My Convict

10-Sighting

+Brandy

"Daddy, why are you wearing a fake mustache?" Elliot questions from the backseat of the car. He sat up, looking at Elijah, a new book in his hand as he waited for an answer.

Turning to look at Elijah, I place my chin on my hand, waiting for an answer as well. "Yeah, daddy how come you're wearing a mustache? Especially one that doesn't go with your features." 

Elijah rolls his eyes, pushing his ball cap further down to cover his eyes. "Ej I'm wearing the mustache because it's supposed to keep people from knowing my true identity." He says, before looking at me. "Buddy, why don't you ask mommy, why she's wearing that cheap wig?"

I gasp, placing my hand over my mouth. "First off Elijah, this wig isn't cheap. Second of all, don't talk about my wig like that and third, you're just mad that my wig goes well with my features and your mustache doesn't." I look over at Ej. "Cover your eyes baby." He does as he is told and I take that as my chance to stick both my tongue and middle finger at his father.

Elijah sticks his middle finger and his tongue right back at me. "You're so childish," He says, shaking his head.

I shrug. "Okay and? You are too."

"Mommy can I uncover my eyes now." Elliot asks.

"Yes bud." He uncovers his eyes and stares at me and Elijah like we were some important piece to a puzzle. "Ej tell your dad to stop being mean to mommy."

"Daddy stop being mean to mommy." Elliot says to Elijah.

Elijah fake gasps and clutches onto his chest dramatically. "Oh my heart." He says, dramatically which causes Elliot's eyes to widen. "My own son has betrayed me, he chose his mom's side instead of mine." Elijah closes his eyes. "How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends Elliot."

"We are friends daddy." Elliot says on the verge of crying. "I'm sorry daddy."

I turn to look at Elijah, my face turns into a frown. "You're gonna make him cry."

Elijah's eyes widen in realization. He quickly stops acting. "Elliot buddy, I'm joking." He quickly says, turning around to face Elliot. "It's good that you chose your mom's side, hell you need to always choose your mom's side. I'm not mad or hurt buddy."

Elliot looks up at his father, his eyes watery. "You promise?" He asks.

"Yes bud, I promise that I'm not mad or hurt." Elijah says, before opening his arms. "Come give daddy a hug." Elliot doesn't hesitate, he quickly unbuckles himself and gives his father a big hug. 

It was a beautiful scene to witness, truly. I pout. "I want a hug too."

Elijah opens his arms wide and pulls me into the hug. He rubs my arm. "Better?" He questions.

"Better." Both me and Elliot answer at the same time.

We pull away and Elliot gets back into his seat. "Daddy?" He calls.

"Yes Ej." Elliot says, giving him his full attention. I on the other hand continue to watch the bank from afar. Today we decided it was best that I went and opened an account. The account wouldn't be under my real name, but under a fake alias. Alex Archer to be exact.

Savannah spent the whole Saturday making me a fake identification card. We had to pay someone else about a grand to make me a fake birth certificate along with other legal documents. As of Sunday, Alex Archer was born and in every database that you could think of. Clean record, of course and a credit score of eight hundred. "Can we go to the park? Together?" I hear Elliot ask his father. My eyes snap to Elijah.

Elijah freezes at the question. He licks his lips as he thinks. "Uhhh, I mean... I do have this mustache on." He says. "And with the haircut and dye I doubt anyone will notice who I am."

"Yeah, but we don't know that for sure. I mean what if people can still recognize you."

Elijah places his hand on mine. "They won't and if they do then we lead with plan b."

My face scrunches up. "Plan B?" I ask. "We don't have a plan B."

Elijah shakes his head. "Yes we do." He chuckles. "I always have a plan, baby, no matter what the situation is." He turns to look at Elliot. "We can go to the park Ej."

"Yes!" Elliot says happily in the backseat.

"You plan on telling me about this plan b and other plans?" I ask him.

