Forged of Steele Bundle (Books 1-4) - Brenda Jackson [105]
“Sorry, but you’re going to have to find someone to replace him.”
Jocelyn suddenly saw red, blood-red, and she fought the urge to go find her hammer and start knocking a few heads. First Bas’s and then Reese’s. She couldn’t believe Reese had meekly followed Bas’s orders without first consulting her. “How dare you think you can come in here and—”
“He’s an illegal immigrant.”
Jocelyn’s mouth snapped shut and her gaze widened as if she’d been slapped by Bas’s words. Impossible was the first word that came into her mind. Manuel had worked for her father for almost a year. There was no way Jim Mason would have broken the law by hiring an illegal immigrant. “I don’t believe you. We have his citizenship papers on file at the office.”
Bas then said easily, “Any papers you have are bogus. When I asked to see his green card, which is the same thing an inspector would have done had he shown up here, he got nervous and confessed the truth.”
Jocelyn couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. She shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Duran Law had shown up. He was still plenty pissed about her continued refusal to go out with him. It seemed each time she’d turned him down his pride had gotten crushed. He would just love to hit her with a stiff fine and make her life miserable.
“And how did you know? I’m sure Manuel wasn’t wearing a painted sign on his forehead,” she all but snapped. A part of her was grateful Bas had saved her from possible misery under Duran’s hands, but another part of her resented that he had discovered something she hadn’t.
“I picked up on his nervousness when Reese introduced us. Trust me, in my line of work at the Steele Corporation, I’m faced with this fairly often enough. I wished there was a way around it but the law is the law.”
She glared at him. “I know the law, Bas, and I don’t have to trust you. But still, I appreciate you finding out about Manuel before I was faced with repercussions that I don’t want or need. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I was merely doing one of the things Jim brought me here to do.”
And that was what bothered Jocelyn the most, knowing her father actually had brought him here and hadn’t bothered to tell her. Jim Mason had been talking and in his right mind up to forty-eight hours before he’d died. Her father of all people knew that she didn’t like surprises and should have told her about Bas.
“Fine,” she said and began walking, annoyed when he automatically fell in place beside her. “That’s a point for you. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with my crew.”
“They aren’t here.”
She stopped and stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. She quickly rounded the wall and looked around. “Where are they? It’s only three o’clock. There’s another hour of work time left.”
Bas leaned back against an unpainted wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I gave them the rest of the day off.”
Jocelyn’s mouth dropped. She wondered why it hadn’t just fallen to the floor with his statement. “What do you mean you gave them the rest of the day off?”
“You would have done the same thing. Manuel has worked with these guys for almost a year. They’re like family. All of them were shocked that he’s in this country illegally, but they still felt bad that he won’t be working with them any longer. They like him.”
Jocelyn inhaled deeply. Bas was right. Now that she thought about it, she would have done the exact same thing. “What’s going to happen to Manuel? He has a family. A wife and child.”
“Yes, and he also admitted to receiving public assistance benefits, public education for his son, public housing and other taxpayer-funded benefits over the past year without being detected.”
Jocelyn glared. “You make him sound like a criminal,” she snapped.
“Just stating the facts, ma’am. And something else you need to remember is that illegal immigration in this country is a crime that extends to anyone giving them a job.”
“I know that, and I’m sure Dad didn’t know he was an illegal. Like I said, Manuel’s papers looked legit.”
“I’m sure Jim didn