The Marvelous Elijah's Return novel Chapter 108

Over my dead body 

In the left corner of the casino, at the red leather couches, Elmer Hayes sat with his table covered with expensive wines and snacks. 

A couple of young girls sat on his right and left side as he and his old friends sat around a mahogany table in front of him, drinking and Elmer took the deck of cards in his hand. 

“Okay... this time, I am going all in!” He laughed loudly, slapping the cards together on top of each other before pushing them into the center of the table, “I bet five million dollars on this 

one...” 

Immediately an awkward silence circled among his friends and he instantly noticed their disturbed and hesitant gazes toward him. 

“Don‘t be such a mood killer and place your bets!” Elmer smiled, trying to diffuse the tension around him. 

“I don‘t have that kind of money to bet on cards....” His friend Lucas said looking at the cards and Elmer could tell he was lying by the expression on his face. 

“Come on man we‘re all good here… just make your damn bet and play, no need to be shy” Elmer smiled widely, nudging Lucas‘s arm. 

“No. I don‘t feel like this is a game, but a cocky move to rob us of our money...” “What?!” 

Even though he knew Lucas hit the nail right on the head, and he was right about him cunning them to get money, he screwed his face in annoyance as soon as he heard it. 

“Why are you guys acting like sour grapes? Come on, just chill your asses down and play some cards” Elmer laughed again, taking a swig from his champagne glass and throwing his head back as much as he could while doing so. 

But that didn‘t seem to do anything to ease the tension between the group, and they were still staring at him like he lost his mind or something, which irritated him even more than he already was. 

“We heard of what that boy... Elijah... Did to you, and how you lost the company to your dead step–brother daughter because of him... You are broke, ain‘t you?” Jenkin said, a hint of anger in his voice. 

“Right...” Lucas sighed, “You have never bet this high before... Do you even have five million to give any of us if we win this round?” 

The way his friend‘s tone had suddenly changed against him, and how they were talking down to him left Elmer pissed off, and he glared at his friends, saying, “That lowlife day is numbered on this earth! Do you think a Hayes like myself will allow a punk shit all over me and continue to have air in his lungs for more than a week?!” “Is that so?” Mr. Bamford‘s voice startled the group, he came up behind Elmer‘s seat, smiling at Lucas who immediately shut his mouth when he felt the chief constable‘s intimidating presence, and saw the four officers standing behind him. “At a casino in broad daylight, Mr. Hayes... Isn‘t three o‘clock a little bit early for playing card 

games?” Mr. Bamford raised his brow at him. 

Remembering how the chief put him in handcuffs and sided with Elijah, Elmer felt rage and annoyance towards the chief constable‘s presence and he blurted out, “I am a free man. Bamford. It‘s my damn right to be wherever, whenever I want!” 

“I see, ... That‘s the mindset that messed you up and dragged you in this deep, sticky mud,” Mr. Bamford said in a serious and cold tone. 

Pissed off by the chief response, Elmer hit his glass on the table and lashed out, “What the hell is an honorable man like yourself doing in a casino when you should be playing some superhero for the civilians?!” 

“Looking for a dishonorable man like you, so I can be the superhero for a company that is dying because of the accounting fraud you and the board of directors committed!” Bamford retorted back in a cocky voice.