He smirks. "I'll tell you about it tonight. When Ej is asleep."

I nod, smirking a little. "Ight cool." Looking down my eyes linger on his hand that were still on top of mine.

Elijah catches my line of vision and slowly moves his hands away. "Sorry." He says, before clearing his throat. "It's time." He says, nodding towards the bank. Looking at the time, it reads 12:00 pm. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I roll my shoulders around pipping myself up. "You're gonna do great, everything has already been verified. All you need to do is go in there and act your normal self. If you sense anything is wrong, get out of there as fast as you can, I'll be outside waiting for by the coffee shop. Just like we talked about."

I nod. "Alright." Pinching myself to calm my nerves, I run a hand through my wig. "Does my wig really look cheap?"

Elijah chuckles and shakes his head. "No Brandy, your wig doesn't look cheap. If anything, it looks nice and it makes you look younger."

I chuckle. "That's what I thought." Opening the door to the car, I step out with my purse.

"Good luck mommy." Elliot says.

"Yeah, good luck mommy." Elijah says too.

Shaking my head, I roll up the sleeves of my flannel shirt. "Thank you guys." Taking in one final deep breath, I shut the car door and begin walking towards the bank. "You got this girl." I whisper to myself. "Just go in there, say you want to open an account and go on from there. Easy, peasy."

Making my way inside the bank, the security guard opens the door and smiles brightly at me. "Good morning miss."

"Morning." I say with the same energy, making note that he carries two guns instead of one. Soft music plays throughout the place as people walk around and continue their normal routine. The bank was big, bigger than expected and the designs were amazing. The walls were painted a nude color that went very well with the burgundy furniture. Everything looked amazing and the soft lighting puts the icing on the cake. Walking in the direction of a teller, I smile. "Hello, I'm here to open an account."

The young teller looks up at me surprised. "Hello miss." He says, before regaining himself. "T... tellers aren't allowed to open bank accounts anymore, because of our new policies. But if you come with me, I can get you into a room with a member that can."

My eyebrows raised, Savannah never informed me of a policy change. "Sure."

The nervous teller nods, before walking out his cubby and towards me. "Follow me please." He says, rubbing his hands together. "I'm sorry what was your name again."

"Alex. Alex Archer." I follow behind, watching him like a hawk. "Are you alright?"

He nods, not even sparing me a second glance. "Yeah, just a lot on my mind." He chuckles humorlessly. "This job takes a huge toll on my life." He mumbles.

Looking around I take in the brown marble floor. There was three elevators to one side, and above five separate desks. "What job doesn't."

"Exactly." He says under his breath. "This is the room." He says, stopping at an office. "Someone will be with you soon Ms. Archer"

"Thank you." I say entering the office. Taking a seat, I quickly pull out my phone to inform Elijah about what's happening. While I'm at it, I decide to text Savannah and tell her about how she missed the policy change.

A knock sounds at the wooden door, before someone opens it and steps in. "Good afternoon Ms. Archer" An authoritative voice says from behind me.

I keep my eyes trained on my phone. "Mmh." I reply, before sending one last text and looking up. My eyes widen, taken back at the scene before me.

When the hell did he sit down?

Getting a better look at him, my heart stops.

He was the man in the picture, the man I've been studying for the past week. Elijah's cousin.

"Ms. Archer?" He says, sounding annoyed.

"Ahh y... yes." I clear my throat. "Yes." I let out a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry, my head is all over the place right now. Can you repeat what you said again?"

The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He very much resembles Elijah, which I find to be weird since they're cousins. His face is stern and his eyes are blue, the same type of blue as Elijah just more brighter. He didn't have a bread or any facial hair for that matter. His nose was perfect. Not too long and definitely not too short. Instead of having blond hair like Elijah his hair is black and curly. "I asked why do you want to open an account with my bank Ms. Archer?" He repeats again, his voice sounding raucous.

