08 // Reunion Too

Logan thought that the days to come would be miserable following the confrontation with MJ Billings, but not even a day later, he was in the greatest mood of his life.

He woke up that morning and cooked up a storm of breakfast, taking Antonina by surprise.

"Is there a problem?" Logan asked when Antonina threw him a suspicious glance at the breakfast table.

"You were not home when I went to bed last night, and I did not hear you come back," she said.

Logan felt his heart beat slowly for a second, but he refused to let it get to him. She did not remember anything from last night, and he did not want to worry her by trying to get her to remember things, it would only make matters worse.

"I was working till late last night. I missed quite a lot of work when we went London."

Her eyes perked up. "Hmm, me too! We should finish up here and leave, there's a lot of paperwork to catch up on." She gulped down her juice and got up. "We can pack some of these in lunchboxes, I'll share with the staff for lunch. Hurry up!" She left to her bedroom to change.

"Of course!" Logan yelled back. He quickly took out his phone and dialled someone.

"Hello?" A woman answered.

"Hi, am I speaking to Koketso?" He asked.

"Uhm, I guess so..." Logan frowned. "But chances are if you asked around for Koketso, you'll most likely meet a thousand of them and still not find me."

He snickered, amused, he liked this one. "So, what should I call you?"

"Koki," the girl said, and he knew he had the right person. "Who am I speaking to?"

Logan cleared his throat, suppressing his laughter. "This is Logan Parker."

The line went dead quiet for a while, and then a choking sound came. "Shit! Oh, my word! Mr Parker, I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you."

"It's okay, Koki. I wanted to find out how far you were with the arrangements at the café," he said, his entire attitude changing.

"Everything is ready, sir, we are just waiting for you to give us the green light."

He sighed in relief, at least that part was done. He did not want Antonina to wonder or stress about the café not operating at all. "That's great, uhm... listen up, I need you to make sure that everyone comes to work, and also to prepare a few selective dishes for breakfast and lunch. And then line up tables outside the café and put up signs, we will be offering free breakfast packs to school kids and anyone passing by. I don't know, maybe you can offer muffins with tea or coffee, and sandwiches."

"Okay, Sir. I'll see what I can put together."

He got up and spied on the passage for Antonina, but she was still in her room. "One more thing," he said in a quiet voice. "Mrs Dos Santos can't know anything about this. We are not to repeat anything about what happened the other day or any day after that. If she asks you anything, just tell her that this was all my idea. And should you encounter any issues at the cafe, address them to me, okay?"

"Yes, Mr Parker."

Logan nodded in approval even though she could not see him. He liked how she did not complain or come up with excuses, at least he had an ally. "Great! Now, don't forget to bring my keys."

He hung up. After what happened the last time, he ended up giving Koki his set of keys so that she could make copies in case Antonina got mixed up again since her mind was all over the place. "Mrs Dos Santos!" He yelled into the passage.

"I'm almost done, I'm just looking for my earrings!" She called.

Logan grimaced, he knew she was most likely not going to find them because she could not remember where she left them. "Okay, please pack this into lunchboxes when you are done, I'll be waiting in the car. I have to make a few calls!" He did not wait to hear her response, he rushed outside and called the office. "Hey, Natalia."

"Hi, Logan."

"Listen, I need you to tell everyone at the office that breakfast and lunch will be served at La café today."

"We have a breakfast hour now?" Natalia asked monotonously.

Logan flinched. Natalia was still mad about the whole MJ scenario, he never had the chance to speak to her even after the truth came out. "No, but anyone who just wants to grab something can do so. It is business as usual."

"Good, I'll pass on the message. Is there anything else?"

He cleared his throat and loosened his tie. "Actually, yes. I need you to move all my meetings to La Café."

There was a cold silence, Logan knew she wanted to say something, but she did not. "Fine." The line died, and Logan took a long deep breath. He was not too sure whether he was closing the gaps in Antonina's memory, or widening them.

All he knew was that he had to do something before it was too late. He had to keep her mind busy so that she did not lose touch with reality often.

"Logan, come and help me with these containers!"

