riley, who was sitting next to her, holding her hand.

"Paula, are you hurt?" Riley asked her.

Paula shook her head. "No, he didn't do anything to me. I'm just shaken and pissed off."

"Of course you are," Riley said. "I can’t believe that asshole. You are not going back there even if he begs you to, understand?"

"I’m not planning to," Paula said. "But I’ll have to find something else quickly so I can pay my rent."

"We'll think about this in the morning, okay? This is Duncan, by the way.”