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“A clean record,” I tell him.

“What?” The gormless look on his face has me chuckling.

“A little birdy told me that you can’t keep helping Elle out with the group without a clean background check. Well, you now have a clean background. I had a friend look into your past indiscretions and we’ve managed to convince a judge to overrule the previous conviction as a misdemeanour and the two cautions have been wiped from record all together. None of your crimes were of a violent nature and you were still a child in the eyes of the law when you went astray, so a judge has agreed to a clean record to ensure you continue with your good work in the community.”

“I…I-I don’t know what to say,” he stutters. “Thank you so much.” He’s shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re welcome. You made an impression with my kid, and I have a feeling you can do great things with helping people.” I point my finger in his face. “But if I hear about you doing anything stupid in the future and fucking this up, I will come for you, boy. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” he says with a huge grin. “Would it be weird to hug you?”

“Totally weird, dude,” Larry pipes up and this time, I flick the back of his head and pull Romeo in for a quick, back-slapping hug.

By the time I get back to the bar, Stuart has made an appearance, standing close to Annika, and sending me death threats with his eyes.

“Stuart,” I greet with a nod and as expected, he says nothing in return. “Rainha, can we talk?”

“No,” she says plainly, looking at the stage where Elle is currently saying goodbye to her adoring crowd.

“Annika—”

“She said no, now back the fuck off,” Stuart growls, stepping up to me.

I turn to face him, bringing us chest to chest. “I just need a minute.”

“Oh, aye? Well, sometimes you can’t always get what you need, lad. So, I’ll tell you once again. Back. The fuck. Off.”

“What do you think I’m going to do here, Stuart? Arrest her? I just want to talk.”

“Boy, I will put a bullet in your fucking brain if you keep pushing me,” he growls.

Next thing I know, Brent is next to us, bigger than us both and pissed the fuck off. “There will be no bullets flying in this club. Now both of you learn to play nice or I’ll take you both out.

“It’s okay, Stuart.” Annika’s authoritative voice cuts through and we all take a step back. “Javier and I will head outside to talk. Stay here and I’ll call you when I’m ready to go.”

Stuart doesn’t look happy but doesn’t get in my way when I step around him to follow Annika out the door.

“Good luck.” Hayden chuckles into his tumbler with amber liquid in it. Smug fuck.

I lean in to speak to him. “You know I would have cleared the record whether you helped me or not, right?”

“Of course,” he says without looking at me. “That’s why I helped.”

Stepping outside, the air is much cooler and fresher and I can breathe easier. Annika pulls a jacket over her blouse and walks away from the club and gathering crowd at the entrance. I fall in line to walk beside her, the two of us silent for a few minutes.

When we’re finally away from anyone who could hear, she turns to me. “Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you.”

I stop to turn to her. “Because if you wanted to do that, you would have done it by now.”

“Don’t pretend to know me,detective.”

“But I do know you,rainha. And it’s not detective anymore.”

She huffs out a humourless laugh. “So, you got fired for real, did you?”

“No, I quit.”

“Why?”