But the Chandlers, especially the mother, won't accept even such a solution - they don't want their grandson to spend time with a son of a criminal (a petty thief), and they know that Axel won't give up on Eli, and won't marry anyone else as long as Eli is around.
Perhaps they will send someone to trash Eli's coffee shop. Eli will get into a fight with the thugs, and perhaps land in hospital - or maybe, Axel will find him, all bruised up, in the trashed coffee shop. Or in front of it, as the police might have taped it off to collect evidence - they don't intend to investigate, they're just making things even harder for Eli.
The goal was to chase Eli away.
Eli will be very rude to Axel when he tries to help - he knows it's not Axel's fault, but it's still because of him.
