Chapter 3: Fiancee
1613 Words
The PR assistant changed Elena from "Guest of Logan Cross" to "VIP Guest - Julian Cross."
Security printed a new pass. They still called her "Ms. Hayes," but the note beneath her name now read Mr. Cross's fiancee.
Logan saw the card and reached for the PR assistant's tablet. Julian's assistant blocked him.
"Move," Logan said, his voice low.
The assistant ignored him and handed the pass to Elena. "Ms. Hayes, please confirm the spelling."
Elena stared at the card. Minutes ago, security on this floor had stopped her at the door, and Logan had used the temp number on her staff badge as a joke. Now there was a VIP line on the card, and even the lanyard had been changed to the black one for family-floor access.
She did not take it at once.
Julian stood beside her, not too close, but close enough to block Logan from stepping forward. He did not urge her. He did not take the card for her.
Logan stared at it. "This is absurd. Julian, you can't put her on the family list just because she made a scene."
"She did not make a scene." Julian looked at the PR assistant. "Sync her new identity to the seating chart, tomorrow's opening list, and security access."
The assistant nodded in a rush. Update prompts flashed across the tablet. Elena Hayes moved out from under Logan's name and landed after Julian Cross.
Serena came closer, one hand on the door frame. Her voice was soft. "Sister, this will make everyone misunderstand. When did you and Mr. Julian get together? I'm not doubting you. I just worry the media will make this hurt more tomorrow."
Her gaze dropped to Elena's new pass. Her fingertips touched her lower stomach. It was a small gesture, but the staff nearby looked at once.
Logan took the opening. "Elena, you don't even know what he likes to drink. You think putting a name on yourself at the last minute will make anyone believe it?"
Elena closed her fingers around the edge of the pass. The hard plastic bit into her skin and cleared her head.
"Whether my relationship is real is not for you to examine."
Logan stiffened.
"Who I stand with is not something I need to report to you." She looped the pass around her wrist instead of hanging it on her chest. PR and security heard every word.
Only then did Julian speak. "She does not need to explain herself to you."
Logan did not back down. He gave a thin smile. "Then let me ask something simpler. Do you think he will actually marry you? Or are you just using his name to get back at me?"
Serena immediately said, "Logan, don't ask Sister that way. She must be very confused right now."
The PR assistant glanced down at the tablet. The cursor in the notes field blinked twice. Elena saw the pause and turned the pass over, showing the change record to Logan.
"When you had the lawyer bring that statement and asked me to bless you and Serena, you didn't ask whether I believed it."
Logan's smile vanished.
"You asked me to sign for your relationship. Now don't question whether mine is real."
Before Logan could answer, Julian's assistant took the tablet out of the PR assistant's hands and kept it beyond Logan's reach.
"Cross family floor access updated before eight tomorrow," the assistant told security. "Copy the opening meeting seating change to Mrs. Camila Cross's office."
The security supervisor nodded quickly. "Understood. Ms. Hayes can use the family elevator from now on. Not the staff entrance."
The PR assistant sent the update. Camila's office called back almost at once. It was not on speaker, but the corridor was so quiet Elena still caught several words.
No main camera. Put her to the side. Avoid media misread tomorrow.
The PR assistant looked at Julian, troubled.
Julian asked only one question. "Who sits to my right tomorrow morning?"
"On the original chart, the vice chair of Cross Foundation."
"Move him one seat," Julian said. "Elena sits there."
Logan's face changed completely. "You want the whole room to see her?"
"That is the most basic position for a fiancee statement." Julian looked at the PR assistant. "If Camila's office wants to change it, have them send a written explanation."
The assistant lowered her head and added the note.
The same security supervisor who had hesitated now personally opened the glass door to the family elevator and asked Elena to test the new pass.
It beeped. The lock flashed green.
Staff who had stopped her now opened doors for her. The change came too quickly to feel like a victory.
She was still wearing the red dress she had altered herself. Noah's reminder was still in her clutch. But her identity had already been moved from Logan's ex to Julian's fiancee.
The card could not win for her. It could let her walk back into the room she had been pushed out of.
