Get Her Out of Here
Chapter 02 - Get Her Out of Here
The ballroom changed after the paper hit the floor.
Before that moment, Elena had been a poor woman in a servant’s uniform disrupting a billionaire’s engagement party. Guests could place her inside a familiar story: unstable stranger, grieving child, embarrassed father.
The death certificate ruined the simplicity.
Julian picked it up.
The document carried the seal of Saint Matthew’s Hospital and the signature of Dr. Aaron Pike, a private physician who had treated the Vale family for two decades.
Cause of death: traumatic injuries following vehicular submersion.
Date of death: March 14.
Elena’s car entered the river on September 2.
Julian read the dates twice.
Celeste recovered first.
“It is obviously fake.”
Oliver pointed at her. “Then why was it in your desk?”
“I have no idea what you took or where you found it.”
“It was in the blue folder behind your shoes.”
A few guests failed to hide their smiles. Celeste owned more shoes than most people owned memories, but apparently Oliver had mapped them.
Julian turned to Detective Bell. “Who filed the emergency custody order?”
Bell hesitated.
“My department received it from Ms. Harrow’s attorney.”
Celeste’s expression sharpened. “Because the woman approached Oliver.”
“She was serving dinner,” Julian said.
“She arranged to be here.”
Elena held out her cuffed hands. “I accepted a temporary catering shift twelve hours ago. I did not know whose gala it was until I saw the crest on the invitations.”
That was not entirely true.
She had known it was a Vale Foundation event.
She had not known Oliver would attend.
The difference mattered, but there were too many ears in the room.
Celeste faced the crowd.
“This is a private family emergency. Please continue into the reception hall.”
Nobody moved.
Rich people valued privacy most when it belonged to someone else.
Julian’s mother, Evelyn Vale, emerged from the crowd. She wore dark green velvet and the expression of a queen arriving to settle a border dispute.
She looked at Elena without surprise.
That hurt more than Celeste’s panic.
“You should have stayed gone,” Evelyn said.
Julian stared at his mother.
“You knew she was alive?”
Evelyn ignored him and spoke to Bell.
“Remove her before she further traumatizes my grandson.”
Oliver stepped behind Elena.
“You told me Mommy drowned.”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
“We told you what was kind.”
“No. You told me what was easy.”
The sentence sounded too old for him.
Elena recognized it as one of Grace Monroe’s phrases. Grace had been Oliver’s nanny from birth until she was dismissed six months after Elena disappeared.
Perhaps Oliver remembered more because someone had protected the memories.
Bell touched Elena’s elbow.
“We need to go.”
Julian blocked the path.
Bell lowered his voice. “Mr. Vale, I have an active warrant.”
“And I have a document saying the woman was declared dead before the incident that supposedly killed her.”
“That will be investigated.”
“By the department that accepted a custody order filed less than an hour before she appeared?”
Bell’s face hardened. “Do not confuse bad timing with conspiracy.”
Elena studied him.
Three years earlier, Bell had looked tired and uncertain beside her hospital bed. He had not threatened her. He had warned her the foundation’s internal records were enough to bury her.
Maybe he was not the enemy.
Maybe he had simply believed the first complete story.
Julian looked at Elena.
“Did you steal the money?”
“No.”
“Did you leave Oliver?”
“No.”
“Did you ever try to contact us?”
“Every month.”
Celeste laughed softly. “There is no record of that.”
“There is no record because your security team stopped me, your lawyers returned my letters, and someone changed Oliver’s school twice.”
Julian’s eyes moved to Celeste.
She lifted her chin. “We moved him after stalkers found the first campus.”
“What stalkers?”
“The publicity from the theft.”
“The theft Elena says she didn’t commit.”
Evelyn stepped forward. “Julian, this is exactly what she wants. Confusion. Delay. Public humiliation.”
Julian looked at his son clinging to Elena’s skirt.
“For once,” he said, “public humiliation may be useful.”
He told Bell he would not obstruct the arrest.
Then he called his own attorney and instructed her to meet Elena at the station.
Celeste gripped his arm.
“You cannot pay her lawyer.”
“I am not paying for innocence,” Julian replied. “I am paying to find out why my son recognized a dead woman before I did.”
Elena was led toward the doors.
Oliver followed until Julian caught him.
Elena looked back.
The boy fought silently, tears running down his face.
She lifted one cuffed hand and closed her fingers, then opened them.
Blinking.
The lighthouse.
Oliver copied the gesture.
Once.
May you like
Twice.
Three times.
