The Marvelous Elijah's Return

A death wish

There was a long pause as Dice stared calmly at Elijah, his expression blank and emotionless, not

breaking eye contact with him.

“You got some powerful people on your ass,” Dice remarked, crossing his arms against his chest, waiting

for Elijah’s reaction. “Why?”

Elijah didn’t budge as he stared back at Dice, not saying a word, and he didn’t give anything away, nor

gave any hint to Dice as to what he was feeling by those words. “The Hayes… the rat works for the

Hayes family, mainly Dean Hayes.” Dice paused again for another second, making sure his words were

completely understood.

Silently, Elijah eyed Matt, seeing the look of concern and wor etched on his features, and he then shifted

his gaze over at Dice.

A faint frown surfaced on Rick’s lips as he looked at Larry and mumbled, “Didn’t the news say that

Melina’s ex-husband is a worthless stay-at-home husband with nothing to his name except his desire to

leech off her wealth, so how is this guy before us the same man on the news.”

“I’m not sure. Our new leader does not have the appearance of a loser… In fact, I think he’s playing us

all, and there is more to him… What secrets do you think he’s hiding?” Larry whispered, not moving his

eyes off Elijah.

A brief silence followed his words and when he eyed Rick, his partner finally mumbled, “I don’t know. But

what troubles me is why he’s putting himself at risk by choosing such enemies like the Hayes family,”

“Maybe he got a death wish.” Barron teased from the back, listening in on the two conversations

“Or maybe he’s a worthy opponent for such a powerful family,” Dickson said, and all three men looked

sideways at him with an expression that clearly asked, “Are you okay?!” “How long has Jerome been

watching the motel?” Elijah wondered, trying to read Dice carefully. “Why was he doing so?” “Since he

got out of the hospital. We didn’t get a call from you, so he decided to check up on you, but when he got

to the motel a few days ago, that’s when he noticed Vlad, snooping around the front of the building.”

“And you didn’t mention this until now… Why?” Elijah raised one of his eyebrows and asked Dice, not

wanting to trust a word he was being told.

Dice sighed deeply, and looked down, hesitating, unable to look directly at Elijah without flinching, and

then he said, “We wanted to make sure that he was a threat… Well, we know that he is dangerous

generally… but we wanted to know how much of a threat he was to you.”

“He’s dangerous…” Elijah stated bluntly, looking at Matt as he did so. Raising his gaze, Dice met Elijah’s

eyes with a dead – serious expression and said, “I guess you

don’t know about the underground world of Syldavia. I know Vlad, and he’s not just a simple watchdog.

He is also an underdog that will do whatever is requested for the right price… including a kill order.”

Silence followed those words, and after a while, Elijah slowly lowered his head and closed his eyes,

thinking things through. Then, opening them again, he said, “What was his order from Dean?”

“To investigate you. He said Dean is suspicious of you, and he wants to find out more about just who you

are. your every move at the motel was reported back to Dean by Vlad,” Dice explained calmly

His Index finger subconsciously stroked his lips as Elijah took in those words, thinking about them

silently, and eventually, he nodded his head and murmured, “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I

appreciate you guys helping me out so far.” “No problem, boss! Anytime you need backup, don’t hesitate

to ask,” Dice replied with a warm smile, flashing Elijah his teeth.

After nodding faintly, Elijah tumed towards his car but stopped y en Dice asked, “You are leaving?”

“Is there more?” Elijah questioned, glancing toward Matt, and then returned his gaze to Dice.

“What do we do with Vlad? Do you want to see him?”

“No… Release him and keep an eye on him. Report back to me about his movement.”

There was a brief pause, and then Elijah met Dice’s gaze and asked, “Does he know who you guys work

for?”

“No, we blindfolded him and never mentioned your name during our little conversation.” Dice replied

honestly

With a slight nod, he gave a faint smile and said, “Good. I will wire some cash into your account today for

this new assignment. Put an eagle over Vlad’s head and don’t let anything slip by you guys. I want to

know Dean’s next move.”

When Dice nodded, Elijah turn back to his car, eyed Matt, and said, “Let’s go,”

Quietly, Matt watched Dice, Jerome, and the men with a stiff expression for an intense second before he

opened the door and climbed into his vehicle, following behind Elijah, who had already gotten in his car

The ride back to the motel was quiet for a moment as Matt pondered over what just happened, looking

out the window with his expression unreadable.

It was at that point that the atmosphere in the car seemed to become tense, and Matt finally spoke up,

saying, “Boss, how about next time you don’t take such a risk like that again.”

Eyeing Matt for a second with confusion and a slight look of annoyance, Elijah smiled sarcastically and

replied simply, “Life is about taking risks. It’s either take chances or live with regrets… Take it or leave it.”