The Marvelous Elijah’s Return

Chapter 28

They are beautiful

“Get off the premises! Now! Get in your car and drive off!” A guy in a police uniform with a megaphone shouted at the reporters.

Some of the news crew were still confused while others were already driving off because they were afraid to get arrested for trespassing or get removed by intense force. “While is the chief constable here… Isn’t Elijah just a nobody?” A journalist whispered as the cameraman packed up their equipment. “Maybe it’s Peach. She’s a Hayes… after all, and her family name is quite powerful.” The cameraman said.

“You think? I thought after her father got kicked out of the Hayes Family house, they lost the right to such power and influence.”

“She shares a bloodline with Henry Hayes. Of course, the power and influence are still there… if she knows how to harvest it.”

“Will her step-grandma even allow her to do that? I heard Mr. Hayes’s will has never been read, and his lawyer was never given the go-ahead from his mistress to read what his dying intentions were.”

After putting his devices in his bag, the cameraman frowned and said, “Honestly, the Hayes is powerful, but to get the chief constable from behind his desk to do such fieldwork, only bigger fish than the Hayes can make this happen.” “Like who?” The Journalist asked, curiosity written all over his face. Raising the megaphone to his mouth again, the chief constable repeated in a loud voice, “No reporter is allowed on this premise! I repeat!! Absolutely no reporter, News crew, Journalists,

or photographers are allowed to come back here!!”

“This is ridiculous,” A journalist complained, shaking his head in disgust as he turned towards his colleagues to discuss the situation.

“You will get arrested for trespassing and we are allowed to use force if you refuse to listen to orders.”

“We should get in the van… like now!” The sound of a click echoed when James turned the key into the lock, and when he pulled the door open, gazing outside, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened once he saw what was going

1.

The blue and red lights from the police cars glowed and flash, and the vehicles were parked one after another in the parking lot with numerous officers standing guard outside the motel, watching the news crews’ vans drive off, one after the other.

“What’s going on?” Elijah asked as he and Matt entered the lobby.

Turning around to meet Elijah’s gaze, Ryan seemed still in a state of shock as he blurted out,” Police… they are everywhere.” Furrowing his brows, Elijah glanced at Ryan before taking a step forward, and when he got to

the open Motel’s door, he frowned, glaring outside at the flashing lights.

“Is this your doing?” James asked in disbelief, still staring back at his Boss.

“It might be Bryan doing,” Elijah said with certainty in his voice. “This is good, right?” Rookie inquired nervously, feeling like there was more to this. For a moment, Elijah remained silent before sighing, running his hand through his hair, and then he answered, “I hope so.”

When the chief constable turned his focus to the Motel entrance and saw the men crowded in the doorway, he recognized Elijah immediately from the news, and he lowered his megaphone, walking

over to them. “Elijah, right?” The chief constable asked when he was a foot away from him. “Yes,” Elijah responded, looking at the chief constable without any emotion on his face.

“How did a man like yourself get Bryan Checks to pull me out of my office?”

“I, myself, am wondering the same.” Thinking Elijah was kidding, the chief constable laughed faintly, but when he saw that Elijah remained unfazed, giving him a questioning stare, he asked, “Are you serious?” Elijah stared at him for a few seconds before nodding solemnly, “That’s correct.” The police chief constable furrowed his brow, his expression darkening as he muttered under his breath, “And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“Well, you can choose whatever to believe, sir. It’s not my job to convince you to any conclusion,” Elijah replied, his tone indifferent and uninterested, not showing any emotion whatsoever.

“Checks won’t just heat up my ass and pull me out of my office for just anyone.”

“Is that so?”

Knowing that he was never going to get the truth out of Elijah made him not mad, but more intrigued and curious than anything else.

So he sighed, scratching the side of his beard as he muttered, “You seem like a smart man, Elijah, and I think it’s obvious that Checks protecting you is very telling… So here’s my card. If you can get Checks to do this, then I wouldn’t mind a call from you or to help you in the future. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed it to Elijah, waiting for his response.

“Thanks,” Elijah said calmly and took the card from his hand.

At that moment, an aging fellow with gray hair and wrinkles on his face approached the group, wearing a white shirt, black slacks, black shoes, and a dark gray tie. “Greetings,” He said in a humble tone as he nodded at the chief constable.

“A pleasant morning to you,” The chief constable responded with a nod.

Taking his attention off the officer, he fixed his eyes on Elijah, took a fancy-looking black envelope out of his pocket, and said, “My boss told me to hand this to you,”

“Who’s your boss?” Elijah asked, even though his first guess was Bryan. “Mr. Checks. He said it’s the invitation for your meet-up.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Taking the envelope out of the old man’s hauds, Elijah stared at it for a second before shoving it into his sweatpants pocket.