He shoved his phone in his pocket and went back inside. They loaded the lunchboxes into the car and left, and by the time they got to the cafe, all the staff was present and they already set up the tables outside.

They were welcomed by Koki. "Mrs Dos Santos, Mr Parker, you are right on time; we just started handing out our breakfast packs."

Antonina was confused, she looked between Logan and Koki, and asked, "What is going on here? I didn't know we're having a promotion. Are we selling a new coffee?"

Koki and Logan exchanged a panicked look, and Logan quickly jumped in. "Yeah, it was my idea. Just a little something to thank our customers for the support and give back to the community."

"Oh! That was very thoughtful of you." She looked at Logan with newfound wonder, and he felt guilty. "So, what do you guys have here?" She turned to Koki with enthusiasm.

"Uhm, for beverages we have coffee and tea. And then we have doughnuts, muffins, and sandwiches," Koki explained, leading her towards the table where the other waiters were handing out food.

"This sounds good, you guys are doing great! But where is Jane?" Antonina asked, causing one of the waitresses to drop a cup of coffee.

A deafening silence following, and Logan wondered why everyone was suddenly quiet. "Who is–"

"Ants!" Koki cut in, and Logan frowned. Why did she look jittery and why was her voice in a high octave? "Jane is on maternity leave, remember?" She looked desperate to make her believe what she was saying.

"Oh, yeah! I remember." Antonina said after a moment of silence, and Logan sighed. She joined the others and helped them give out the food, while Koki approached Logan in anger.

"There's no way she could remember because Jane was in maternity leave over a year ago, she gave birth and returned to work," she said in a hushed voice.

What?

"Then why did you lie to her?" He asked.

"Why do you think?" She asked, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "She is dead, dammit." Logan shut his eyes. Dammit! He never thought about the staff that died in the shooting, he did not even know them by their names, but clearly Antonina knew them personally. "I don't know what game you are playing or what you are hoping to achieve from this, but this is not going to end well." She went past him and rushed into the café.

"Dammit!" He cussed. His plan was backfiring before it even started. "When Koki returns, please tell her to come to the office," he instructed one of the waiters before going to Antonina's office.

He could not believe how small it was, it made him miss his office, but after the other night, he did not want to find himself there.

He set up his laptop and then started working, and a few minutes later there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he said, expecting Koki, but it turned out to be one of the other staff.

He peeked through the door. "Sir, there is someone looking for you. He said it was urgent," the waiter said.

Who could it be? Maybe it was MJ's dodgy bodyguard or Cameron, Kyle was still bound in his apartment, besides he would rather die than be seen in public with Logan.

Logan nodded. "Let them in." The waiter left, and Logan returned to his work, and moments later, the door opened, and a huge shadow cast on him. He slowly looked up to be greeted by the last person he expected to see. It was definitely a bodyguard, just not the one he expected to see. "Thuso," he said, putting aside his work. He intertwined his hands on the desk and looked up at the big guy. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

Thuso looked pissed as hell. "Have you gone crazy?" He asked.

Logan pouted, rotating on his chair. This was not how he imagined their reunion to be. clearly Thuso still wanted to punch his teeth in more than anything, but right now he looked like he had enough of Logan Parker. "What are you talking about?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"You have clearly lost your mind, I'm talking about the gig you gave my guys yesterday!"

"Oh, that!" He pulled back his laptop and continued typing.

"Logan, you said you were done with that life, the violence and bloodshed. Why are you doing this now?"

"Thuso, you wouldn't be here if you knew who that woman was."

"I don't care who she is, that woman is still alive! And when she gets out of that hospital bed, she's going to come after my guys if she doesn't send the police after them first."

He did not have to worry about that, Samantha Grayson was not going to go to the police, she was smarter than that. Most likely, she was going to go after them herself. For her own sake, he hoped she stayed far away because if he had to, he would not hesitate to put a bullet in her head. She signed her death certificate the day she tried to kill him.

"What did she do to you for you to end up putting her in hospital?" Thuso asked, but before he could answer, someone beat him to it.

"I think I can answer that." His hand froze at the sound of her voice. "He hurt her because of me."