He turned to face the direction where his name had been called, and right in front of him was Bianca and Fred. Oh shit, Elijah thought. This was not supposed to be happening in their presence. Things were not going as he planned, so he decided to end the show before it got out of control. He reached into his other pocket to bring out his real card when Sara looked at Bianca and asked. "Ma, do you know this man?" Bianca hesitated. She looked unsure of whether to answer or not. Her eyes flickered between Elijah's and Sara's before she answered. "Yes, I do. I'm even surprised that he is in this kind of store because I know for certain that he is poor." Fred looked at his clothing and asked, "Elijah why are dressed like that? Did you steal the outfits? I'm impressed at your audacity, to think that you can afford to buy clothes from this kind of high-end store. Does your shame have no limits? But just look at you. You can take the man out of the trash but not the trash out of the man."

Fred's back was to Elijah while he spoke with the receptionist. Elijah overheard the receptionist telling Fred that she needed to confirm his appointment. He sighed and mentally braced himself for what he was sure was going to come from Fred. He moved closer to the desk and coughed gently, announcing his presence to the two unaware people.Fred was the first to turn in his direction. Fred began to snicker immediately their eyes met. He rested his elbow on the counter and leaned on the desk, his eyes roaming over Elijah's clothes before speaking. "So because you threw on a borrowed jacket on an obviously borrowed outfit, you think you can waltz in here like you own the place? Whatever happened at EM Mall cannot happen here, I'm sure of that." Elijah clenched and unclenched his teeth as returned Fred's stare. From the corner of his eye, he could see the receptionist's hands were caught in the middle of a call. She had paused when she heard Fred degrading him, the stranger, whose name s

Fred's cheeks drained of color as Lewis spoke. His gaze shifted from Lewis to Elijah, a thousand times in a matter of seconds. His eyes were wide open and bulging out, a vein rapidly pumping on his forehead, his mouth was gaped open, and confusion flashed in his eyes. Elijah wanted to feel sorry for him but no emotion came out to play. It was clear as day that Fred genuinely wanted the land.Instead of pity, an arrogant smirk spread across his lips as he watched Fred tug at his tie as if he were in a choking grip. Elijah observed him and he realized that this was just another way he could hurt these betrayers, by taking what they desired one by one. Lewis headed towards the building's entrance in a hurry to leave, but not before patting a pained-looking Fred on the back three times. After the final tap, Fred grabbed Lewis' hand and spoke hastily. "This has to be a mistake. I have been trying to get that land for a year now. Look, I know that that piece of land has been wanted by many

"Oh my God!" Vicky cried like she was short of breath. She sighed with relief as she rested her hand on her chest.Elijah, who had been staring at the guards as they hurled Mark out of the building, turned to face her and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that." "It's alright, let's go to your table.""No really, I'm genuinely sorry. I honestly wished I had gotten to him before he laid his hands on you.""It's honestly fine sir." Vicky replied, her voice sounding airy, as her tone dropped to a lighter note, "I can see that you come fully loaded with trouble, everyone has their demons that rear their ugly head once in a while, hurting the people close to them, so it's really okay. Can we go to your table now?" Elijah nodded as she spoke. He was grateful for her. Any other person would have walked out, taking him back to square one of finding a loyal vice president. They both walked to a table that was in a way separated from the rest of the tables in the restaurant. It was set u

Elijah's body lost all of the excitement that had been coursing through it before Cora's unexpected call. He understood immediately that Cora wasn't talking about his own home, she was talking about Connecticut, and he knew because her tone sounded too serious. He slightly pushed Mia away from him and pulled up his joggers. His phone was wedged between his ear and shoulders as he rose from the chair and causally apologized to Mia, who was sitting on the rug, staring right back at him. He walked a few steps away from her, towards the window, and switched the phone's position to his other ear. "What's going on?" "Clara says we need to have a family meeting." "That witch is the reason you called me. You should know better Cora." "Grandpa is in support of it. He refuses to tell me what is going on. I was shocked when he told me to inform you, given how close you two are." Elijah smiled. He knew what Lucas had done. Yes, they were close as thieves, but when it came to Cora, Elijah wou