Page 45 of Crossed Paths
I don’t smile. I barely hold my jaw in place.
“Who hired Tom?” I ask, dead calm.
She straightens a little, clearly proud of herself. “I did.”
My jaw tightens. “You did.”
“We needed staff for the gala,” she says, breezy and unfazed. “And he was available. Local lad, friendly, good with guests. Honestly, it just fell into place.”
I stare at her. “What are we paying him?”
“Eighteen an hour.”
She gives a one-shouldered shrug, still holding that bloody clipboard like it’s a shield. “We needed someone solid, fast. Sometimes you have to offer a bit extra to get the right people through the door.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it?”
“I didn’t think it was a big deal.” She actually laughs a little. “I just popped into the Running Horse for a cheeky drink last week, had a chat with him. He was good in what he was doing so I knew I needed to offer him more than that pub woman can to tempt him. Easy.”
“You poached him and two of his friends,” I say, voice sounding dangerous. “From Alexandra’s team. A few days before a wedding she’s been planning for months.”
Silvia’s smile falters. “I mean… it’s just staffing. It’s not personal.”
I take a step closer, jaw tight, chest burning.
“No. See, that’s exactly where you’ve got it wrong.” My voice is measured, but barely. “This is a village. People here help each other. They back each other. I told you from day one: the pub isn’t competition. It’s part of the same ecosystem. We support each other or we don’t last.”
She scoffs. “Well maybe it’s time someone brought things into the twenty-first century. It’s business, Hunter. If she can’t afford to keep her staff, that’s not my fault.”
“You think this is about money?” I stare at her, disbelief tightening in my throat. “You walked into her pub. You satat her bar. You looked her in the eye and then took her staff from under her nose.”
Her expression twists, defensive now. “He said he wanted to leave anyway. I didn’t force him. He made a choice.”
“Yeah, a choice you handed him on a silver platter. Right when you knew she couldn’t afford to lose him.”
She crosses her arms. “So what? You want me to apologise for doing my job?”
“I want you to understand that doing your job doesn’t mean torching someone else’s in the process.”
There’s a beat of silence, brittle and sharp.
Peter’s still behind me, quiet now, but I can feel him watching—ready to step in if I go one word further.
I take a breath and let it out slow.
“We don’t do business like this here,” I say.
Her arms are still folded, chin tilted like she’s ready to keep arguing, but I don’t give her the chance.
“And we have a recruitment process for a reason. One you didn’t follow.”
She opens her mouth, but I hold up a hand. “No references. No proper interview. You hired someone on the spot over a drink, Silvia. That’s not initiative. That’s reckless.”
“I—”
“Save it,” I cut in, my voice sharper now. “You’d better make damn sure the gala dinner tonight goes off without a hitch. I mean spotless. Because we’ll deal with this properly on Monday.”
Her mouth snaps shut.