Elena looked at the PR assistant's tablet. The welcome list and seating chart were still open. Several red prompts remained. One read: `Public note conflict: Logan Cross guest list update pending.`
She remembered it.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her. Logan's expression warned her not to push too far.
Elena ignored him and pushed the red prompt toward the PR assistant. "Tomorrow, outside, you call me Julian's fiancee. In the table, I'm still under Logan's name. Which side is wrong? Who signs off? Open every public field where my name appears tomorrow. I want to check it."
The PR assistant froze, then tapped through pages. Welcome list. Seating chart. Media notes. At the bottom, a linked item appeared: `Charity Showcase Preview.`
Elena's gaze stopped. "This goes into tomorrow's packet too?"
The materials supervisor had just arrived. He frowned. "Showcase order isn't guest information. That list is for PR and the design team."
"I'm not opening design drafts," Elena said. "I'm checking names. If you refuse, write the reason into the record. When media asks tomorrow, don't push it onto a temp."
The supervisor looked at Julian, waiting for an order.
Julian did not give one. He only told his assistant, "Record what she said. External statement conflict. Whoever refuses the check signs the refusal."
The supervisor's face changed. The PR assistant lowered her head and added the record. Elena had been the person at the bottom asked to sign for mistakes. Now a refusal would fall under someone else's name.
After two seconds, the supervisor handed her the tablet. "List and public fields only. No screenshots. No forwarding."
"Fine."
Logan stepped forward. "Her identity isn't even confirmed. Don't let her touch materials that affect the Summit."
Elena looked up at him. "Then do you want to explain why I should still be under your name?"
Logan's mouth tightened. Serena tugged lightly at his sleeve as if to stop him, but her eyes stayed on the tablet.
The welcome list was long. Sponsors, media representatives, family office, charity foundation, showcase guests. Elena quickly found her name. The old record had not fully disappeared. A change log read: `Moved from Guest of Logan Cross to VIP Guest - Julian Cross.`
She moved on.
In the seating chart, she had once sat at the end of Logan's backup guest list. The new version placed her beside Julian at tomorrow's opening meeting. The note read: `fiancee protocol pending.`
The agreement had not even been formally printed, but she had already been placed inside the process.
"Seen enough?" Logan asked.
Elena did not answer. She switched to the showcase order.
The supervisor's breathing changed.
Serena's name stood out on the charity showcase list: `Guest Designer: Serena Hayes.` The theme was `Winter Garden Recut.`
Elena's finger stopped.
She had seen that theme. Half a year ago, under the name E. Vale, she had sold a set of structure sketches at a low price because Noah's nursing deposit was due. The theme had not been exactly this, but it included an old-gown recut and a Garden-related name.
The attachment field had been cleaned. Only a fragment of an old file name remained: `EV_wg_recut_07...`
Below it was an internal number: `VG-1174-A`.
E.V.
Elena pressed her fingertip against the screen edge. She did not speak. She could not.
E. Vale was not an international label that could make a room change color. It was only the name she used for small private jobs, a name she had not yet had the power to protect. A leftover abbreviation and an old number proved nothing.
But the author field said Serena Hayes.
Serena stepped closer, smiling, though her eyes were no longer soft. "Sister, why do you keep stopping on the showcase list? Your name shouldn't be there, should it?"
The supervisor reached for the tablet. "Ms. Hayes."
Elena did not fight him. She slid the screen down as if looking for her own name, only to confirm the number again.
VG-1174-A.
Once she had memorized it, she let go.
Julian's eyes went to her hand, then to the tablet edge, and finally to Serena's face. He had seen her stop. He did not ask.
When the supervisor took the tablet back, Serena was already beside Elena. They stood close enough for Elena to smell her faint floral perfume. For one second, the softness vanished from Serena's face.
Then her voice turned gentle again. "Sister, what were you looking at?"
Elena pressed the tablet edge. The screen went dark. She did not look at Julian. She did not look at Logan.
She only drew her hand back into her palm and repeated the number against her skin.
VG-1174-A.
- Writer