“Tell your boss that I will be there,” Elijah said, looking up at the man who was still smiling kindly at them.

“As you wish,” the older gentleman said before turning around and walking off.

For a minute, there was an awkward staring moment between the chief constable and Elijah as he gazed at Elijah’s unreadable expression.

Then he sighed and darted his gaze at Matt, James, Ryan, and Rookie before mumbling, “Well, since my work here is done, I will take my leave.”

Swaying his focus back on Elijah, he smiled faintly and said, “Don’t hesitate to use the card when you need our help. I mean it.”

With a nod, Elijah’s lips slightly pulled upwards for a split second before he said, “Sure. Thanks for your help Chief.”

“Officer?” Miss Grace mumbled as a look of horror crossed her face. “Why are the police here?

Looking back, James smiled widely at her and walked over to meet her, reassuring her,” Everything is okay, Grace. They are here to get rid of the reporters.” “Really?” Grace said, still in disbelief, even though she heard what the chief constable said on the megaphone the whole time.

“Hmm,” “Who called them?”

Silently, James eyed Elijah, and even though he didn’t utter a word, Miss Grace knew who her thanks belonged to in that instant.

After a while, the driveway was clear of all police cars and news crew vans, leaving the space empty with only Elijah’s car and the dirty pickup. Finally, Elijah turned from the doorway and focused on Miss Grace, who gave him a big smile, her eyes gleaming with relief.

“Thank you,” She said in a sincere tone. Nodding in reply, Elijah gave a faint smile before walking off, leaving her alone with Matt, James, Rookie, and Ryan. When he got into the hallway, he stopped when his gaze rested on Peach coming out of her room, closing the door quietly behind her. Then she turned, her expression becoming blank once she noticed Elijah’s presence, and then her head dropped, avoiding eye contact with him! In that instant, he realized that his words yesterday did affect her deeply, and it

made him feel horrible about causing her pain, especially because he had lied to her. Her eyes, to him, were beautiful, alluring, and full of innocence, and to him, that made her irresistible.

So much so that he had to pretend that they were deceptive because what he saw in them, he refused to believe… to trust that the kindness in her eyes, the innocence she possessed, the tenderness she showed him, was anything but lies. But now, as she stood before him, he could tell that she was hurt by his actions, and that broke his heart, shattering the walls he built around it.

He would have never expected Peach to react the way she did. He had thought she would not give a damn about his words, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, but he couldn’t deny that it was the easiest solution to solve their problem. He knew he was being selfish, but he needed time to calm down and gather himself from his divorce from Melina.

“The reporters are gone,” Elijah murmured, breaking the silence.

“They are,” Peach whispered in return, her eyes widened, yet her head still kept bowing low as she avoided his gaze.

Silently, Elijah walked over to her, placed his hand under her chin, tilting her head up until he was able to catch her eyes, and said, “Yes,”

A look of confusion flashed across her eyes, and she looked down at his hand holding her chin lightly before blinking slowly. Then she let out a breathy chuckle as if trying to relieve some tension within herself.

”That’s good then.” Peach said, lowering her head again.

But Elijah did not remove his hand from under her chin, instead, he raised it high enough so that she was forced to lift her head to look at him, her eyes still sparkling with unshed tears.

She looked so vulnerable and small standing there, almost as if she was afraid of making him angry, or worse, hurting herself by saying the wrong thing that would ruin this moment.

“It’s not you,” Elijah finally said, feeling guilty as hell. “What I said yesterday…”

“‘I know what you said, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, while you stay here… with us. You paid a good amount of money to be here, and I don’t want to be the cause of you being inconvenienced.”

“Peach,” Elijah started to say, but she beat him to it.

“I am fine. I am okay with not looking in your eyes. I can do it, so don’t worry about me, okay?

“You are…”

Pausing, Elijah frowned as he tried to form his thoughts together, trying to find something to say. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with anything, and it felt so awkward that he felt like he had no choice but to say nothing. “It’s alright, Elijah,” Peach assured, smiling softly at him. For what felt like hours, he continued to look at her, searching for any sign that she was lying,

and every time, he found none.

Eventually, after he was sure that she was telling the truth, he finally removed his hand from her chin, giving her one last soft, lingering look. “They are beautiful,” Elijah said calmly. “Your eyes,” Then he walked off, leaving Peach in stunned silence, her cheeks feeling warm as she listened to his footsteps fading away in her ears.