The Marvelous Elijah’s Return

Chapter 29

Did you steal that

The sound of her office door opening made Melina raise her head and looked at Josh, the reporter that Elijah punched.

his nose had a bandage on it, and it was still swollen, and Melina’s brows snapped at the sight of him.

“What are you doing here?! I told you to call me. Not show up in my face, and not without warning me!” Melina said, resting back in her chair, crossing her arms against her chest and narrowing her eyes as she stared at him. “I just got laid off from my job!” Josh said as he sat in the empty seat in front of her desk. A look of confusion filled Melina’s face as she cocked her right eyebrow, waiting for him to explain further.

“The news I covered about Elijah and your cousin was pulled down from the media,” Josh said, making her look at him in shock.

“What?!” Melina exclaimed, her voice cracking as she spoke through clenched teeth. “Who would dare cross me and my family like that?!”

“My boss said the news offended someone powerful and he couldn’t risk us getting involved with a scandal by spreading such bad rumors. So, he decided to pull the plug on everything we published about Elijah.”

“Someone powerful? Are we still talking about my ex-husband?!”

“Who else did you hire me to spread those stupid stories about?” The raise in his tone made Melina clench her jaw tightly, her eyes turning into slits as she glared at him angrily as she coldly uttered, “Don’t forget who presence you are in. I will advise you to not piss me off,” Josh simply grinned at her and replied, “I’m just a humble reporter… Well was a reporter, so I won’t dare-” “I can make your life a

whole lot worse than losing your job, so I suggest you watch what you say before speaking. Got it?” Grinning even wider, Josh leaned forward and winked before saying, “Got it.”

“Did your boss tell you who this powerful person was that is suddenly backing my ex husband?!” Melina asked, raising an eyebrow. “No, he didn’t. But he wrote me a check and told me to forget about the charge I plan to file against Elijah for punching me. He said that I would be doing myself a favor if I don’t mess with such a man.”

“What the hell is going on?!” At that moment, a knock came on the door, and both Melina and Josh turned their heads toward it, seeing Celina, a journalist, walking into the room.

You too?!” Melina exclaimed, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Sorry, but I desperately need to talk to you,” Celina said, shrugging apologetically,

“What is it?!”

“‘The chief of police showed up at the motel and demanded all reporters to leave the premises. According to him, we are not allowed to stay at the motel any day, or else we will be arrested for trespassing.”

Melina closed her eyes briefly and nodded, knowing that if the chief of police had arrived at the motel and insisted, then there was a serious reason for why. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“But why is he willing to go against the Hayes for my ex-husband’s sake… A man with no title, no money, and no power, or connections?!” Melina asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Nothing was adding up… It made no sense whatsoever to her! Why did the Chief of Police want to protect Elijah, when he was just a man that lived off her for years and had nothing to his name.

“Is this Peach doing?” Melina mumbled beneath her breath, shaking her head and laughing humorlessly. “The chief of police though. There is no way she has a connection to pull that kind of strings,”

With a confused look on their faces, Josh and Celina glanced questioningly at Melina, but neither of them had any idea what she was talking about.

“But I could be wrong, can I,” Melina muttered, closing her eyes once more as her thoughts ran rampant through her mind, making her feel dizzy.

For years Peach has kept her distance away from the family and refused to acknowledge their existence, so Melina had never seen her as a threat or competition.

But she refused to believe that Elijah had the means to convince the Chief of Police to stand up for them, so that left her with only one explanation… Peach and her mother. After all, her father is the biological and first son of the Hayes family.

‘I think it’s time to snip my cousin before her wing grows, and she starts flapping it,’Melina thought to herself with a smirk as the corner of her lips curled upward.

Standing outside the room, Matt knocked on his boss’s door and waited patiently for him to open it.

Once Elijah did, Matt cleared his throat and said, “Are you okay…? You have been in here for quite a while.”

“I am,” Elijah mumbled, looking at James, Ryan, and Rookie standing behind Matt.

Then he stepped aside and waited for them to walk into his room before shutting the door closed behind him, turning to face the four of them.

“What is in the envelope?” James asked, looking at his boss with concern clear on his face.

The truth that he would never tell his men is that he got lost in his thoughts and feelings after he met Peach, and he forgot about the envelope. Reaching into his pocket, Elijah took out the fancy black envelope and carefully opened it. Taking out the letter inside, he read it out loud slowly, “Invitation to ‘League private club’at’ Hotel Del Rey…”

Taking out his phone, Rookie stared at it, ignoring the others and focusing on his screen. Then after a moment, he mumbled, “That’s the club for Elite men in the country… I just research it and only the rich, famous, and important people get invited.” “Checks said there was no catch behind the invitation, just a drink. But why invite me to such a club?” Elijah questioned himself, frowning.

“Why is this Bryan Checks guy so obsessed with you anyways?” Ryan asked. Putting the invitation back into the folder, Elijah sighed before replying, “It beats me.” The room fell quiet, nobody having another thing to say until Rookie finally raised his gaze from his phone and suggested hesitantly, “Because his grandfather is from Bordoria.”

Everyone’s attention snapped towards Rookie when he said that, but Elijah remained silent.

“His grandfather owned a big corporation there.. My best guess about why he is obsessed with you is because he knows exactly who you are.” Rookie said nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Maybe he probably already knew that your dad is a billionaire and has a huge business empire.”

“Well, meeting this dude just became quite interesting,” Elijah murmured. “Now, let’s see what he wants from me.”

At seven fifty-nine, Matt drove the black Mercedes SUV up to a tall skyscraper, Hotel Del Rey, downtown and stopped the car in the parking lot.

After parking the car, Matt took off his sunglasses, wore it, and got down from the vehicle, approaching Elijah’s door side.

When he opened the door, Elijah stepped out in black jeans, a navy coat, and a plain white shirt underneath, with sneakers on his feet.

When he and Matt entered the hotel, he was immediately recognized by a bunch of people because of the news about Peach and him, in the hospital parking lot.

The whispering immediately began and people were giving Elijah dirty looks, not even hiding the fact that they were judging him harshly for ruining his marriage with Melina and cheating on her with her cousin.

Of course, even though some people chose to whisper, others didn’t try to hide it, and a flashy dress gentleman walked over to the counter, where Elijah was and started to talk loudly, “It’s funny how someone can have a precious Diamond and yet, goes around collecting filthy rock.”

It was clear to Elijah that Melina was the diamond and Peach was the filthy rock to this dude, and that made Elijah pissed, but he tried his best to calm himself down before confronting the bastard.

“Excuse me,” Elijah said calmly, resting his elbow on the counter, looking at the dude in his eye with a cold expression. “Is there something you want to say to my face, pal?!”

Taking back by Elijah’s words, the man smirked arrogantly before replying, “Do you have clearance to be here, or did you come to cause problems as you did for your marriage?!” Sneering, Elijah pulled out the invite from his pocket and rested on the desk, saying to the receptionist, “I have a meet-up with.” “How did you get that?!” The dude blurted out, his eyes widening at the sight of the invite.”

Did you steal that from someone out there at a hotel?”

At this point, Elijah’s patients were running thin with this fellow, but he knew eyes were on him, and he didn’t want to act like a fool and give this guy satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.

Keeping his cool facade, Elijah simply replied to the guy, “No, 1-” “Get security and do not let this thief get away with this disgusting behavior.” The asshole shouted angrily