My hand tightens around my phone. "Well a friend of mine referred me here, she told me about how good you guys were with her and about the wonderful benefits of joining your bank." I shrug. "I decided to see for myself and try it out."

He looks at me quietly, most likely analyzing me in his mind. "Mmh." He finally says, his hand on his chin. "I'm Andreas Schmidt, you can call me Mr. Schmidt"

"Schmidt?" I ask. "That's Italian or something?"

He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "It's German." He says, before powering on the Apple Mac on the desk. "I'm gonna need your identification card, aswell as your social security number and proof of residency."

I smile. "Sure, no problem." Reaching into my purse I pull out my fake documents and hand them to him.

He takes them and looks down at my ID. "Alex? Is that American or something?" He asks which causes me to smirk.

"Nah, it's Spanish. Or at least I like to think so." Crossing my hands together, I lean back in my seat as he begins typing my information into the system. "So what's a guy like you do for fun?"

Andreas stops typing and glances at me. "Nothing." He says, before going back to typing. He sounded bored. "What do you do for fun?"

"I write." I say, remembering how Elijah told me his cousin was a huge fan of reading and writing. "I know, it's a weird thing to do for fun but I like it. It makes me feel... invisible and in control."

Andreas looks at me, his whole demeanor changes. "You don't look like a writer."

My eyebrows raise. "How come? Because I'm black?"

He chuckles, leaning back in his seat. His chuckle caused my body to vibrate. "No, because of your hands. They look soft and neat." He answers. "Most writers, their hands are rough and thick."

I nod, chuckling as well. "You're very observant Mr. Schmidt but like you said, most writers, not all. Besides, I use aloe hand lotion on a frequent basis. It helps with keeping my hand, looking pretty and thank you for the compliment."

Andreas licks his lips and begins typing again. "How old are you Ms. Archer?"

I bite my lips. "Pretty old." I say. "Twenty nine to be exact."

"That's not old." Andreas says, his eyes on the computer screen.

"How old are you?" I ask. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Old enough." He answers.

I pout. "Oh that's just not fair, I thought we were getting to know each other."

He looks away from the computer screen, smirking. "You have a good sense of humor Ms. Archer"

"So I've been told." My shoes tap against the marble floor. "How about you go out to lunch with me so I can humor you some more?" I ask. Elijah said that the one thing his cousin loved most in a woman, is boldness. "It would be my treat."

Andreas stopped typing. He looked almost stunned that I had made the first move. His tilts back a bit. "You look like a very... interesting woman Ms. Archer but I'm sorry. I'm going to have to decline. It would be inappropriate on my end."

This man seemed way too... calm and nice to be in the Mafia. I can't even imagine him framing Elijah. I shrug. "It was worth a try, thank you for letting me down easy."

He nods. "No problem." He hands me back my documents. "Everything checks out, your account is officially open. All I need is your fifty dollar deposit and you are free to go."

Reaching into my purse, I pull out my red Victoria Secret wallet and take out a stack of cash. It was a total of ten thousand dollars. I watch as Andreas shifts in his seat uncomfortably. "Here you go." I say, passing him the cash. He takes it from me and places it on his desk. Another fact about Andreas, he likes a woman that has her own money. Gathering the rest of my things I stand up. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Schmidt"

I begin to walk away when he stops me. "Not so fast Ms. Archer" he says, which causes me to turn around and face him.

"Yes?"

He stands up and scratches the back of his head. His dark blue Armani suit was well fitted to the point where you can see the outline of his muscular body. "I forgot to ask, do you want to add a beneficiary?" He clears his throat. "It could be anyone. Husband, boyfriend, and even any family members."

I smirked, realizing this was his way in asking if I was in a relationship. "No, I don't want to add a beneficiary." Reaching into my back pocket I pull out a card. "Here, this is for you." I walked over to him and place the card on the table. "Call me. You know, just in case there's a problem with my account." And with that, I quickly walk out the office with my head held high.

Messing with Andreas is going to be easy.

I got this.