Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Anasty lawsuit
The sorrow of a mother’s desperate plea was something Elijah had never experienced before, and he was not sure how to respond at this point.
The look on Miss Grace’s face showed pain and concern, as well as desperation, and Elijah knew even though he wanted no burden of such responsibility since his entire focus was on raising to power and having his revenge, he couldn’t say no and be the bad guy when this woman, who had lost so much, was on her knees, begging him to save her daughter. ‘This mother and daughter know how to push every single nerve ending of mine.’ Elijah thought as a tear rolled down Miss Grace’s cheek. ‘But… I guess I will have to put all the hard feelings aside because Peach does need help… and do everything in my power to make sure she stays safe, at least for now.’ Smiling weakly at Miss Grace, he gently grabbed both her arms and said, “Please stand up first.
Although she looked reluctant, Miss Grace obeyed and stood up slowly.
Once she managed to stand straight, Elijah sighed and said, “I am not making any promises or commitments, but as long as Peach needs my help, I will do my best.”
“Thank you, Elijah.” Miss Grace smiled brightly, wiping her eyes. “That’s all I can ask for.”
The sound of the door opening got both their attention, and when Elijah looked back, he saw Peach smiling in the doorway with a paper in her hand, mumbling happily, “We are clear to go home!”
Although her eyes were moist, it was alluring and beautiful with a glimpse of hope inside of them, and her happiness made Elijah feel a bit lighter.
When Peach looked directly at him, a big smile stretched across her face, but Elijah did not react, yet his gaze didn’t stray from her as she pouted with a sniff and said, “Thank you,”
‘You are such a wild card with your emotions that I don’t know how to handle you.’ Elijah thought with a slight smile on his lips. Then Miss Grace startled him a little when she touched his shoulder lightly, and he snapped his attention back to her.
“I don’t know you… at least not that long… but they say people enter your life, not by coincidence, but to change it for the better or worse, or to teach you a lesson. Thank you for helping us.” Miss Grace said softly, smiling gratefully at him.
The emotions from these two were overwhelming Elijah, and he darted his eyes around until they rested on Miss Grace’s pack bag, and he let out, “Umm, I will take that, and then we can get going.”
Then Elijah stepped past Miss Grace and took the mini bag from the table before turning back to gaze at both of them and saying, “We should head out.”
Nodding, Peach gave him a weak sinile, and then walked over to her mother, hugging onto her arm as she said, “Mama, let’s go.”
The three walked out of the room, and Elijah watched the backs of Peach and Miss Grace. At
that instant, he didn’t know what emotion was rising in his chest as he followed behind them silently.
Everything was calm as the three left the hospital, but when they got to the parking lot, a swamp of journalists came out of the blue and rushed toward them.
The pure look of horror on Miss Grace’s face as these reporters surrounded them deepened, Peach rushed in front of her mother, shouting at them, “Back off please! What is wrong with you guys!”
“Is it true that Melina divorced her husband because of you… because she caught you in bed with Elijah, a week ago?” A journalist asked with a microphone in his hand, pointing it at Peach.
“What the fuck!” Elijah mumbled, his brows furrowed, his lips pressed into a firm line. Then he snapped out of his reverie and opened the back door of his car, tossing the bag in before gently grabbing Miss Grace’s arm and pulling her towards the back seat, helping her in and closing the door. “Peach, come on, answer the question!! Why did you ruin your cousin’s marriage… Did you do it out of spite or jealousy?!” An angry reporter yelled, pushing the microphone at her face. “Can you back off?!” Peach cried as more reporters gathered around her, yelling out questions and shoving their microphones into her face. Frowning, Elijah grabbed Peach by her wrist and pulled her towards him, causing her to bump into him, her face buried in his chest, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, trying to shield her body and her head from the onslaught of questions.
“Elijah, how could you bite the hand that fed you all those years? Was committing adultery with Melina’s cousin really worth ruining your marriage?!” A reporter shouted at him. Without a response, Elijah escorted Peach to the front passenger seat door, opened it, and helped her inside the car.
Then he closed the door and as he was walking over to the other side, reporters kept pushing their mics in his face, and one of them asked, “How could you do such a thing? Have you no remorse for poor Melina?” “Get out of my face!” Elijah snapped at them in frustration, forcing his way through them.
