Anything For Grace

Chapter 12

Elijah's POV...

I entered my penthouse to find Alexa sitting on my couch, enjoying my wine. She was flickering through the channels, trying to find something worth watching, but she normally doesn't watch television. I assumed she was going back to Los Angeles today, but apparently, she's still in town. She looked pissed, with a stress vein popping out of her forehead as she swirled her glass and cocked her leg on her knee.

I take my coat off and set it on a chair. "Can I help you?"

"The Kings are loose again," she answers back with an annoyed tone. "Whatever Santiago and Rafael told them, it was vital information. They took over the Commons."

The Commons were a popular neighborhood in Columbus and to hear we lost the turf, my mood switched. "Fuck!" I undo my tie.

"Fuck is right, my brother." She sets her glass onto the coffee table and flicks the television off. "Have you thought about some policies to put into motion? I was thinking we get Maxwell to get his boys over to Commons and secure the perimeter, shooting any one of the Kings."

"That's too risky and not a good idea."

She folds her arms, "Well risky is my middle name, you know that. Got any better idea?"

"I don't," I admit, knowing she'll be pissed to hear it.

Alexa's eyebrows furrow in disgust as I admit my priorities. "Do you have any idea what this means? If we don't come up with a plan to reclaim our territory, you can kiss Columbus goodbye!"

"Don't you think I know that?"

"You've been very distracted lately, and distraction is intolerable." She scolds, hissing. She stands up and walks over to me. "Who is she?"

"What?" I questioned.

"Who the fuck is she?" She states through a clear and crisp tone. Alexa has studied my body language since she was able to talk. She knows when I'm off my game and I know she knows. She walks over to my laptop and opens it, showing Penelope's mugshot. "Talk," she orders.

"It's no one." I closed it. "You're going through my laptop now? Where's your sense of privacy?"

"No, we're going to talk about it, Elijah. Do not brush this off. Your mind is somewhere else and that's what's going to kill our business." She cocks her hip out and when she does, she will not rest until she gets her acceptable answer.

I roll my eyes and move into the living room. I needed space. "It's seriously no one."

"That fooled me before, remember Beverly."

I look at her. I cringed at that name and she knew that got underneath my skin. "Don't."

"Elijah, we're at stake of losing Columbus to the Kings. If you had only the same energy you're spending with this whore, then we wouldn't be sitting ducks."

"She's not a whore," I defend. She may have whore-ish ways, but she's not a whore.

Alexa chuckles, nodding her head. "Right, she's not a whore, but I know how you love your whores."

"I'm not in the mood right now."

"I don't give a shit what you're in the mood for." She ignores, not comprehending my attitude towards this conversation. "If we don't come up with something to bring the Kings down, we're out of business here."

"Don't you find this tiring sometimes? We're always coming up with schemes."

"No," she blurts, "No! I don't. What happened to us taking over the world? This world we were born into?" She joins me on the couch. "I'm calling Maxwell and I'm sending his boys. That's our territory and we're not giving it up because you're running around with some stupid heifer."