𝐏𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬↠The Rookie

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷

"Do you think you intimidate me?" Colette asked the man in front of her, they were both seated together at an outside table, along with two other men.

"I'm not trying to, Colette," Elijah responded from across the table, looking at the woman.

Colette gave no sign of fear, or even intimidation, as much as Elijah would have liked her to. She looked at him directly, almost with her eyes, and remained unblinking for a few seconds. She then simply shrugged off his reply.

"Don't bullshit me. I know what you're going for here."

"The flowers, the same car driving past my house every couple of days, now I don't know what went on with you and Rocco but all I know is that being associated with you and your fucking goons is probably what got him killed," Colette's jaw clenched as she spoke to the man, the two had only met a few times before, enough to be acquainted but not enough for her to realise who he was at the time. 

"Colette," Elijah said quietly, trying to hold back some kind of feeling that was burning inside him. "You don't want to go down this road. You'll regret it."

"What will I regret, because you can't kill me, we both know that it'd cause way too much traction to you, so..." She trailed off, knowing he was getting the hint.

"You're right, I can't make a move on you," Elijah admitted. "But I can make your life a hell." His tone was threatening but his words were true. Without physical action though, Colette didn't seem particularly bothered. "The car is just to remind you I'm watching."

"You see Elijah," She laughed bitterly, "All that money in offshore banking that you're using to fund a lot of things, you try anything and one day you're gonna wake up and they'll have magically been seized..." She raised a brow at him as she tapped on the table.

Elijah stayed dead silent for a few moments before a smile appeared across his face. "You've done your research. Impressive." The air in the area suddenly felt heavy, and the wind seemed to die down a little, as if even nature itself was waiting to see how Colette would respond.

"It's not research if it's easy to find, your ability to keep everything under wraps is... incredibly poor," She took a sip from her glass, looking back at him.

"Maybe that's because I don't care what you might find," Elijah said, a smirk coming back across his face. He knew the effect his words would have, and he enjoyed pushing those buttons. "Besides, you can't just 'seize' my money. You'd need some kind of warrant."

"I'm no police officer, that's your mistake," Colette spoke, her tone low.

The tone of the conversation had taken on a more ominous feeling. Elijah wasn't too sure what to make of it. "Then what are you insinuating, exactly?" He asked, trying to hide the fact that he might be a little worried by Colette's cryptic replies.

"I'm not insinuating anything, what I am saying is you keep that black SUV away from my house and I won't tell Enzo that it was you cooperating with the Feds that got everyone arrested at Rocco's funeral," Her face was still and stern as she looked at the man in front of her.

"And if I don't do that?" Elijah's tone was equally as strong. There was no give in him and he wasn't going to bend for this woman.

"Then I'm magically putting in a tip with the FBI about all that money in those accounts and they'll figure the rest out themselves," She knew she way playing with fire but it was the only way to get the man off of her back, he'd been taking advantage of her standoffishness for too long.

Elijah sat still for a few moments, a smirk still plastered on his face. "It's quite interesting that you know all of this." He said, still playing the game. "What makes you think the money isn't completely legitimate?"