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“We have reason to believe you have illegal immigrants in your employment.” He produces a piece of paper, and I snatch it out of his hand. “The warrant.”
“The warrant for what?”
“To search the premises.”
I baulk at him. “For people? You think I’m harboring illegal immigrants?”
“Just following some intelligence.”
“You’re not searching my premises,” I assure him. Fuck me, I’ll lose every fucking member I have.
He smiles, and it’s a smug smile. I want to punch it off his face. “We’ve already conducted the search,” he says, plucking the warrant from between my fingers. “We don’t need your permission, Mr. Ward. Hence the warrant.” He turns and points, and I look past him. I see Mario and Rosa sitting in the corner looking a little bewildered. “As an employer, you are obliged to check potential employees’ papers.” He faces me again. “Did you?”
My teeth grind. Someone’s stirring shit. I turn to John, finding he’s displaying utter disbelief. “Everyone who works for me is here legally,” I say, fucking fuming. “If you’d contacted me instead of ram-raiding my establishment unannounced on one of the busiest nights of the week and scaring all of my members away, I would have saved you all this trouble.”
“No trouble.” He smiles. “Like I said, just acting on intelligence.”
“Well, your intelligence is shit,” I say as Sarah approaches with a file. The file I must need. I accept it when she hands it over and shove it in the officer’s chest. “The papers for every foreign member of my staff.”
His face undeniably drops as he takes the file, his eyes remaining on me as he backs up and lowers to a chair. He starts flicking through, and the further he flicks, the more his nostrils flare. I can’t even begin to imagine the cost of such an operation. All for nothing.
“Now, if you don’t mind.” I sweep my arm out toward the door, smiling as smugly as he did not so long ago. “Unless, of course, you’d like to stay and play?”
I can see Sarah beside me, and I definitely see the subtle thrust forward of her boobs. And then her whip appears. For once, I smile at it.
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Ward,” Baxter says, standing and tilting his head toward his army of officers.
“Welcome.” I watch as they all file out and as soon as they have gone, I go straight to Rosa and Mario. “Are you okay?” I ask. Rosa nods, her eyes daunted, and Mario shakes his head, his arms going up in the air in exasperation.
“I come here for twenty years. Twenty! I work hard. I pay my taxes.”
I try to smile through my straight lips. “I know, my friend.” I give his shoulder a rub. “Get home, both of you. And take tomorrow off.”
“No, Mr. Ward,” Rosa says, waggling her finger at me. “I must work.”
“No, you will take a day off,” I insist. The woman doesn’tstopworking. “Paid,” I add, stopping her from arguing, because that’s the issue here. Money. “Go,” I order harshly, and they’re both up, passing me, Mario thanking me in Italian, Rosa in Spanish.
I close my eyes and breathe some calm into my lungs. “Someone’s got it in for me,” I say, hearing John’s huff of unamused laughter. I turn and find his glasses have been removed and he’s rubbing at his eyes. “Any offers?”
“Too fucking many,” he rumbles, shaking his head. “And I want a key to your apartment.”
“Why?”
“So I don’t have to smash your door down again if you go AWOL.”
“I won’t be going AWOL.” Not ever again.
“Get me a key,” John grates, and I submit, holding my hands up.
“And me,” Sarah adds.
“Why doyouwant a key?”
She looks indignant. “I had one to your rental.”
Yes, but that was then. “I—” I’m just gonna cause an argument if I protest this, and I can’t be fucking bothered. “Fine. I’ll get Sam and Drew one while I’m at it too.”
“Good. I’ll take this back to the office.” John slides the file off the table and heads out, leaving me with Sarah. I can feel her studying me, but I’m a little afraid to face her.