But one journalist refused to move away despite the others doing the same, so Elijah looked into his crazy eyes, saying firmly, “Step aside now!” “You are a piece of work, you know.” The guy sneered with a raised eyebrow, pushing his microphone in Elijah’s face. “Meline is so beautiful and you betrayed her. You are a sick son of a bitch-”
Before he could end his statement, the rest of his words got lost in his head when Elijah’s fist connected with his nose, breaking it and sending him backward. As everyone else gasped in shock, he bent down, clapping his palm over his bleeding nostril, and shouted, “You fucking piece of shit. I will sue your ass! I swear!!!
“Great!!” Elijah snapped as he walked past him.
None of the other reporters were brave enough to follow him or uttered a word as they
speechlessly watched him walk to the driver’s side door and open it, get into the car, and slammed his door. When Elijah turned the key, Peach stared at his bruised knuckles with an aching heart, but she was too upset by everything that had happened for her to say a word. So she stared at the window, blinking back tears as they blurred her vision, and her head slowly rested against the glass as Elijah put the car in gear and drove out of the parking lot. After a few minutes of silence, Elijah looked over at her, his gaze softening slightly, but just barely. Then he looked into the v-mirror, knowing how traumatic the situation was, and asked, “Are you okay, Miss Grace?” “Hmm,” She whispered while avoiding eye contact with him. “I’m fine.” The rest of the drive was quiet except for Peach softly sniffling and the low music that played through the speakers.
A frown crossed Matt’s face as he stared hard at his phone screen. Then he immediately sat up on the couch, scowling even harder now.
“What the hell is this!” He blurted out as he watched the clip over of Elijah punching the reporter square in the nose.
Then he jumped to his feet, rushed out of his room, and shouted out as he walked down the hall, “Guys!!”
In a split second, the doors began opening, and Ryann was the first to rush out of his room, and into the hall, letting out, “Boss just knock the shit out of one dude!”
“Does anyone have the full story of what happened?!” James cried as he stepped into the corridor, seeing the two. “Damn!! Our boss just punched the living daylights out of some reporter!” Rookie exclaimed, meeting them in the corridor. “He literally hit him right on the nose!” “I have only seen the twenty-second clip!” Matt exclaimed, crossing his arms. “Someone just leaked the video!”
“It’s all over the news already…” James groaned as he shook his head, pinching his forehead.” Just what kind of trouble is happening now?”
“This looks like a nasty lawsuit,” Rayn stated, sighing heavily and scratching the back of his neck as he stared at his phone screen. “I wish that there was more to the video. At least that will give me an idea of how to approach this in the boss’ favor.”
“That looks like the hospital parking lot!” Rookie exclaimed, raising a confused brow. “Didn’t he and Peach leave to pay miss Grace’s hospital bills, so how…” “Only the boss can answer this,” Matt interrupted as he narrowed his eyes, looking very uneasy. “Should I call him?” James questioned, reaching up with his fingers and running over his hair nervously. “Nah! If this happened recently, then my best guess is he’s driving. With the situation at hand, we don’t want to cause him more stress than he already has to deal with,” Matt explained, shaking his head.
“True. We just have to wait for the boss to get home.” Ryan agreed with a nod. With that, the four of them walked into the lobby, taking a seat in the comfortable chairs near the desk and focusing on the entrance of the motel. The black car came to a stop in the parking lot of the motel twenty minutes later, and Elijah caught off the engine. Then he looked over at Peach, but she shoved the door open, and walked out, ignoring her mother calling, “Peach, darling…!” A sigh escaped Elijah’s lips as he watched her push the glass door open before he looked back at Miss Grace, seeing her reaching for the bag, and said, “Leave it. I will bring it in.” With a shaky smile, Miss Grace nodded and then got out of the car, shutting the door behind her.
“Peach,” James called out softly, hesitating when he saw her cheeks wet and her eyes red.
Silently, she walked past the four men and hurried into the hallway, leaving them speechlessly staring at each other.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
Then Ryan saw the door open, and his gaze rested on Miss Grace, causing him to smile, but the look on her face made him falter, she looked completely broken and pale, almost lifeless.
“What happened?” Rookie asked, almost in a whisper. “Good afternoon,” Miss Grace said with a faint smile as she stared at the four men. Then she walked off, leaving them in utter confusion and worry to answer back. Finally, Elijah walked through the door and all four of them stood from their seats with a look of concern etched across their faces as they saw the bitter expression on their boss’ face. “What happened?” James asked cautiously.